It's a Gas thing.

Asheville, and the Western North Carolina region is apparently suffering form a shortage of Gas. As in gasoline. For cars. Which cannot run without it. This I pondered as I sat in LINE for ONE HOUR and 15 minutes today, one block from the station...why, how, when...

Is it like 1942 or something? Did I fall into a time warp? Of course, the gas prices aren't .40 cents per gallon, more like $4.00+ so I feel sure that I am in the correct century, but GEE-ee-ee-eeZ.

The Mayor (who, by the way, cannot form words without stumbling and tripping all over herself) said "normalcy will return to the area in 5-10 days". EXCUSE ME? Somehow I don't feel reassured. She offered no explanation for the shortage, asked people to stop driving across town to fill up or 'top off', and reminded the community to pull together.
HUH?
Don't drive across town? Well, when there are only FIVE gas stations in the city with gas, we are all scramblin'! (bet she doesn't have to wait in line...)

But seriously, every a.m. the radio stations begin announcing which stations have gas, and for what price. Lines have formed by 6:30 into the streets, backed up and causing major clusterf*cks everywhere. There have been fist-fights, wrecks, and all-out brawls in the name of filling up your car with gasoline.

Signing off with REM's words..."it's the end of the world as we know it...."

Fun a 'TOP' the mountain

At SkyTop apple Farm!
Our annual trip up to the top of Pinnacle Mountain in search of the best apples ever!
This year we came home with a 1/2 bushel and a Peck bag full.
The day was perfect, gorgeous fall mountain weather, and plenty of apples at the top of trees(for the boys' climbing pleasure), and plenty down low for the little ones to grab with eager hands, cups of freshly made apple cider, and a big tree under which to plop down and take in the mountain views.

So, it's been a little while...

It really has been almost three months since I posted anything to my blog. It is unbelievable how time just keeps marching onward while I look twice and three months have passed.
My children have grown, progressed - 5th grade, 2nd grade, and Kindergarten. My baby is going to be 3 on Sunday. Can that be? No more babies around my house...? I tell myself that it is what is supposed to occur, that time must move forward. Then I see glimpses of toddlerhood in his smile, or see her sit there and cuddle her "mine-mine", sneaking sucks of her passy when she thinks no one is watching. Little does she know that these are my favorite times to sit and gaze at her, in awe of what love can create.
I watched my eldest son walk toward the school bus this morning, realizing that his gait is exactly like his father's. These days I see him slowly beginning to try on ideas of the kind of man he wants to be someday. He is entering the most confusing time of his life, and really, there is no way I can prepare him for all that he will go through. We all had to walk through it - those uncomfortable-yet-thrilling formative years - some made it while others, succumbing to the pressure or pain, did not.
I have no real post idea today, no witty stories or cute moments to share, but yet still felt like writing something. I am in a state of melancholy, albeit unexplainable. Maybe it is because of the anniversary of 9/11, and the fact that many people are thinking of those they lost, of the tragedy and unspeakable horror of that crystal clear day. Indeed, has the sky ever been more blue than on that horrific day in American history?
And yet, time moves on, relentless and without regard of what it leaves in it's wake. People pass on out of this world, babies are born, seasons continue to change, tragedies still happen without warning.
We must adapt, live on, love on, and persist.

Peace.