Welcome to Friday. A weekend! Gratitude for another day. The simple beauty of dawn drifting towards the fullness of the day, weather becoming whatever it will. The road beckons, cares and worries in the rearview mirror. Miles away. There are many opportunities in the Smoky Mountains to let the road carry you away. Even some…
It’s another Spiritual Sunday. Today we are in the Deep Woods. Something about being among Big Trees speaks to a person’s soul. If you’ve ever stood in a grove of California Redwoods, you know the feeling. They’ve lived for so long, and withstood so many of nature’s hardships. They tower above their peers, leaving you…
It’s Philosophical Friday once again. Today’s post is about making stacks of balanced stones as art and therapy. Some days you just need to go out and stack some stones. Right? Just head out along some creek and start wandering, looking for a good selection of rocks. The right color, right shape, ability to get…
Philosophical Friday here. Standing beside the Lynn Camp Prong, taking in the autumn splendor. It’s so quiet, so still. So many details to look at and appreciate. The way the leaves contrast with the beautiful gray of the rocks and tree trunks. The way the water makes endless currents and flows. The vine snaking down…
It’s October already, and the carefree days of summer have slipped away once more. This may be our last chance for a while to sit out on the deck and enjoy a quiet coffee moment. Here in Gatlinburg, on the edge of the Smoky Mountains, October is the busiest month of all. The leaves begin…
Smoky Mountains meditation on a Spiritual Sunday. My wife Sarah likes to meditate. She can be miles away while sitting quietly in our little cabin. Getting away without going away. Getting away to get in touch. Paradoxically removing oneself from everything in order to be totally present. I’ve tried meditating over the years, but have…
Hello! Come on out on the deck and enjoy the privacy. The rocking chairs are waiting. Steam is rising from the hot tub into the cool morning air. The view into the woods is quiet and serene. Bring a book out and sit for a while! These are times to contemplate what is good in…
Never too busy to sit down for a moment or two. Or three. The summer season is just beginning. The nights here in Gatlinburg still have a snap to them, the cool air comes rolling down the Smoky Mountains. Mist in the mornings, windows and doors opened wide to capture some freshness for the day….
Philosophical Friday here. A quiet mid-winter day. Here’s a poem from Robert Louis Stevenson, who must have been staring thoughtfully, or otherwise, into a fire when he wrote these lines. Armies in the Fire from Child’s Garden of Verses The lamps now glitter down the street; Faintly sound the falling feet; And the blue even slowly…
Philosophical Friday here again, and Friday the 13th no less. These pictures of the marvelous old pickup truck resting in glorious decay illustrate the idea that beauty and ugliness do not lie at opposite ends of a spectrum. Rather, there seems to be a circular relationship, where if you start out at beautiful and head…
Philosophical Friday again. This time it’s the classic situation that sometimes to go forward you’ve got to go backwards. The road up to Newfound Gap offers just such a case in point. The road climbs until it reaches a place on the mountain that is too steep for a road grade. What to do? Loop…
The weather around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is characterized by humid days and cool nights — perfect conditions for early morning fog. Morning mist is ephemeral, chased by the sun like dew on blades of grass, like smoke rising from burning incense. Earlier this week, driving along the Foothills Parkway near Cosby, I…
“The year’s at the spring, And day’s at the morn; Morning’s at seven; The hill-side’s dew-pearled; The lark’s on the wing; The snail’s on the thorn; God’s in his Heaven— All’s right with the world!” Robert Browning
I think fog gets a bad name. It’s typically about what fog can obscure: living life in a fog, the fog of war, the fog of depression. Well, like our neighbor over in the mountains of western North Carolina, Carl Sandburg, I think fog has delightful qualities. For example, in the picture above, a dash…
The picture above is the footbridge leading to the Ramsey Cascades Trail in the Greenbrier section of the Smoky Mountains. Yes, it’s still cold and quiet around here. Another cold, snowy scene from the Greenbrier is below. But to warm things up on the waning days of winter, there’s a gallery of quotations down below….
I live in Gatlinburg TN, on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. The Smokies are a very spiritual place, and I attempt to capture some of that spirit in each of my photographs.
If you are in Gatlinburg, please stop in at my gallery .
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