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Monthly Archives: August 2013

Moral Monday in Stokes County

Earline Parmon, state senator for Forsyth County (click on images for high-res version) North Carolina’s urban counties have been having Moral Monday events, but I’m wondering if Stokes County isn’t one of the few small, rural counties to do it. The turnout was not exactly tremendous — less than a hundred. But the speeches were […]

Promontories

Ken Ilgunas on Pilot Mountain. Click on image for larger version. Ken has been here for much of the summer. His next adventure will be to the British Isles and Ireland, starting in September. Those of us who live in Stokes County like to remind people that Stokes County has its own little mountain range […]

All the varmints are eating well

All up and down the food chain, everybody has eaten well this summer. This is because of the generous rain and the lushness it has produced. I have never seen so many rabbits. The vole population has recovered from its winter minimum. One sees deer twins all over the place. There are lots of wild […]

Making peace with summer

Rose of Sharon Longtime readers of this blog know that summers in the South can be hard to bear, especially after 17 years of the chilly summers of San Francisco. This year I resolved to make peace with summer. I am pleased to say that I have been successful. But this has been an extremely […]

The official abbey bread

Click on photo for larger version Any proper abbey (or so I have thought for a long time) ought to have its trademark bread. And any abbot worth his salt ought to be able to bake it. Not just any bread will do. There has to be something special about it. So gradually I have […]

From the orchard

There were many apple pies this summer, but only one pie from the abbey orchard. Though the five-year-old trees produced a respectable quantity of apples this year, the squirrels got them before we did. At present, the squirrels are stealing the figs. Grocery store apples, as far as I’m concerned, are useless for pies. I […]