Pisgah National Forest? Now THAT's God's Country

In college, Brain's grandma used to send him piles of copies of a magazine with pictures of puppies and stories about good 4-H kids in it. I think I've mentioned it before for the humor factor (we told the jokes at open mike night...). Each month, there was always a full spread that had a picture with the same caption: "name of the place, now THAT'S GOD's country." For instance, "Twin Peaks, Nebraska, now THAT'S GOD's country" or "Newark, New Jersey, now THAT'S GOD's country."

This is the view from one of our campsites. I might send it into that magazine. Or just to Brain's grandma.

Independence

I asked one of my favorite ladies in the office if she's going to watch fireworks on the 4th.

She answered, "I think we'll just sit on the porch. A couple of years ago we went out on the 4th and the neighbors 'bout burned down our house. We came home and there were all these pieces of bottle rockets and whatnot on the roof. The ones around the circle get some that we can see way up in the air... don't know where they get them from, but we don't have to fight crowds to see a firework show. We can see it from our porch."

Ah, the South.

Good Fortune.

I'm addicted to reading the Freewill Astrology every Wednesday. Even when I don't bring the Mountain Xpress home, I'll stand in a coffee shop or the hippie grocery store to check out the weekly update. It's much better than the one that I read at the breakfast table growing up; I still check my family and friends' with them in mind. I might read the same horoscope a couple of times with different people in mind. One time, I might read the Cancer thinking about Roomie and another time my dad. One time, the Capricorn would be for my sister-in-law and another time for Nate.

I'm not superstitious about the horoscopes, but I am drawn to thinking about the circumstances in folks' lives in relation to these open-ended reflections.

Last week was the "mid-year review."

Here's mine:

"Welcome to Part Two of your outlook for the second half of 2008, Leo. We're checking up on how you're progressing with the challenges you were given near the end of last year. As I suspect you've guessed by now, there's one potential accomplishment that's more important than all the others. If you can pull it off, it'll change your life forever. I'm talking about the determination to take full responsibility for your own happiness. How? By studying in exquisite detail all the things you need to feel great, and taking aggressive steps to make sure they happen consistently. "