2016 A Year

Burkharts in Atlanta where 2016 began. Photo by me, January 2016.

H

ow do you sum up a year? Was it marked by the beeping of the coffee maker telling me to fill up my cup day after day or by the shutter click of my camera? Maybe it was the miles of footsteps hiking in the woods or the lines of words I wrote? I really don't know the answers, but I know that 2016 is over.

I know that silence was more prevalent as I spoke less, withdrew and tightened the circle in my life. It was a year of endings and I said goodbye to some people. Some of the goodbyes were angry and hurt but what has been said has been said. Sometimes you want to forget and sometimes you need to remember and I did both. 

 
It was awful year of politics and America let us all down. I thought we were better than this but I was wrong and that is depressing. Many a sleepless night has come to me over this election.

I didn't break any bones or require any surgery and for that I am grateful. I might have earned a wrinkle or two and gained a few more grays, but overall I came through this year physically well. I still live in fear of what 2012 did to my body and those scars greet me every morning.

I'm reminded of Seasons Of Love from the Rent soundtrack to put a cap on this year.




My favorite book that I read was from Edmund White, Inside A Pearl: My Years In Paris, published in 2014.

I couldn't find any new music to give a damn about this year. I had to turn to the past and discover music that was new to me. Tom Waits took my heart with his tender ballad, If I Have To Go, from 2006.

Alabama. Photo by me, July 2016.

My favorite moment was in July watching thunderstorms atop a mountain in Alabama. I watched the blackness grow, move toward me, the wind rush up and a growing curtain of rain surrounded me. In that moment I wanted to be left alone to live in that second with no distractions by anything. That moment was symbolic and foreshadowed the remaining months. It was the turning point from what had been a good year to one where nothing made sense on any level and patterns to predict behavior and trends in everything and everyone failed.

On the Atlanta Beltline over North Avenue. January 2016.

I walked on beaches, city streets, mountains, valleys and floated on the water. I looked at the sky more both day and night to wonder and think. That was my road this year of my life with the highs, the lows and periods of flat ground.

2016 was a year I would like to forget and I hope that 2017 is better.

Christmastime In The City

Centennial Olympic Park. December 2012. Photo by me.

What I enjoy most about this time of year are the lights, the crowds and the distractions from everyday life. The cold is nice and when it snows that is nice too. All of those things make city life a little more colorful and a little more enjoyable from the rest of the year. So here are some sights from this year and from a few years in the past. Merry Christmas to you and happy holidays.

Centennial Olympic Park. December 2016. Photo by me.

December 2012. Photo by me.

A church on Peachtree Street in Midtown. December 2012. Photo by me.

Santa at Lenox Square. December 2016. Photo by me.

Marilyn Monroe tree inside the former Davison's/Macy's department store on Peachtree Street. November 2011. Photo by me.

Ice skaters at Centennial Olympic Park. December 2007. Photo by me.

Lenox Square. December 2016. Photo by me.

Centennial Olympic Park. December 2016. Photo by me.

The World of Coca-Cola. December 2007. Photo by me.

Lenox Square. December 2016. Photo by me.

Centennial Olympic Park. December 2012. Photo by me.

November 2012. Photo by me.

This is my favorite Christmas tree in Atlanta located at Peachtree Center in Downtown.


Best wishes.

A Cold Night During Christmas Week

December 2016. Photo by me.

It was just a few days from Christmas and I was at Atlantic Station while the Christmas shopping was wrapped up on Monday night. It was cold and seeing the snow and the Christmas lights was nice. It was cold enough for a wool coat, scarf and my black leather gloves. The sidewalks at Atlantic Station were busy, the shops too and the restaurants were filled.

Christmas isn't something I much celebrate, but I try. I put on my smile and keep going though 2016 wasn't the greatest year - a year of endings.

December 2016. Photo by me.

People were ice skating under the clouds and through the cold. It reminded me of this song.

December 2016. Photo by me.

The machine made snow fell and the lights of the buildings glowed as a backdrop to the tree.

Spring In Sautee Nacoochee

Photo by me, April 2014.

Spring was just arriving in the second week of April 2014 in the valleys of the northeast Georgia mountains and the mountaintops were still bare and on the highest peaks that day there was snow and lots of wind. I had visitors from Canada with me and they must have brought the cold with them from the north as we traveled around the state. That morning we stopped in Sautee Nacoochee in White County, it was a place I had not been in nearly twenty years.

Sautee Nacoochee is kind of a special place in the north Georgia mountains for it strives to be a community that celebrates the arts and history and does not consider itself a tourist trap like the nearby town of Helen.

Photo by me, April 2014.

We stopped in at the Old Sautee Store that has served the valleys of Sautee and Nacoochee since 1872. Like many old country stores this had also served as the post office for the community until the middle of the 20th Century. Today the store has a small museum in the front portion with some interesting relics of the past and the rest of the place sells food, housewares and local novelty. That particular day it was great to get warmed up by the fireplace.

My real destination that day was to visit the Sautee Nacoochee Center and the folk pottery museum. My guests were not necessarily museum types like me but I thought I could sneak in a place of interest to me and maybe expose them to some of the history and arts of the area before we went on to do activities more their style.

Photo by me, April 2014.

Some years ago I had seen a show on public television about pottery and it had mentioned the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia so it had registered in my mind that I wanted to visit when I had the opportunity. I love pottery and have since I was a child when I would unsuccessfully try to make objects out of the gray clay in the hills behind my house or in crafts projects at school. I never made anything beautiful or collectible like anything close to resembling what is on display at this museum.

Photo by me, April 2014.

Face jugs. Photos by me, April 2014.

The collection at the museum includes pieces from the famous Meaders Family of Georgia. The Meaders became well known in the pottery world for making what are known as "face jugs." Their pieces are so prized and highly collectible that they sell for exorbitant prices and can be found in the Smithsonian.

Photo by me, April 2014

Photo by me, April 2014

Photo by me, April 2014.

It helps to have a sense of humor to appreciate face jugs I believe. Some of the faces are humorous, some are ugly or fanciful and some are scary and grotesque.

Photo by me, April 2014.

Photo by me, April 2014

Photo by me, April 2014

Not all of the pieces in the collection are face jugs. There are plenty of other decorative pieces of pottery on display too.

Photo by me, April 2014

Photo by me, April 2014

Photo by me, April 2014

I particularly admire the more decorative pieces.

Photo by me, April 2014

Photo by me, April 2014

Photo by me, April 2014

Photo by me, April 2014

 Snakes and roosters seem to be a common theme in the folk pottery world.

Located next door to the pottery museum is the Sautee Nacooche Center which serves as the cultural centerpiece of the valleys. It is located in a former school and contains a museum focusing on local history, a theatre for live performances and a gift shop with unique and beautiful art pieces from local craftsmen. This was the one place I had been to before when an ex of mine had spent the summer nearly twenty years ago working in the theatre program.

Photo by me, April 2014.

Photo by me, April 2014.

Photo by me, April 2014.

In the museum there are items such a miner's helmet from a gold mine, a hand dug canoe and other displays that give you a good idea of what earlier life was like for people here.

Photo by me, April 2014.

Photo by me, April 2014.

Photo by me, April 2014.

Photo by me, April 2014.

There were some beautiful pieces of art for sale in the gift shop.

Photo by me, April 2014

If you've never been to Sautee Nacoochee and you want to try something different that isn't a tourist trap I recommend visiting.

Bright Blue On Georgia Avenue

Photo by me, April 2014.

Summerhill for the past several decades has been a neighborhood dominated by sports stadiums. First came Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1965 then Turner Field in 1996 and now Georgia State University is the big land owner and potential developer to come here. The 1996 Summer Olympics were held here and the Olympic torch cauldron still stands on Capitol Avenue but mostly what a large part of Summerhill is at first glance is a sea of asphalt parking lots. Sitting in the shadows of a vibrant Downtown Atlanta there isn't much in the way color.

What was once a vital commercial center on Georgia Avenue has mostly been torn down so that baseball fans could park their cars. What remains are a few buildings occupied by a liquor store and a dry cleaner and nothing else. Though fireworks would reguarly light up the sky over Turner Field there was very little in the way of bright and hopeful color on the ground.

Until in 2013, Living Walls came to the neighborhood and brought in artists to paint murals on some of the drab buildings. Summerhill and the area on Georgia Avenue was filled with color.

One of those murals was created by artist Trek Matthews of Chicago. Matthews is a visual artist that works in a variety of mediums. He has also painted other murals in Atlanta for Living Walls and has had shows at the High Museum and as far away as Russia.

Photo by me, April 2014.

So what to make of this mural? I don't know the artist's vision or intent here so I can only make my own interpretation of this abstract mural. To me it looks like a bird, maybe a crane of some sort, moving from right to left. It is a colorful bird no doubt as it struts across the light blue backdrop. If it is a bird that would be sort of fitting since the symbol for the city of Atlanta is the phoenix rising from the ashes. But I could be totally wrong in my interpretation.

Tumbling Waters

Photo by me, September 2014.

Amid the mountain laurel that makes up part of the dense green forest and next to a small pond I started the hike up to Amicalola Falls. It was the second day of September so it was going to be a hot and humid hike that climbs straight up this mountain to the waterfall. Hiking in Georgia in the summer is like hiking in a jungle with the thick forests, thick humidity and high temperatures. So as always bring plenty of water and watch for the snakes.

Amicalola State Park is located in far northern Dawson County near the Gilmer County line. The state park offers a lodge, restaurant, camping, hiking some steep terrain and the highest waterfall in Georgia, Amicalola. It also offers an approach trail to the Appalachian Trail that has convenient parking and a trail to the secluded Len Foote Hike Inn.

Like much of northern Georgia this area was once home to the Cherokee tribe of North American Indians. That's why so many places have been given Cherokee names or at least English translations of the Cherokee words. Amicalola is one of those places with a Cherokee name and is translated to mean "tumbling waters." Cherokees were in control of this land until the 1830s when the U.S. government forcibly removed them from their ancestral lands in the 1830s in the Trail Of Tears.

Photo by me, September 2014.

So onward I went up the approach trail to the Appalachian Trail and this is how it went.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Photo by me, September 2014.

 

Photo by me, September 2014.

Photo by me, September 2014.

The trail begins at 1,800 feet above sea level in elevation and rapidly climbs to 2,500 feet in a very short distance. Though this is a very challenging hike with the elevation climb if you go the entire way to the the top of the waterfall I thought this was a beautiful trail. The understory in late summer was filled with wildflowers and the trail takes you alongside the boulder filled Amicalola Creek part of the way.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Photo by me, September 2014.

To me hiking isn't about the destination whether it is getting to the top of the mountain or the waterfall but what you see and experience along the way to that destination. Hiking isn't a goal oriented activity where the outcome has to be a reward like a great view or so many miles at the end of the journey but is about appreciating the beauty all around you in nature with every step you take.

"Remote for detachment, narrow for chosen company, winding for leisure, lonely for contemplation, it beckons you not merely north and south, but upward to the body, mind and soul of man." Harold Allen.

I was reminded of that quote by long time Appalachian Trail volunteer Harold Allen when thinking about what I enjoy about hiking and taking every step and the discoveries we make in nature and about our own human nature. A good way to find yourself is just be yourself alone in the woods and hopefully you will return a better person for the journey. I know that for myself I am most at peace and most alive in the woods.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Once you begin nearing the waterfall the trail turns into stairs. These stairs will take you up to a bridge directly in front of and over a portion of the falls. Standing there you can feel the cold water and get sprayed with mist which is a great way to cool off after all that climbing.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Amicalola Falls is a 729 foot drop (the highest in Georgia) of white water off the face of the mountain. It is an incredibly beautiful sight and worth every bit of effort to get up and close to. With some of the waterfalls in Georgia you can stand under or climb on them but not this one. The risk of serious injury or death would be too great venturing off the trails and playing in this waterfall.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Now after admiring the power of the waterfall you can head back down to the parking lot or you can continue your hike to the very top of the waterfall. Once at the top you can peer right over the edge of the falls. Also at the top is another parking area and the lodge and trails continuing on to other destinations. If you have the energy and want to see a view from the top then be prepared for lots more climbing. In cool weather such as late autumn or winter the climb is easer but, in the heat and humidity the rest of the year this climb is more arduous than one might think.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Photo by me, September 2014.

The stairs go so far up that mountain that in the summer you cannot even see the top of the stairs. In total there are 425 steps to climb to get the rest of the way up the mountain. No matter how good of a shape you are in this is a serious climb in high heat and humidity so consider that before attempting this. For perspective there are 1,576 steps to the top of the Empire State Building in New York, this climb is slightly more than a quarter of the way to the top of that building.

Photo by me, September 2014.

As you start nearing the top of the mountain you begin to break free from the tree canopy and you can see views of the surrounding ridges.

The foliage nicely frames the view. Photo by me, September 2014.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Once at the top you can peer directly over the edge of the waterfall and the cliff. Through the opening of the trees you can see the valley below and other mountains in the distance. A more open view of the surrounding landscape can be found over the at the lodge and restaurant a short walk away.

Photo by me, September 2014.

Photo by me, September 2014,

If you want to keep hiking you certainly can, all the way to Maine or back down to Springer Mountain which replaced Mount Oglethorpe, Georgia as the beginning of the Appalachian Trail in 1958.