Wild Plant Animation

Working on on-line course development today (France used up all my vacation time, so no break for me today)...anyway stumbled on this at Google video.

Ebb and Flow

So a student and his friend have formed a new group named Ebb and Flow. Probably the only band you will ever see whose name is inspired by a type of greenhouse irrigation system. Just an acoustic guitar and a bass and lots of good jazz. Really sounded like jazzy blue-grass to me, but my use of the music vernacular is so amateur I'll have to post a sound clip when I get one and let you decide for yourself.
Adam really gets into his base playing. They are as much fun to watch as to listen to. They played during the lunch hour on Friday...made for a nice break.

No Elmo Yet...

Here is the gateway sign to our little corner of the world. It is amazing how many on-line vendors and local utility reps get a giggle out of my address when I give it to them.
Here are some shots from the back deck. This is the southeast view. There is one functional and one defunct silo in the background.
This is the hill view to the east.
and this is the mini-mountain to the west. We are really enjoying the pastorale views and the quiet. Vermont was quiet, but Sesame Street is even quieter except for the occassional cow and goat noise off in the distance.

Clashing Cultures

So things are finally mellowing out on Sesame Street, we are more or less moved in and with the exception of a dining room table and chairs, that have yet to arrive, it is feeling like home. I have begun to get a chance to get out and look around. Western North Carolina is an interesting place. A generation ago it the main industries in the area I now live in were furniture making and agriculture (mostly tobacco). As far as I can tell the most profitable industries now are construction and tourism. However, there are still a lot of locals whose families have lived here for generations. They are now sharing space with many retirees often from New England and often buying their second retirement home.

A lot of them purchase their first retirement home in Florida (no suprise) and find that in the summer and during hurricane season the weather is less than the postcard ideal they were dreaming of. The solution for many is to purchase a second retirement home for the summer through late fall in Western North Carolina. The locals call them 'halfbacks' because North Carolina is halfway back home (New England) for them.Waynesville is still a place where train operators regularly reorganize cargo from the west coast and southeast to be moved northeast. Last week when I was down at Panacea (a great hippy coffee shop in the old industrial section of town (called Frog Level)) having my mocha, there were six tankers parked across the street that were full of sulfuric acid...nice.Also in a back alley in Frog Level is this great old fading Coca Cola sign painted on the side of a building.

Smorgasbord

I had quite a few things to post and now that we are moved in I just decided to post a bunch of unrelated fun stuff. First, I finally got a copy of Adobe CS2. The image above is a picture of a moonrise over Sesame Street in the mountains of North Carolina. I applied the "plastic wrap" filter. I had to try it...not sure what I would normally use it for, but it is fun.
On campus there are two trees that have grown together. The maple (left) and oak (right) are fused for the first five feet of there trunks. If it ever has to come down I am dying to get a look at some trunk cross sections. Theoretically these two should not form a successful graft union...so my hunch is that there is a region of wound healing that has been going on for about fifty years allowing the two trees to persist.
The unholy union from another view point. The maple foliage is highlighted in green. The oak foliage is shown in orange.
We recently had a great celebration for a couple of faculty that are moving on to new chapters of their lives and it turns out almost everyone in our department (except me) is musically gifted. I got a couple of interesting shots during the impromptu jam session.
American guitar and Gambian drum.

Moving, Consolidating, and Tossing Junk

No pictures today, but I just wanted to let everyone know I am still alive. For a couple of weeks there we essentially had three homes to contend with. One in Vermont (sold), A rental in North Carolina (almost out of that), and our new home purchase in North Carolina (closed last week). I have a back log of blog updates I hope to be working on soon.

The new house is on Sesame Street. Those of you who know me best probably find that address very appropriate :-)

Everyone is very happy here. There is an abundance of rabbits which is keeping Bear on high alert and the weather is spectacular this time of year for us (it is nice not to have to contend with snow in May).