Remarkable Journeys

Did you know?
—That all carrots are not orange?
—That despite their color, lilac colored peppers taste like green peppers?
—That hand-blown glass beads look like rare jewels?
—That oatmeal-raisin cookies can be made thick as a really great hamburger and just as round?
—That goat cheese comes in many flavors?
—There are more varieties of potatoes than you have aunts and uncles?
—That  a peach and cheddar cheese Danish is one of the tastiest things on the planet?
—There are yarn balls that could serve as planets on Star Trek?
—What a guyascutas is?  [pronounced: guy-us-cutt-us].

Yep. Uyup. Right heeyah. I learned all this and MO-AH at the Rutland Farmers Market downtown in the “squa-yah”. Continue reading →

Prancing along the stream bank I was all-at-once: Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest on a handsome steed; Alan-a-Dale, Troubadour of Robin’s Merry Men, and the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. The roller coaster trail through the hemlocks: my avenue to glory; my connection with a wonderful world of adventure and honorable conduct with valor. Continue reading →

Cloud formations like metropolises in the distant sky.

How'd they do that?

Under azure blue skies white puffy clouds glide along on the wind—this is beautiful farm country, especially if you are fond of barn architecture, well crafted stone walls and foundations—I saw one farm with an old, stone foundation out front, perhaps the first small house on the land. The house is gone but the stone foundation is a beauty, just sittin’ there lookin’ pretty.

Christmas tree farm-rows march like soldiers up and down the hillsides and, much to little Minna’s delight, bunnies by the hundreds play and hop away from our path. As we drive along at a leisurely pace, an Indigo Bunting and its mate play in the trees near an old duck pond on a side road, where we found a turtle crossing, round the bendfrom yet another Missionary Baptist  church. This part of Pennsylvania is a down-home paradise where the people are friendly, the “carn is up,” and green tomatoes are beginning to weigh down their vines; where the deer are plenty, song birds bring tears to your eyes, and the shamrock blossoms have unfolded, pink and white, like upside-down parachutes open in the grass. Continue reading →

Being a cook or a writer or a photographer equally requires vision: a sense of what flavors result when certain tastes and textures come together, the right ingredients, and the finished dish in your mind’s eye. These combined start the salivary glands humming: alerting all of the senses, inspiring creativity in a tasty recipe, a great paragraph or a memorable photographic image. Continue reading →

A Remarkable Journeys’ People Profile

Approaching the college-town hamlet on SR 64 in North Carolina known as Brevard, my keen photographic eye aided by my natural curiosity, observed to my left a long row of beautifully ingrained, huge, stone slabs placed strategically in the view of passers-by. At the time I was rushing to find new lodging, but my unconscious mind made a mental note: “return to rock slabs soon.” Continue reading →