March for Science Asheville

Asheville North Carolina was one of the hundreds of cities that hosted a March for Science on Earth Day yesterday.

The day started with gloomy skies and ended with rain, but it was dry and even sunny for the march.  This is a shot of the marchers lined up and about to take off.  Police estimated there were about 1200 of us.

 

Scientists, engineers and students make a quiet and orderly group.  When the woman with the bull horn started the chant, "Show me what democracy looks like!" Cheryl could only hear her own voice in the response.  But the other marchers picked up steam after a few rounds.

The march was just 6/10ths of a mile from Aston Park to Pack Place.  These next two photos are from the end, where the marchers stood for the rally speeches.  The next two photos are similar but show a couple of different faces and signs. 

The Vance Monument in the background places us in Asheville.

The crowd remained very orderly and well-mannered throughout.

The Asheville march was remarkable in that the principal organizer was a North Buncombe high-school student.  The whole occasion was not as fired up as Cheryl witnessed at the Women's March in January, but it felt positive and we were glad to have participated.

We've moved twice in the last couple of weeks - out of the main floor of our house to a little rental and then back in (which is still going on.) We had to have the floors refinished since the original finish did not hold up well.  We are fairly exhausted and Norris feet couldn't take walking on hard pavement, but he dropped Cheryl off and met up with her at the end of the march for the speeches.

Our Traditional July 4th Holiday

Norris got up to get in line for the Beech Community Parade while Cheryl found a shady spot from which to take a few photos.

The traditional flag tells us how many years this parade has continuously taken place in Beech -  we're up to 132.  That's a long tradition.

The Grand Marshall this year, Wilma Penland, is the owner of our landscaping company.

This young man right behind the Grand Marshall's car brought the only animals in the parade this year.  

That is a pair of chickens in that special trailer that, amazingly, seems to have been constructed expressly for the purpose of taking chickens for a ride.

The Veterans were well-represented this year - some of them were carrying the flags at the front of the line, and their float was almost full to capacity.

Overall, the parade was shorter than usual. Perhaps it was the heat?  The Reems Creek Fire Department was about half of the parade.  Here's Norris coming up in Old Engine 14, now demoted to 14-3 as the department has just taken delivery of a new, four-wheel drive engine.  This truck is 26 years old - older than some of the crews who have been taking it out to fires.

A rare full faced smile from Norris.

Behind him was Mo with a few youngsters (one of the happier ones is "driving" the firetruck).  Mo went through Fire Academy training with Norris.  Behind her, reaching out to our friend Michelle whose birthday was yesterday, is D, my acupuncturist.

 

I took this photo of Michelle before the parade started.  She thanked everyone for coming to her party.  Her mother is on the left and I don't know the woman in the center.  The expression on Michelle's face came because she'd just caught sight of my camera and stuck her tongue out at me - but I was faster.

 

A celebration. The end of a successful search

On Sunday, Norris and I were invited to share in the Folk Heritage Committee's celebratory dinner. These are the people who work so hard to put on the Shindig on the Green musical entertainment in the summertime in Asheville.  They held the dinner at one of the many wedding-oriented barn venues - this one on the other side of the French Broad River about a half hour from us. You can see that it has a casual atmosphere.

My Mountain Jam Circle colleague Alice is in the lower part of the photo. I took this for Ann, our other member who was not able to attend.  The food was good and it was a fun crowd to be part of because, well, they just can't help themselves....

We were treated to a regular bluegrass jam after we ate. There are some locally famous faces in that photo - the music was a delight.

Yesterday when all our snow from Saturday was gone, we decided to see if we could figure out what happened to our feeder. The one we pictured with the birds on it had been raided by a bear a few years ago, and the only damage was to the perches, which were replaced by the manufacturer at no cost to us.  We climbed the stairs and followed the old logging road behind our house, and while I continued to climb, when he drew even with the back of our house, Norris stood and stared back down toward the house and bird feeding area from a spot maybe 200 feet away. 

He finally turned around to look up the slope and there it was....

 

or at least parts of it.  Unlike that previous time with the smaller feeder, this feeder was looking pretty badly beat up. I came back and we scanned the area Norris had just been staring at - and maybe 40 feet down the slope, closer to the house, were two more of the main parts.  But no part of this feeder is salvageable.

 This is really really hard plastic.

 We are totally amazed at what the bear's teeth and claws can do.

 But even more, how and why does a bear carry something as big as this feeder so far before breaking it open to munch on the contents?  I did an image search for bear and bird feeder, but you don't see the bears walking around with the feeders.  I'm still trying to picture how it went up our steep slope on four paws with it, left the cap and a few of the squirrel-proofing parts under one tree, then kept going and left the rest under a different tree.

The weather is warm and sunny now, and there are no bird feeders outside at our house.

130th Consecutive Parade

The Beech Parade took place on about the nicest July 4th we can remember - it's breezy and just slightly cool for a change.

I got this photo of our neighbors' four grandchildren while we were waiting for the parade to begin. I was told it is difficult to get them together in a group like this so I took several shots hoping one of them would get everyone's eyes open - I thought this one came out particularly well.

It wasn't long after that that the parade started as usual with the banner marking the longevity of the tradition.

Visible in the background of that banner shot, the tradition we thought we knew changed this year and the RCFD did not bring up the rear of the procession.  But that's getting ahead of the story - first we have the now traditional Veterans' Float - they really made a festive sight with all the flags!

 

The old Engine came next.,,,

 

... followed by the Parade Marshall and guest speaker at the program, Jay Raybuck with his wife Susie. They are neighbors in our development and Jay has been serving as interim minister of the Reems Creek Beech Presbyterian Church for some time. 

 

Norris came by with the larger contingent from the RCFD, driving the big tanker.

 

In a surprise twist, he whipped out his phone for a photo of your photographer who is always behind the camera.

There are always elements in the parade we haven't seen before - I think this year's biggest new float was a boat.

 

Then we have a well-decked-out golf cart.

Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam - we'll catch up with them later.

It looked like the youth in their ATVs have been drilling to move in formation.

Then we have the usual decorated bicycles - this young man has creative face paint as well.

We missed the equestrian contingent - but I didn't realize until I was looking at my photos that there was a baby goat in the parade.  I suspect it was either not cooperating with the idea of marching, or it was just tired out by the time it had come at least a half mile from the staging area on Roberts Cove all the way to the church on Sugar Cove Road.

We marveled at the skill of this young man with his two-wheeled skateboard.

I just looked it up - they are called "waveboards."

I think the youngest human in the parade was in this vehicle.

But these next two were pretty young and self-propelled.

I liked this group of bicycles -

They were all outfitted with these tin cans that add a festive note to the procession.

Another group of participants that we have not seen in the parade since we've been going were these beautiful tractors. This tractor has a sign telling us it is a Ford and dates to 1953.

it pulled this little trailer equipped with an ice cream making device from 1927. Some in the crowd liked the noise it made when the farmer fired it up after the parade - they said it reminded them of the moonshine stills. 

Next we have a 1947 Ford and a 1936 John Deere.

And finally, a 1950 Farmall Cub.

MAMA made its usual grand entrance on the ballfield at the community center after the parade was finished. It was different for me this time - I came with Gary and Judi. We're looking at the backs of their heads in this photo.

It was fun to see the dramatic arrival of MAMA through their eyes.

Here are the beautiful Lady Liberty and fine Uncle Sam where we can really admire their garb.

Our neighbor's grandson got a turn at driving this tractor.

Not really - his feet might have been able to reach the pedals, but the engine wasn't running.  

His big sister meanwhile was trying to walk on stilts. Even with assistance it was a struggle to get her balance, but I got her when she was looking up and actually moving.

This final look at the fire vehicles as the program was starting in the community center about wraps up the 130th Beech Parade ...

... except that since Judi and Gary decided to stay for the music, Norris gave me a ride back to the entrance to our development in the tanker - my first time on the inside of a fire truck!

It was not a comfortable ride - I was just as happy to walk the last part of my trip home.