The 12 Chairs

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A non-white parrot at Bali Bird Park without red shorts

I'm reading Ilf & Petrov's The Twelve Chairs -- a hilarious book about the early days of Soviet Russia. Mel Brooks even made a movie based on the book. There are many funny lines in the book -- including this one:


"...the three room apartment was occupied by an immaculately white parrot in red shorts. The parrot was riddled with fleas, but could not complain since it was unable to talk. For days on end it used to crack sunflower seeds and spit the husks through the bars of its tall, circular cage onto the carpet. It only needed a concertina and new squeaky galoshes to resemble a peasant on a spree."

I laughed so hard after reading that line because I can actually see it.  There are many descriptive and funny moments in this book -- about life in the "new" Russia -- written before the Soviet censors really began to take themselves and their insane bureaucracy -- seriously.

Ancient Graffiti

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I wasn't sure I was seeing the actual rock art at Paint Rock, so I checked with the North Carolina Museum of History website -- just to make sure. It would be easy to mistake the pictograph for modern-day graffiti. However, this graffitti, from somewhere around 2500 B.C. has withstood the test of time.

Here is the description of the rock art -- as described on the website of the N.C. Museum of History:

"The pictograph at Paint Rock, located on a vertical rock cliff near the French Broad River, is an intricate rectilinear pattern in red and yellow. The design is similar to that found on Mississippian-period ceramics in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. An estimated half of the original pictograph exists today; the rest has faded or chipped off. The design and condition of the paint suggest that Paint Rock dates from the Mississippian period or later."

21st Century Rock Art at Paint Rock near Hot Springs, NC

The Long and Short of It

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I had thought I was pretty good at judging distances -- miles, kilometers, etc. So, when I go on a hike, I go until I figure that I've walked a couple of miles and turn around and head back. I'm always exhausted when I get back even though I consider myself in pretty decent shape -- regular trips to the gym, hiking, etc.

Yesterday, I bought a hiking book that lists just about all the trails that I've been hiking and a bunch more.  Wow!  I was in for a surprise and now realize why I am so tired when I get back to my Jeep.  The trail that I had thought was around three miles or so -- is actually closer to eight -- another trail that I thought was six miles -- is ten.

I think I am just completely getting lost in the forest -- in terms of mileage.

Having not lived and hiked, regularly, in these awesome mountains in a very long while, I just become enchanted by the gurgling streams, the waterfalls, the creaking trees, the wind whispering through the white pines, the shrieking sound of the Blue Jay and everything else in the woods.

I'm sticking the book and map in my knapsack.

Pond at Mill Ridge near Hot Springs, NC

Appalachian Trail near Mill Ridge

French Broad River at Paint Rock

The High Rock

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A fairly easy hike, except for the briars and brambles, is up to the high rock. I hiked up an old logging road and then up a rounded ridge -- suddenly just before you reach the top -- the upper third of the rock comes into view. Once on top -- the rock sits down the other side of the mountain about 50 yards.  It is quite a beauty.  On this particular day, the winds were pretty high and I didn't stick around too long since there were some dead trees and limbs along the trail.

Now you see them....

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It was an awesome morning for a late winter hike. Warm weather, a bit overcast -- and slight threat of rain. As I drove toward the trailhead -- Mill Ridge, near Hot Springs, NC, it began to rain -- just enough to put the wipers on -- intermittent.

At the trail head, I snapped the above photo -- the blue ridges very prominent -- except in the far distant --where everything was faded gray. I decided to hike onto the bare hillside and suddenly there was  a not-far-off rumble of thunder -- off in the distance -- I thought I could hear water going over falls. All the while, those blue ridges were getting grayer and grayer.

A few seconds later, I saw the sheet of rain in the timber a hundred yards off -- moving rapidly in my direction. I began walking quickly back to the Jeep -- just as I opened the door -- huge raindrops began to pound my back. I watched the hard rain from the vehicle -- hypnotic as it splattered on the windshield. 

Adventures with Foreclosures

Tweet I've been checking out foreclosures in the area and am still looking for that diamond in the rough, but the hunt has been an adventure.

First rule: the photos always look much better than the actual property. This leads to the second rule: never get your hopes up.

One place had such a low ceiling that if you were taller than six feet, you had to constantly duck -- this place also had a support column in front of the sink and counter space -- you would have to straddle the column to wash dishes or prepare food. In the basement, there was a finished apartment -- although I'm being generous with the word "finished."  Behind the shower was a cubby-hole that looked like it might have been a torture chamber -- quite scary.

Still another place had two full bathrooms -- literally side by side -- a doorway connected them. Stepping into the kitchen, it was a huge mistake to open the freezer -- not sure what was in there, but I can still smell it! Nasty!

Just yesterday, as I was touring a house -- that was supposed to be empty -- a guy popped his head out of a bedroom -- looking very surprised and then slammed the door and bolted it. He refused to allow us inside. I guess he decided not to sell at the last minute.

I'm still looking -- and I have to say that half the fun is never knowing what/who you are going to find -- but I am leaving the refrigerators closed -- that's an adventure for the real estate agent.

No Name Band

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Stumbled on these guys during a stroll February 6th in downtown Savannah, Georgia. They were doing cover songs -- Aerosmith, Led Zep, etc -- and were actually pretty good.  They put a lot of passion in their music. The guy on keyboards -- in a green knit cap and wearing gloves -- was not actually playing. He was going through the motions, but for some reason, the keyboard wasn't connected up to the sound system.

It was a cool evening, but there was a decent crowd.  After watching for a while, I headed to my hotel room to watch the final thrilling quarter of the Super Bowl.

Hotel Shower Heads

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Shower heads are not what they used to be -- particularly in hotels. Granted, the hotels are probably trying to save on their water bills, but the last few hotels that I've stayed in -- I could hardly get the soap off my body with the amount of water that was coming from the shower heads. Ultimately, you wind up staying in the shower longer, using more water.

These are mainstream, mid-priced hotels. At least one of the hotels was a four-star.

I used to always ask to see the room in advance just to check for cleanliness and bed comfort, but I think I am going to add "check the water flow in the shower head" to my future checklist.

Florida's Gold Coast

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 The sand is so white on stretches of Florida's panhandle that you could easily mistake it for snow. I've seen a lot of beaches, but this stretch of beach near Panama City is one of the most beautiful. Unfortunately, there is a lot of development around it.

Sunrise at Cocoa Beach, Florida - February 9, 2011

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Happily Lost in Space

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I spent part of the day this week at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and it is a great way to get totally consumed by space. From the moment you leave the car -- you delve into the space program.  First, I spotted some of the early rockets in the 'rocket garden,' next, I went to a short talk by a former shuttle astronaut, Bob Springer, and then it was over to the Space Shuttle Simulation ride.  Pretty cool ride, by the way.  As a bonus, Shuttle Discovery was sitting on launch pad 39B -- reminding me of the days when I covered the shuttle launches for the AP. There's nothing like watching a shuttle lift off the pad -- from about as close as you can get, safely -- about three miles. The sheer power of seeing, hearing and feeling it -- left me almost speechless the first time I experienced it.

Everything around is about space -- and, of course, that's the whole point -- but I found myself getting completely lost in space and forgetting about everything else. I felt like a kid again -- and dreaming about flying in space and traveling to places like Mars and the Moon.

The whole visitor complex is well organized and I don't mean for this to be a plug for KSC, but they've done a great job -- making the exhibits interesting and informative. For instance, I had forgotten how close Neil Armstrong came to not walking on the moon that July day in 1969 -- after technical problems almost fouled everything up.

By the end of the day, I had felt as though I'd traveled to outer space and back -- and, to a degree, thanks to the exhibits -- understood how, technically, it is accomplished.

Ten Gators

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I spent two years in Timor-Leste and heard lots of stories and rumors about crocodiles, but I never saw a single one the whole time I was there. The closest that I came was photographs. Er...and the zoo in Bali.

I have to say I didn't mind it so much -- my biggest fear was to find myself face to face with a Mr. Croc -- while snorkeling.

Today,  I spent a few hours at Florida's Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge near Titusville and spotted ten alligators -- safely from a distance of about 10 feet. All ten critters were sunning themselves along a canal -- enjoying the warm 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Some were pretty hard to spot -- and it was a lot of fun -- creeping along the dirt road at 10 mph -- trying to spot them.

 Can you spot the gator in the photo below?

At Poe's in Richmond

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Hidden away at the corner of 20th and Main is the Edgar Allan Poe Museum. I've visited a number of times and it's always deserted. I've found that many of museums and homes dedicated to American writers meet the same fate. Last year, when I visited William Faulkner's home in Oxford, Mississippi, I had the place to myself. Similarly, when I visit the Thomas Wolfe house in Asheville, North Carolina.

I was a bit disappointed on this latest visit to the Poe Museum because the Raven Room was nevermore....er...no more.  I always enjoyed reading The Raven in the upstairs room painted red. 

Walk in the Woods

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These last few posts have had a snow theme due to the continuing heavy snowfall here in western North Carolina's mountains.

Having spent two years in the tropics and arriving back in the states just in time for winter, I had forgotten the thrill of wandering in deep snow in the trees. I went for a short hike today in the woods I also had forgotten the deep sense of silence the blanket of snow creates. I found it so refreshing to just stand on the mountainside and listen to the silence -- with the silence decorated by the occasional bird song or a squirrel jumping from one tree branch to another.

                                                     Below is my hiking partner, Claudia.

With the temperature hovering around the 20 degree Fahrenheit mark, the timber around me was creaking and popping in the light wind. It gives a new definition to woodwinds.  

Conversation is Decorated Silence

Tweet I was listening to a BBC piece today on poetry and one of the guests, in a reference to the rhythm of poetry used this phrase: "conversation is decorated silence." He said it was from the Elizabethan period. I like to think of sound in this way, particularly in the context that he was using it -- he had just listened to a poem in Serbian -- a language he doesn't understand -- and then heard it translated into English. He said he felt the essence of what the poem was about upon  hearing it in Serbian -- because of the rhythm and expression in the poet's voice.

To think of sounds in this manner, in some ways, makes it easier to tolerate those sounds that I might feel inappropriate in certain settings -- loud music in restaurants for instance -- at least a temporary tolerance. I would probably wind up walking out of the restaurant ultimately.