Loose Leaf Notes

1. So the car air conditioning quit and the heat was brutal on the drive to Asheville from Charleston via Folly Beach. We stopped at a gas station to cool down and got cold drinks in the adjacent McDonalds.  That’s where Joe and I watched Obama on TV sing Amazing Grace at the Charleston funeral of the hate crime victims.  That’s when we understood why the security was so tight in Charleston (where we were  just an hour before), causing us to forgo a horse buggy tour of the city because so many roads were closed off.

2. I was already feeling emotional watching Obama honor the nine innocent people who had been shot in their church by a sick young man when ticker tape news flashed at the bottom of the screen announcing that the Supreme Court ruled that same sex marriage was legal in all states.  I surprised myself by breaking down in tears.  I guess I hadn’t been fully aware of how much sadness I was carrying for people who have been treated like second class citizens and hated just for wanting the freedom to be themselves.

3. The above photo is of a bug-eyed bug that I discovered on my porch.  HERE is a video clip of its weirdness.

4. The moon is a D cup!  See HERE. 

5. Here’s what world famous hippie, David Crosby, had to say about Justice Scalia’s dissent to the same sex marriage ruling, which said in part, “Freedom of Intimacy is abridged rather than expanded by marriage. Ask the nearest hippie.” – “I think he’s slagging gays and hippies.  I don’t think he understands either one. I think he’s an old reactionary guy and I think he’s failing to understand the basic thing: hippies and gay people are people. And we are citizens. And we live here. And we are his neighbors. He may not know that, but we are. And that’s how he should see us. As citizens of the United States. Voters. People who should be equal. That was the idea of the country. Not ‘maybe.’ There’s no ‘if’ about that, no gray area there. The idea was that people would be equal here – all of us. Hippies and gay people included. Black people, white people, yellow people — all people. People.”

6. Can you barbeque on a kiln that gets as hot as 2,350 degrees Fahrenheit? Find out in THIS Southern Uncovered with the Lee Brothers interview with my Asheville Potter son Josh.

7. At Folly Beach we ate seafood off Frisbees and dug a hole to China on the beach because the family that plays together (especially in the mud) stays together. See that and Josh’s friend Gabe try to impress some girls in bikinis with a hula hoop HERE.

8. Is having the feeling that you’re being watched a mental illness or a religion?

9. Watching four-year-old Liam play video games is almost like watching him have a seizure! His dad had the same body movements when he played video games as a kid.  Watch HERE.

10. “Why is there a train here?” Liam asked when we were in Asheville and he saw the Airstream trailer (aka the Land Yacht) that Josh used to lived in.  Both boys bravely used an outhouse for the first time, and there were lots of places to take cover in their army play games. – Read more from the post on the family barn raising at Josh’s potter’s homestead HERE. 

11. We came home from our family vacation to two dead chickens which we assume were killed by the bandit culprit above.  On the other hand, the deer and our chickens are friends (see below).

12. “What’s unique about Floyd is its residents. Locals describe the population as a fusion of tie-dye and overalls. Originally a farming community, the town experienced a rebirth in the 1970s, when a group of counterculturists moved in. Drawn to the town’s organic roots, natural beauty, and lack of land restrictions, the “hippies” established a community dedicated to living close to the land. The contrast between a conservative farming community and entrepreneurial artisans, musicians, and New Agers might be contentious in most places, but that union defines the vibe here.” – More from a story on Floyd in the Baltimore Magazine HERE.

13. The bug above is an Eyed Elater, but what kind of bug is THIS? 

______Thirteen Thursday