September has been absolutely beautiful here in the Smokies.  We have enjoyed clear days and cool nights.  Life is beautiful.

    "Courtesy and kindness, regularly practiced, help me to live in an emotional balance, at peace with myself."

    This Labor Day Weekend has been a time of reflection on the fruits on my labor lately.  Not about money made or lost, structures built and torn down, but about the difference I do or do not make with my actions.  I have seen through some reflection that a little kindness and courtesy freely given to people that I cross paths with really makes a positive difference.

    "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."  I went into a building to day and found this little guy trying to fly out the sky light.  I got a ladder and just climbed up and caught him.  He sat calmly in my hand for a photo before I let him get back to his nectar hunt in the beautiful Smokies.  It was a cool experience to hold a Humming Bird.  They don't weigh anything and are extremely powerful.  I was happy to see this one in the flowers and out of the building.

    August has been a time of change and now Fall is definitely in the air here in the higher elevations of the Smokies.  The weather has been fantastic and the sunshine should continue through the rest of the week.  The cool weather and beautiful skies have really added to the peace and serenity of the Smokies. 

    The Mountain Ash is my favorite tree in the Smokies.  It comes into a devastated area and fills in the landscape beautifully.  It displays delicate white blooms in the spring that give way to ash berries in the late summer and fall.  The Mountain Ash usually has a thick mast of berries every four years.  For some reason we are seeing a thick mast of berries last year and this year.  When the Mountain Ash shows it's red berries you know fall is just around the corner.  The Mountain Ash displays fantastic Fall color.
    I look forward to Fall.  For me it represents change in a mellowing way.  It's sort of different from the rapid growth type change of Spring.  I hope this Fall will be a time for reflection on all the growth and personal hard work we have all been through lately.  Through the good times and the bad times we have all grown a lot.

    I often get hung up in my own "busy head."  I become a prisoner in my own mixed up mind.  I pray to be freee from the bondage of self.  I want to be as free as this Tiger

    When I take in a view this I can't deny that something bigger than us has it all figured out.  When I look through the trees and see the clouds lying down on the mountains with all the brilliant colors of sunrise I know that God has plan that is still in place despite our protestations and medaling.  I hope that I can take an attitude of love, tolerance and courtesy with me today and give it away as a gift. 

    It's a big, stout plant with lots of delicate blooms.  It's also poisonous.  Yet the Bees love it.  Why?   Because it makes them drunk.  They're not so different from us.  If Filmy Angelica wasn't poisonous to us we would probably be making tea from it.  Why is it that we want to take things outside of us and put them in us to make us feel different?  Alcohol, drugs, sex, money, food, the list of things we humans can abuse goes on and on.  Today I'll try to change what is in me with what is already in me.  I'll let the Bees get high for me.

    This was the first day I could taste the Fall air.  It was cool and crisp this morning in the mountains.  The change from summer to fall is just around the corner.  It has been a long hard summer and I'm looking forward to the change.  It inspires me to continue to grow and change.  Not too much though.  I don't want to get too good too quick!

    It is a rare and beautiful sight to see the Grass-Of Parnassus.  There is quite a bit of it blooming on LeConte in the highland drainages.
    It takes a lot of work to get to a place where you can enjoy this bloom.  It is a personal accomplishment to get to see a rare flower or bird or view.  The work is worth it though.