Autumn Color in the Blue Ridge Parkway – Cherokee to Asheville, NC

Driving the Blue Ridge Pkwy ©2018 Bo Mackison

The idea is to fit the Parkway into the mountains as if nature has put it there.
~ Stanley Abbott, Landscape Architect for the Parkway

What a grand day for an autumn color drive! The sun was bright, the trees were in peak colors at the lower elevations, and, surprisingly, the traffic was minimal on a Monday in late October. We were heading to Hendersonville, North Carolina, en route to Patti Digh’s Life is a Verb Camp. (More on camp coming in later posts — it’s my annual recharge!)

We left the Cherokee Visitors Center in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park around noon and headed south towards Asheville.

Groundbreaking for the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway was in late 1932, but it was officially dedicated on September 11, 1987, fifty-two years after construction began.

After President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Virginia’s first Civilian Conservation Corps road building camp where they were building the Skyline Parkway through the new Shenandoah National Park, he approved a similar CCC project, with the intention of creating jobs in the rural areas of North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Blue Ridge Vista ©2018 Bo Mackison

Plenty of opportunity to pause and gaze at the scenic mountains in the distance. It makes for slow travel, but every stop is worth it.

Log Hollow Overlook ©2018 Bo Mackison

Trees! Shades of oranges and reds, yellows and browns, with a scattering of evergreen green. Log Hollow Overlook offers a stunning view of Looking Glass Rock, one of the largest masses of granite in the Eastern United States. This rock gets its name from the shimmering mirror effect when sunlight hits its surface after a rainfall.

Blue Ridge Parkway ©2018 Bo Mackison

Nearly 200 parking areas and overlooks were incorporated into the Parkway’s deisgn so that motorists could enjoy a leisurely ride through the mountains. The road rises to 6,000+ feet at Richland Balsam Overlook in North Carolina. Up and down and around every curve — beauty!

Blue Ridge Autumn Glory ©2018 Bo Mackison

We only drove about 70 miles on the Parkway, but it was a leisurely drive — is it possible to have a drive too leisurely on this scenic road? — with many stops at the overlooks and a desert and coffee break at Mt. Pisgah Inn. This inn, at nearly 5,000 ft elevation, is the highest place for lodging on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Imagine how gorgeous is the view from the motel rooms’ balconies! (Sorry, no photos of the Pisgah Inn — we were in a hurry to get to our cabin in Hendersonville by night fall!)

Chihuly at Night, Biltmore House, Asheville NC

“Glass is the most magical of all materials. It transmits light in a special way.” – Dale Chihuly

The Biltmore Gardens in Asheville NC feature acres of formal and informal gardens designed by America’s foremost landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted.

This summer the gardens are made even more special with the temporary exhibiton of Chihuly glass sculptures set in several of the gardens and the conservatory.

Most of the sculptures are set in a garden setting, amidst roses and lilies, in compositions with ornate marble sculptures, or floating midst water features. (Only one piece is in the house itself.)

These three photographs are along the walkway that leads from the Library Terace to the Walled Gardens. As it was raining the only evening we had access to the Chihuly at Night event, I spent a good amount of time in this area, setting up shots while being protected somewhat by the terrace cover. Likely these are not the pieces I would have photographed if the other garden areas had not been rained out, but I rather like this particular display, the melding of traditional and contemporary art.

 

Life is a Verb Camp 2014 – *Camp*anionship at its Finest

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Morning is Dancing © 2014 Bo Mackison

I had the great honor and privilege to attend Patti Digh’s Life is a Verb Camp 2014 last week. There, a hundred wonderful people gathered for the second annual camp near Asheville, North Carolina.

We danced by the lake at the sun rose over the tree line and the fog hovered upon Lake Kanuga, crying and laughing and hugging and offering deep support and love.We struggled though yoga moves before coffee(!!!) and breakfast while the kindest of kind instructors gently, so gently, encouraged.

We sang, some of us off key but with great exuberance, as a group of 100 vivacious, expressive, loving campers sang songs ranging from In My Wildest Dreams to Stars to Amazing Grace. The musicians were out of this world.

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Camp Kanuga, Home of Patti Digh’s Life is a Verb Camp 2014 © 2014 Bo Mackison

I slept in a Kanuga Cabin built in 1909 and on the National Register of Historic Places (for architectural history geeks like me who love that sort of detail).

Cabin 13, by the way, was one of the luckiest cabins with the kindest of cabin mates and social hour visitors, my way of thinking! Love you guys!

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Rocking Chairs Provided © 2014 Bo Mackison

I rocked on the porch with other happy campers as we took in the view of the autumn trees and the lake beyond, and felt so alive in the midst of campanionship and nature’s beauty.

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Geography of Loss Workshop – Found Poetry ©2014 Bo Mackison

I attended a pre-camp workshop presented By Patti Digh and Kim Joris on The Geography of Loss, based on Patti’s book by the same name. Oh what a day that was as a camp warm-up experience…self-awareness, discovery, opening to our stories, creating and sharing with the kindest of communities.

Tears and hugs and compassion, oh my!

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You Can Sit Here With Us © 2014 Bo Mackison

I listened to the key note presentations of two of my poet heroes, Amy Shihab Nye and Ellen Bass. And decided I could call myself a poet again!

I was mesmerized by the stories of fellow campers during the morning Focus Sessions – and I even told my own story in a presentation on bullying called You Can Sit Here With Us. 

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Tandem Typewriter Poets – Maya Stein and Amy Tingle © 2014 Bo Mackison

I attended Creative Spark workshops, one on Creating my Own Adventure (by the above creative beings), another on Being Stabby (felt making) by Deb Reynolds.

I also presented my own workshop on Desert Wisdom and the Gifts of the Desert – what a thrill for this introvert.  I pushed my anxiety aside and so loved sitting in our circle and connecting with each other through our precious gifts of self!  (Though I find it almost impossible to comprehend that I did not remember to take a single photograph during either of my workshops. I’ll just have to hold them tightly in my memory — easily done!)

I had a poem composed for me by the talented typewriter poet duo of Maya Stein and Amy Tingle. (Such wise, wise poems, delivered on the spot, nine lines on an index card.) I now cherish my two poem cards. Amazing! Thank you, Maya and Amy.

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Camp Badges, Camp Memories © 2014 Bo Mackison

We collected camp badges for doing things like showing up (which can be amazingly hard), speaking out, being ourselves, making strong offers (another way of showing up, big time), for claiming our birthright as poets.

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Patti Digh, Offering Hugs and Hope and Happiness and Humor © 2014 Bo Mackison

Of course, Camp is a Verb would not exist if it were not for Patti Digh, who had a dream, and worked incredibly to make it come true. Every time Patti appeared on stage she offered… Hugs. Hope. Happiness. Honesty. Honor. Humor. Love. Love. Love.

Patti Digh – camp director, friend, confidante, mama, organizer, creative, courageous, promoter of social justice, and human being extra-ordinaire. Patti and her troupe of volunteers turned Camp Kanuga into the brilliant Camp is a Verb 2014 with magic, synchronicity, and damn hard work.

Oh the Autumn Colors © 2014 Bo Macksion

Oh the Autumn Colors © 2014 Bo Mackison

And now only weeks away (so excited!) Life is a Verb 2016 returns to Camp Kanuga on the weekend of November 3 through 6. I highly recommend you check out the camp website if you are even the tiniest bit curious. It will be a life-changing weekend!

Community. Courage. Creativity. Wouldn’t it be fine if you were there?

Row of Rocking Chairs

Rocking on the Porch

Row of Rockers © 2013 Bo Mackison

Turning a corner in Southport, I found this porch, home to a dozen rocking chairs.

There aren’t many inspiring quotes about rocking chairs. I found that surprising. The quotes I read insinuated that only those who could do nothing else would choose to spend time rocking in a rocking chair. Or that a rocking chair doesn’t go anywhere, just rocks in place, and why spend time going nowhere?

Ah, this row of inviting rocking chairs., filled with their own history.

I noticed the rockers as I strolled past the front porch of the Walker-Pyke House in Southport, North Carolina. The building, built circa 1800, is probably the oldest residence in Southport. It is a part of Southport’s Historic District and is on the National Register of Historic Sites. That’s the historical part.

Here’s the part where this photograph becomes a metaphor.

The rockers are an invitation to sit down, slow down, relax. Enjoy the view. (Imagine the view from this front porch – across the road are a few wooden piers and the gently rolling Cape Fear River. Late season day – November – peaceful, quiet.  Blue skies, a bottle green sea. Breathe the fresh air. Ahhh.)

Perhaps it’s time to take a break.

Perhaps it’s time to turn from a hectic schedule, give your body a time out and your mind some space. Allow new ideas to percolate while you relax with the back and forth of the rocking rhythm. It’s amazing how new ideas can crystalize when the mind has some roaming time.

So many things to love about the rocking chair. An evening pause. A vacation moment. A creative spark.

Do you love rocking chairs as much as I do?

Glass House

Bottle House, Airlie Gardens

Bottle House, Airlie Gardens © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light.” ~ Norman B. Rice

There is a glass house in Airlie Gardens.

The glass house is constructed with bottles of all sorts, all colors, all donated in honor of a beloved artist who was also the garden gatekeeper for 25 years. It was created by local artist Virginia Wright-Frierson in 2004 and is called the “Minnie Evans Sculpture Garden Bottle House”.

Bottle House, Airlie Gardens

Bottle Wall © 2013 Bo Mackison

There’s a well-known proverb. “He who lives in a glass house, should not throw the first stone.”

And as the saying proclaims, if one has faults of their own, one should not criticize the faults of others. My way of thinking, we all have our faults, and so perhaps it would be appropriate for none of us to throw the first stone. Or the second. Or the third.

Sounds like a peaceful way to live – accepting each other, no stone throwing.

Close Up of Bottle House, Airlie Gardens

Close Up of Bottle House © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business.
What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.” ~ Thomas Merton

Bottle House, Airlie Gardens

Half Full, Half Empty © 2013 Bo Mackison

“It’s not, ‘is the glass half full or half empty?’ It’s ‘is there anyone around who’s thirsty and needs a drink?’” ~ Cory Booker

A glass house – an interesting place for a visit with a muse.