By now you've heard that we are ending the first decade of the new millennium with a blue moon. No. It won't be actually blue in color. As happens every two or three years, we will have two full moons in the same month. That phenomenon is called a blue moon. You knew that, because you are older than 5 years. Still its a neat way to end the year, and the decade.

I'm not expecting anything magical to happen. There was nothing particularly magical about Y2K, which always sounded a bit vulgar to me for some reason. And, I don't anticipate anything magical exploding into existence at the stroke of midnight tonight. I have a few acquaintances in New Zealand. They will see the new year and new decade in ahead of the rest of us. If their heads don't explode, then I'll figure that we're safe. But come to think of it, I've already known a few hard drinking kiwis heads to explode.

I think I'll play it safe tonight and stay home, right here beneath the Carolina moon.

Dread

This Year in Passing

Passing from beneath the Carolina moon this year, among others of little note, Mr. Popcorn Sutton.

(c) 2004 Melody Ko from North Carolina 24/7

Billed as the last living authority on Moonshine (he wasn't), he was none the less a folk hero to tourists and public television documentarist. Popcorn was truly a moonshiner and bootlegger (the two are different but related professions), but he'll hardly be the last. There'll probably never be another moonshiner with the personality of Popcorn Sutton, and that's maybe not necessarily a bad thing. But, As long as there is corn, yeast, cane sugar, and spring water, there'll be moonshine; Carolina moonshine.

Behind every mason jar of shine there's a moonshiner. There were a few "cookers" in my own family tree. From what I remember of family stories told winter evenings around the fire place, I don't think any of them could curse like Mr. Sutton. It's been said that his normal conversation would out curse a full battleship of sailors. And, I know none of my ancestral delegation to the mountain medicinal industry ever made a public spectacle of themselves like Mr. Sutton did.

Popcorn did make for a colorful character though, and through that, I suppose he enriched our cultural heritage. Maybe enriched is too strong a word. Embellished I think would be more proper. He often referred to his strongest shine as "five fights a pint". Yep. I think embellished is a good proper word. Popcorn Sutton embellished our cultural heritage, and did a pretty good job of embellishing his own existence.

Anyway. Here's to you Popcorn! May he rest in peace, in that special spot that he picked out himself, which may or may not be here beneath the Carolina moon. That's for Popcorn to know and the remainder of us to wonder about.

A Small Christmas but a Good Christmas

Don't blame the cat. She had no say in it, but she loves the tree!

21st Century Christmas Trends

Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties

Flashing Santas
Griswolded Houses
Nationalized Health Care
A Congress Drunk on Power Thinking Its Santa
Potted "Living" Christmas Trees

I just want an old fashioned Christmas. One like 1968 would be nice. I don't remember what I got for Christmas or what I gave. I do remember listening to the New Cristy Minstrels singing, "Go Tell It On the Mountain" on a 33 and 1/3 rpm record album. I remember my Mom's Graham Cracker, Frosted, Coconut, Gooey, Whatchamacallit Cookies. I remember my little brother's excitement. I remember my family all being together; parents, grands, kids, all of us. I remember my Dad reading us the real Christmas story on Christmas morning. I remember carolers coming by and singing at the front door. I remember being warm inside when it was cold outside. I remember that we had "happy holidays" but we didn't say that. We said "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" And, we said it with lots of feeling; good feeling. We had a live manger scene on the town square, and nobody grumbled about it. Everyone loved it. By golly, we had CHRISTMAS! What we have now is a farce.

I don't think I'm getting old and cynical. Just cynical maybe. Who wouldn't be after you've seen the best Christmases like the kids of today will never experience. But I wish they could. I wish you could. I wish I could. I wish we all could experience Christmas like it was, just one more time. I bet that would shake up this country! Then this century might have some hope after all. I guess that's my true Christmas wish. From here beneath the Carolina moon, I wish you and yours, the best of Christmases!

Dread

My Christmas Wish

Remember these guys? A visit with them has become a Christmas tradition for me. It's not Christmas without Clark and Eddie around the house. For the most part I find Christmas, as it has come to be celebrated, a stressful pain. However, an early viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, may have helped put me in a more attuned Christmas spirit this year. My heart is beginning to feel that little tingle of magic, that whispers in your head, "It's Christmas!"

So, remembering Clark's unique Christmas wish for his family, and how it got answered, I have my own Christmas wish this year for our whole country.

Merry Christmas America!
from here beneath the Carolina moon

Local State Park Lake

The Divine Miss N and I spent a cloudy Sunday afternoon walking the shoreline of a local lake. She snapped a few pictures of interesting plant growth, colorful mushrooms, tree trunks with character, and scenes from the shoreline. This is one of those. Surrounded by God's beautiful creations, we drank it in and brought home a sampling, in pictures and in our hearts.

There's just no other I want to be with, nor place I'd rather be, than with Miss N, right here, beneath the Carolina moon.

This Holloween Post Needs a Title

In the recent decade, pumpkin carving has bloomed into an art form far removed from the typical scary jack-o-lantern face with jagged teeth. I've a kit of tiny saw blades and tools myself and have carved out a few intricate creative pieces over the years. I've never carved one quiet like the one illustrated above; "Mudflap Babe", as the silhouette profile is known. However, I wanted to feature this unusual pumpkin carving here to illustrate a couple of points.

The first point being that while Mudflap Babe is a sexy silhouette, she's not as beautiful or as sexy as, the image of someone like, say Marilyn Monroe.

The Divine Miss N went as Marilyn on costume day for Halloween at work this year. It was really scary! You know why? Because, while Marilyn looked an awful lot like Miss N, she wasn't as near beautiful or as sexy as Miss N. Which brings me to my second point, but I've kind of forgotten what it was now. The beautiful Miss N tends to affect me that way.

I don't know if that's called relational logic or evolution. Oh well. I've gone from Mudflap Babe, to Marilyn Monroe, to the Divine Miss N. Maybe Darwin was right. While there seldom is logic, maybe there is evolution; at least here, beneath the Carolina moon.

First Snow

The Devine Miss N favored me with her company on a trek Saturday up into the Smokies, where we hit the Blue Ridge Parkway heading south toward Mount Pisgah. We were there to view the autumn tree colors. I think it was somewhere along Bad Gap that the southern leg of the parkway was closed and traffic was being turned back. We lingered for a while at the overlook, and it began to snow. Wow! Snow on October 17 in the Carolinas is unique, even for North Carolina (where we were). It was a magical moment that gave us both that tingly, excited kid, giggly feeling. I haven't a clue otherwise how to explain the feeling, but I'm sure you've experienced it.

After a bit we headed back down the mountains where it wasn't snowing, and then took a trek out the other end of the Parkway, headed north. We hadn't ventured very far when we began to see snow again. Then it began to get to be more and more. The higher the road climbed the more snow there was. Finally we ran into another gate that had the northern end of the Parkway closed. The picture above was taken out the car window with a crackberry phone and isn't very good. But, if you click on it so it will enlarge you can see the white dusting covering the upper section of the mountains.

It was a fantastically beautiful sight, and an almost mystical experience. It felt like God had let us catch him at work in a private moment, just as a special treat. There were only a few other people on the Parkway, so who knows? Maybe he picked us for the private viewing.

Dread

Reality; That Land Far Far Away

I’ve been around the block a few times, but eventually I found the driveway. And eventually, I found that it was always easier to find the driveway sober, so I put aside alcohol consumption. People drink to escape reality, but alcohol doesn’t provide a true escape from reality. It warps one’s perception of reality. And, people who respond to, or act out of, a warped perception of reality, eventually warp the real world in ways that are not beneficial to anyone or anything; especially themselves.

People who to some degree shape their world in ways which benefit them and others, with outcomes close to their intentions, seem to be a bit more happier and well adjusted than those who find that their efforts to shape the world tend to screw it up and make it worse. Have you ever tried to thread a needle while viewing it through a glass of gin? How did that would work for you?

I believe it was Sir Walter Scott who penned the phase, "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive” to which I would add one word, “ourselves”. I’ll be glad when the news media covering the current White House administration sobers up. They’ve already missed the driveway far too many times, and I feel like I’m a Star Trek stowaway. Its warp factor nine Scotty! She’s gonna blow Captain!

Do you know anyone who believes our news media anymore? Woops! There goes the driveway again.

You Lie!

Okay, the logic goes like this: Barack Obama told a bold face lie, and that made Joe Wilson turn into a racist. Wow! That's some magic spell Obama's got there!

There are over 300 different types of dementia. How many of them do you think Jimmy Carter has?

Sailing into the Sunset

Walter Cronkite has sailed into the sunset. That's newsworthy enough for me to come out of my self imposed sabatical; at least momentarily. Cronkite defined journalism at its highest state. Whether you write commentary, report news, or do special interests pieces, you now have a huge void to fill. Collectively, I don't think that we can fill it, but we owe it to "Uncle Walter" to give it our best. Somehow, I feel that he always gave us his. And that's the way it was.

Dread

Mistakes We All Make At Least Once

I think I can make it with a good running start...

Smart people learn from their mistakes, but the smartest people learn from other people's mistakes. Ever hear that before? Sure you have. Did it make a difference in your life? Did you begin to ask other's before you leap? Maybe just a little, every once in a while? Do you still plunge head first into what seems like a good idea at the time, only to find out that others had made that mistake before, if only you'd asked? Why is it that there are some mistakes that no matter how many times someone else has already made them, we just find it necessary to repeat the experiment in failure all over again?

I took the job for less money, but they promised to review my salary in 90 days.

A little breath freshner and my parents will never know that I'm sloshed.

I won't get caught speeding, I've never seen a cop around here.

I don't need those pads. I'm just skateboarding down the drive.

See, you can walk on ice if you're careful.

Yeah, he's bigger and stonger than me, but I still think I can take him.

I can put Blogger adsense ads on my blog, and get relevant ads placed so that I make lots of money when people click on them, but the first ad I get is an ad about "geek babes" and other assorted tasteless drivil.

Talk to me. What was your favorite common mistake?

Posted by Dread who made the mistake of putting Blogger ads on this blog.

Flip Flop Weather

No fashionistas, I am not talking about that blasphemy of footwear when I say flip flop weather! I'm actually talking about weather that flip flops, like a politician. I took the above picture in a neighbor's yard with the crackberry phone about three weeks ago. Then the below picture was taken exactly a week later, which was two weeks ago.

Then, a week ago it was sunny and 83 degrees Farenheiht. Today, a week later, it's 43 and raining. It's true; if you don't like our weather, just wait 15 minutes. If you really, really, don't like it, give it week.

Posted by Dread, who is wondering what kind of alergies only show up in rainy weather.

Snow Day!

Paradise Inn, Mount Rainier, Washington. During the winter of 1916-1917, 789.5 inches of snow fell at Paradise Inn. When this photo was taken, in March 1917, the snow was 27 feet deep. To paraphrase John Denver, "Thank God I'm a southern boy!"
More specifically; "Thank God I'm a Carolina boy!"

It has been snowing and sleeting here off and on all morning. There is no accumulation though because the temperature is above freezing. It's about time we got a little taste of winter. It's been years since we had a real winter here or a real snow that actually stuck on the ground and you could make a down hill sleigh run. The daffodils were already sprouting several inches through the ground last week.

Now as to why I posted a picture from Paradise Inn, Mount Rainier, Washington on this blog about the south; specifically the Carolinas... My former boss moved to Washington state near that site last year. All I have to say about that is; HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! AH HAH HAH HAH! AH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!

That wasn't very civil of me was it?

AH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!

Posted by Dread who will soon be planting seed trays for setting out in the spring, and is still snickering about his former boss.

A Second Handed House in a Second Handed Season

I call this shot the Second Handed House in a Second Handed Season, because it reminds me of the house in the movie, "Second Handed Lions". If you haven't seen that movie, it's a must! It would not have been a big box office splash, because teens and young people mostly wouldn't get it. But, if you're under 13 or over 30, you need to see Robert Duvall and Michael Cain portray people who "really lived."

I consider autumn and winter to be second handed seasons, because, generally I don't like them. Spring and Summer are my cup of tea. Although this past autumn was one of the most beautiful in my memory, most years I don't enjoy autumn because its the forerunner of winter, which in my mind is just another brick through the windshield of life that you have to try to survive and get through.

Anywho, I forget who shot this pic this fall; Miss N, or myself. It really doesn't matter as it was a shared experience anyway. We were tooling around the Carolina mountains enjoying the cool crisp air and the magnificent colors of the 2008 autumn. I think this picture was taken sometime in late October.

Posted by Dread who thinks maybe he should share some more of the 2008 autumn pix.