Appalachian Mountain Dreams

Commuting Muse

As I made the commute in to work this morning my thoughts turned to the physical differences between the place I am in and the place where I want to be. The two words that came to mind were FLAT and STRAIGHT. The flat is the nature of the place I call home. I don’t know that I can describe

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Valle Crucis, NC

This shot isn’t mine, my eldest daughter took this one in Valle Crucis behind the Mast General Store. I have taken shots of the same scene, but I like hers better. Here’s my shot of the front of the store… It seems that every time we visit Valle Crucis we end up making at least a half dozen trips to

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The False Hope of Biofuels

I know we are all holding out great hopes for biofuels, but these nagging pieces keep showing up in the papers… The False Hope of Biofuels: “Biofuels such as ethanol made from corn, sugar cane, switchgrass and other crops are being touted as a ‘green’ solution for a large part of America’s transportation problem. Auto manufacturers, Midwest corn farmers and

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The Blog of Henry David Thoreau

The Blog of Henry David Thoreau: Thursday, June 22, 2006Thoreau’s Journal: 22-Jun-1851As I walk the railroad causeway, I notice that the fields and meadows have acquired various tinges as the season advances, the sun gradually using all his paints. There is the rosaceous evening red tinge of red clover,—like an evening sky gone down under the grass,—the whiteweed tinge, the

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