November 26, 2009 at 7:00 AM (Flowers & Plants)
“Ah! on Thanksgiving day….
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before.
What moistens the lips and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin pie?”
John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-1892
Quaker poet
November 25, 2009 at 5:00 PM (Asheville, Biltmore Estates, Flowers & Plants)
Biltmore, Asheville, NC
“I believe love is primarily a choice
and only sometimes a feeling.
If you want to feel love,
choose to love and be patient.”
November 24, 2009 at 8:00 PM (Aunt Willie's Wildflowers, Flowers & Plants, Jane Austen)
“Silly things do cease to be silly
if they are done by sensible people
in an impudent way.”
Jane Austen, 1775-1817
Emma
November 23, 2009 at 6:00 AM (Flowers & Plants)
“‘Cause a face without freckles
Is like a sky without the stars
Why waste a second
Not loving who you are
Those little imperfections
Make you beautiful, lovable, valuable
They show your personality inside your heart
Reflecting who you are”
Natasha Bedingfield, b. 1981
British singer/songwriter
“Freckles“
November 22, 2009 at 9:33 AM (Flowers & Plants, Ralph Waldo Emerson)
“Give all to love; obey thy heart.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
November 20, 2009 at 9:02 PM (Roan Mountain, Scenes)
“There’s nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.”
Margaret Elizabeth Sangster, 1838-1912
American poet and author
November 19, 2009 at 8:58 AM (Roan Mountain, Scenes)
Roan Highlands
“And the thought came to me, sudden and shocking,
that the broken and contrite heart
is something far more terrible than penitence.”
Alan Paton
November 13, 2009 at 5:00 PM (Goethe, Scenes)
Worchester, MA (2008)
“We must always change,
renew, rejuvenate ourselves;
otherwise we harden.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
November 12, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Uncategorized)
“Nobody ever says, ‘I think I will lie to myself today.’
This is the double treachery of self-deception:
First we deceive ourselves, and then we convince ourselves
that we are not deceiving ourselves.”
Lewis Smedes
Author of “A Pretty Good Person”
November 11, 2009 at 11:01 PM (Flowers & Plants)
“It is amusing to see souls who, while they are at prayer,
fancy they are willing to be despised and
publicly insulted for the love of God,
yet afterwards do all they can to hide their small defects;
if anyone unjustly accuses them of a fault,
God deliver us from their outcries!”
Teresa of Avila
November 10, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Rocky Fork, Scenes, Unicoi County)
Rocky Fork
“Life is just one damned thing after another.”
Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915
Influential exponent of the Arts & Crafts movement
November 9, 2009 at 5:00 PM (Uncategorized)
“To find a fault is easy;
to do better may be difficult.”
Plutarch, 46 AD – 120 AD
November 8, 2009 at 5:00 PM (Animals)
“Living apart and at peace with myself,
I came to realize more vividly the meaning of the doctrine of acceptance.
To refrain from giving advice, to refrain from meddling
in the affairs of others, to refrain,
even though the motives be the highest,
from tampering with another’s way of life –
so simple, yet so difficult for an active spirit. Hands off!”
Henry Miller, 1891-1980
November 7, 2009 at 5:00 PM (Flowers & Plants)
“No trumpets sound
when the important decisions of our life are made.
Destiny is made known silently.”
Agnes de Mille, 1909-1993
November 6, 2009 at 10:55 PM (Birds)
“The older I get, the more I feel almost beautiful…”
Sharon Olds, b. 1942
Poet and author
November 5, 2009 at 8:21 AM (Clark's Creek, Scenes, Unicoi County)
Sill Branch Falls, Unicoi County
“When you really trust someone,
you have to be okay with not understanding some things.”
November 4, 2009 at 8:32 AM (Scenes, Unaka Mountains, Unicoi County)
Unaka Mountain
“I am patient with stupidity
but not with those who are proud of it.”
Edith Sitwell, 1887-1964
British poet
October 31, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Scenes, Unaka Mountains, Unicoi County)
Unaka Mountain
“If something anticipated arrives too late it finds us numb,
wrung out from waiting, and we feel — nothing at all.
The best things arrive on time.”
Dorothy Gilman, 1978
October 30, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Blue Ridge Parkway, Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, Price Lake, Scenes)
Price Lake, Grandfather Mountain
“The kind of beauty I want most
is the hard-to-get kind
that comes from within –
strength, courage, dignity.”
Ruby Dee
October 29, 2009 at 6:50 PM (Flowers & Plants, Reflections)
Today I received a book in the mail, with this letter from a wonderful family at church, where I was the children’s and youth minister for three years until 2007. What a blessing. My only regret is that I wasn’t there Sunday evening to witness Morgan’s baptism.
October 26, 2009
Lee,
Enclosed is a book and CD that we purchased seven or eight years ago. We purchased this book with the intention of some day presenting it to the person whom we felt had the most influence on Morgan on her path to Jesus thus far in her life. We planned to give this book to that person on the day she was baptized. Morgan was baptized yesterday and we would like to present the book to you. With sincere appreciation and gratitude we want to thank you for all of the work you have done with Morgan and the other youth at the church. You have been a great influence.
This book and song express what we often fail to say to those who have served the Lord in our lives. We only think to do so when it is too late…we again say thanks.
Danny & Margaret
What a wonderful reminder Danny and Margaret have given me about our purpose in life. I encourage you to love and serve the Lord and to thank those in your life who have helped you on that journey. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27).
Lee
October 29, 2009 at 8:36 AM (Carter County, Roan Mountain, Scenes)
“First things first, but not necessarily in that order.”
Doctor Who
October 24, 2009 at 12:27 AM (Milligan College, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Scenes)
This weekend is Homecoming at Milligan and my 15 year reunion
“It is one of the blessings of old friends
that you can afford to be stupid with them.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
October 22, 2009 at 9:33 PM (Bugs & Insects)
“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;
it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”
Sidney J. Harris
October 21, 2009 at 11:55 PM (Scenes, Unicoi County)
Thinking today of my Aunt Toby. Read about her here.
“When you are sorrowful look again in your heart,
and you shall see that in truth
you are weeping for that which has been your delight.”
Kahlil Gibran
October 20, 2009 at 7:28 PM (Madeleine L'Engle, Scenes, Unaka Mountains, Unicoi County)
Hoar frost on Unaka Mountain
“When we were children,
we used to think that when we were grown-up
we would no longer be vulnerable.
But to grow up is to accept vulnerability…
To be alive is to be vulnerable.”
Madeleine L’Engle, b. 1918
“Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art”, 1980
October 18, 2009 at 6:45 PM (Bugs & Insects)
“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.”
Friedrich Engels, 1820-1895
October 16, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Bugs & Insects)
“Stoop and you’ll be stepped on;
stand tall and you’ll be shot at.”
Carlos A. Urbizo
October 15, 2009 at 6:03 PM (Scenes, Unaka Mountains, Unicoi County)
Unaka Mountain
“Speech is conveniently located midway
between thought and action,
where it often substitutes for both.”
John Andrew Holmes
“Wisdom in Small Doses”
October 14, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Flowers & Plants)
“Find a need and move to meet it,
not counting the cost,
nor the worth of the other person.”
Knofel Staton
Christian author and professor
October 13, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Blowing Rock, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Scenes, Water)
Bass Lake, Blowing Rock, NC
“Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again.
Wisely improve the present. It is thine.
Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882
October 12, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Pablo Picasso, Scenes)
“I am always doing that which I can not do,
in order that I may learn how to do it.”
Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973
October 11, 2009 at 9:02 PM (Robert Browning, Scenes, Unaka Mountains, Unicoi County)
Unaka Mountain Road
“Autumn wins you best
by this its mute appeal
to sympathy for its decay.”
Robert Browning, 1812-1889
English poet
October 10, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Flowers & Plants, George Washington)
Sassafras leaf
“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few,
and let those few be well tried
before you give them your confidence.”
George Washington, 1732-1799
First President of the U.S.
October 9, 2009 at 6:38 PM (Blue Ridge Parkway, Scenes, Virginia)
Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia
“What makes something special
is not just what you have to gain,
but what you feel there is to lose.”
Andre Agassi, b. 1970
October 8, 2009 at 9:24 PM (Elk River Falls, Scenes)
Elk River near Elk Park, NC
“I write down everything I want to remember.
That way, instead of spending a lot of time
trying to remember what it is I wrote down,
I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on.”
Beryl Pfizer
October 7, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Flowers & Plants)
“To love deeply in one direction
makes us more loving in all others.”
Anne-Sophie Swetchine, 1782-1857
October 6, 2009 at 5:00 PM (Flowers & Plants)
“If my hands are fully occupied in holding on to something,
I can neither give nor receive.”
Dorothee Solle, 1929-2003
German theologian
October 5, 2009 at 8:49 PM (Blowing Rock, Scenes)
The Apple Barn at Moses Cone Estate, Blowing Rock, NC
“In attempts to improve your character,
know what is in your power and what is beyond it.”
Francis Thompson, 1859-1907
English poet
October 4, 2009 at 5:00 PM (Albert Einstein, Creeper Trail, Scenes, Virginia)
Riding the Virginia Creeper Trail – last fall
“Not everything that can be counted counts,
and not everything that counts can be counted.”
Albert Einstein, 1879-1955
October 3, 2009 at 5:57 PM (Grandfather Mountain, Jonathan Swift, Scenes)
Grandfather Mountain
“One of the best rules in conversation is,
never to say a thing which any of the company
can reasonably wish had been left unsaid.”
Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745
Author
October 2, 2009 at 6:51 PM (Scenes, Unicoi County)
Unicoi
“If we fall, we don’t need self-recrimination or blame or anger –
we need a reawakening of our intention and a willingness to recommit,
to be whole-hearted once again.”
Sharon Salzberg
October 1, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Bugs & Insects, Flowers & Plants)
“The easiest kind of relationship is with ten thousand people,
the hardest is with one.”
Joan Baez, b. 1941
Mexican-American folk singer
September 30, 2009 at 7:00 PM (G. K. Chesterton, Linville Gorge, North Carolina, Scenes)
View from Flat Rock, NC
“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.
An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.”
G. K. Chesterton, 1874-1936
September 29, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Flowers & Plants)
“One doesn’t have a sense of humor. It has you.”
Larry Gelbart
September 28, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Buffalo Mountain, Johnson City, Scenes, Unaka Mountains)
View from Unaka Mountain, looking towards Buffalo Mountain and Johnson City
“The greatness comes not when things go always good for you.
But the greatness comes when you’re really tested, when you
take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes.
Because only if you’ve been in the deepest valley
can you ever know how magnificent it is
to be on the highest mountain.”
Richard Nixon, 1913-1994
U.S. President
September 26, 2009 at 9:57 PM (Flowers & Plants, Roan Mountain)
Rhododendron
“If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm,
you will be fired with enthusiasm.”
Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970
Football coach
September 25, 2009 at 5:43 PM (Flowers & Plants, Pearl Buck)
“Inside myself is a place where I live all alone
and that’s where you renew your springs that never dry up.”
Pearl Buck, 1892-1973
First woman awarded Nobel Prize in Literature
September 24, 2009 at 8:13 AM (Scenes)
“There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit
than confidence in our own intelligence.”
John Calvin, 1509-1564
French theologian
September 22, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Flowers & Plants)
“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems,
but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.”
Herm Albright, 1866-1944
September 21, 2009 at 7:00 PM (Flowers & Plants)
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
Ralph Waldo Emmerson
Funds produced from the sale of the new Tennessee AT license plate will be shared with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy for the support and management of the Appalachian Trail. Click here.
