"East Meets West"

You're invited!

What: Please join us Friday night for the opening night of East Meets West: The Photography of Mark W. Peacock and Michael H. Kaal. A photography exhibit featuring the natural and scenic beauty of Appalachia and Arizona. Live music provided by Pat Whisnant on violin.

When: This Friday, October 1, from 7-9 p.m. (Exhibit remains up throughout the month of October).

Where: Nelson Fine Art Center, 324 East Main Street, Johnson City, TN (Map here)

I'm excited to have the opportunity to meet and say hello to those who've been following this blog! Hope to see you there!

From the news release...

contemplation

I must stay alone and know that I am alone to contemplate and feel nature in full; I have to surrender myself to what encircles me, I have to merge with my clouds and rocks in order to be what I am.
--Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) German landscape painter

The South Holston River outside Bristol, TN at dawn. Click here for directions.

choosing to see

To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle. 
--George Orwell (1903-1950) English author

Sprouts from moss on the forest floor.

channels of light

As we become purer channels for God's light, we develop an appetite for the sweetness that is possible in this world. A miracle worker is not geared toward fighting the world that is, but toward creating the world that could be. 
--Marianne Williamson (b.1952) American Author and Lecturer  

Sunlight streams through the densely-growing red spruce trees on the summit of Unaka Mountain. 

to the hilt

It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth— and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had. 
--Elisabeth Kubler Ross (1926-2004) psychiatrist and author 

the melody of the highlands

I heard a neigh, Oh, such a brisk and melodious neigh it was. My very heart leaped with the sound.
--Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) American novelist.

To be honest, the wild ponies at the Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia aren't all that wild. Though park officials have policies against visitors petting and feeding the ponies, rustle a plastic wrapper and they'll come right to you. So something tells me that rule isn't strictly followed. One family I saw brought an apple for a treat -- at least it was a healthy snack. There are usually a few small herds of ponies at different parts of the park, so wander around the trails and you'll eventually find them. We didn't see any on our way up to Wilburn Ridge from Massey Gap, but on our way down we came across two different groups of ponies (maybe a total of eight or ten). Once a year the ponies are rounded up and checked out for health problems - but other than that they're pretty much left alone to graze in the beautiful Grayson Highlands. See yesterday's post for more information about the park.

Grayson Highlands

The hills are alive,

With the sound of music

With songs they have sung

For a thousand years

The hills fill my heart,

With the sound of music

My heart wants to sing

Every song it hears

--Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) American composer--

Above: The view from Wilburn Ridge (elevation 5526) in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area in Southwest Virginia. To get here, enter the spectacular Grayson Highlands State Park, park at Massey Gap and hike up to the ridge taking either the Appalachian Trail or the Rhododendron Gap trail (approx. 2 miles). Along the way you'll have outstanding vistas from the naturally occuring balds loaded with wildflowers. You may even encounter some of the wild ponies for which the Grayson Highlands are best known. Definitely worth the trip! For more information about the park, click here and here. To see previous photos taken in winter, click here.

Directions: 
From Tri-Cities, TN: take I-81 to Exit 19 (Abingdon, VA), go east on Route 58 about 37 miles to the park entrance. It's a very windy, but scenic road, so allow plenty of time.

From Elizabethton, TN: take Highway 91 (Stony Creek Road) approximately 34 miles through Shady Valley and Backbone Rock to Damascus, VA. Once in Damascus, turn right onto US Rt. 58. Follow Rt. 58 signs and proceed 26.3 miles to the park entrance on your left. Continue on this main park road 3.5 miles to Massey Gap. (There's a $3 fee per car).

Washington County Courthouse

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.
—George Washington, letter to Robert Howe, August 17, 1779

Above: The Washington County Courthouse, located in Jonesborough, the oldest town in Tennessee. When established in 1777 (named of course to honor General Washington), Washington County was on the frontier - and belonged to the North Carolina territory. In 1796, Washington County, NC was transferred to the newly established state of Tennessee. Here's a photo of the previous 1842 courthouse, which was torn down in 1912 to make way for the courthouse you see above, which was completed in 1913. In all, this is the sixth courthouse to occupy this site.

Jonesborough is home to the International Storytelling Festival, held the first weekend of October. Click here for more information.

Click here to visit the Historic Jonesborough website. The old downtown is a terrific place to visit - lots of great shops and restaurants.

the pursuit of beauty

There is certainly no absolute standard of beauty. That precisely is what makes its pursuit so interesting.
--John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) economist

A photo taken from the Beauty Spot on Unaka Mountain earlier this year.

teach me more

You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters. 
--St. Bernard (1090-1153) French Monk, Saint and Doctor of the Church

close your eyes and imagine

I look out the window sometimes to seek the color of the shadows and the different greens in the trees, but when I get ready to paint I just close my eyes and imagine a scene.

--Grandma Moses (born Anna Mary Robertson) (1860-1961) American folk painter

Sunlight filtering through the mist and trees on Unaka Mountain.

simple pleasures

I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls off a string.
--author unknown

Above: Beads of water on a spider's web after the rain.

buck wild

Pick a theme and work it to exhaustion... the subject must be something you truly love or truly hate.
--Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) American documentary photographer 

Above: A deer at Bay's Mountain Park in Kingsport, TN - so not really a buck in the wild. It looks to be the same deer resting in just about the same spot as I photographed earlier this year. As Lange said, pick a theme and work it. :)

What Ansel Adams was to landscape photography, Dorothea Lange was to documentary photography. She is best known for her work with the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression, documenting the plight of the poor and forgotten in rural America. You will probably recognize her most famous photograph entitled Migrant Mother. If you've never seen Lange's emotional and gripping work, head over to one of my favorite websites, Shorpy.com where dozens and dozens of her photographs are displayed, along with descriptions (and the ability to view each photo full size).

eies and eares

Fieldes have eies and woods have eares.

--John Heywood (1497-1580) English writer--

Stepping outside on my way to work I was surprised to see this deer standing in the woods behind my house. He didn't move as I went inside to grab my camera. It's surprising how curious these animals are. Sometimes I think they're as interested in us as we are of them.

a matter of perspective

The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective. 
--Al Neuharth (b.1924) American businessman and author

The view from Horseback Ridge on Unaka Mountain looking out toward Buffalo Mountain in the distance. For directions and a discussion of all there is to see and do on Unaka Mountain, click here.

Natural Tunnel State Park

The tunnel found at Natural Tunnel State Park, just south of Duffield, VA, was once called the Eighth Wonder of the World by statesman William Jennings Bryan. The 850 foot long tunnel is wide enough for both Stock Creek and and a railroad line to fit through. The railroad was originally constructed in 1882 to carry coal from Southwest Virginia to Bristol, TN. The tracks soon accommodated a passenger line running from Bristol to Louisville, KY. While passenger service through the tunnel ceased in the 1940s, about 10 trains of coal a day continue to move through the tunnel today.

To descend to the gorge, visitors can either hike the quarter-mile Tunnel Trail or better yet, take the park's chairlift down. It's a steep and exciting ride with great views -- and a bargain for only $3 roundtrip. And while the tunnel is a fascinating formation, the 400 foot tall limestone cliffs encircling the tunnel gorge are just as spectacular. Another short trail leads to what is said to be the oldest home built in Scott County that has been reconstructed nearby. After a quick ride back to the top, I recommend taking the trail that leads around the edge of the cliff to a dizzying view known as lover's leap.

Also found in the park are a vistors center and museum, numerous other trails, campgrounds, cabin and lodge rentals, swimming pool and picnic areas.

Directions: Natural Tunnel State Park is in Scott County, about 13 miles north of Gate City, VA and 20 miles north of Kingsport, TN. Take I-26 west through Kingsport, which will turn into U.S. 23, passing through Weber City and Gate City. The turn-off to the park is at mile marker 17.4 on Rt. 23. Turn right and take Natural Tunnel Parkway about one mile east to park entrance. Click here to visit the official park website and to download a map of the park.

walk beside me

Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
--Albert Camus (1913-1960) French writer

The trail to the Roan Mountain High Bluff Overlook. The road leading up to the top of the Roan (which includes the Cloudland Site, Rhododendron Garden and Trail to the High Bluff Overlook) is still closed and will remain closed for the rest of the year. It's supposed to be reopened in time for the June 2011 Rhododendron Festival.  So if you go, you'll have to park at Carver's Gap and either hike up to the Balds (which is an amazing hike) or hike up the Roan to the Cloudland site (which actually isn't as steep a hike as you might imagine).