The Parkway

Cruella (Deville) and I on The Parkway

Have you ever been drawn to a place? Is there a place to where you almost seem called to be? For many, it is an ocean side or lake side, or river side location that is special to you. For others it might be a mountain top or maybe a meadow or a canyon. Still others may yearn for wind in their sail as they skip over a calm sea. There is so much beauty around us that it is no surprise that we find ourselves drawn to certain special places. For me...one of those special places is a road. It's not just any road...it is is a stretch of pavement that ribbons 469 miles over the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia to North Carolina. It is the Blue Ridge Parkway. With its back to Shenandoah National Park, the parkway begins at Rockfish Gap near Waynesville, VA and it reaches its end at the Oconaluftee River at the entrance of Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee, NC. What is in between those two points is a road rich in history, culture, scenery, foliage and fauna.

Kancamagus Hwy- Rte 112 in New Hampshire

I have been traveling (camping/ hiking/ lazing) on and around the parkway since the mid 1970's, not long after moving from New Hampshire to Georgia. My wife and kids likely cannot remember a time when they weren't riding on the parkway with Dad (Oh gee Dad, look, there is another mountain or ...tree or...my gosh are we ever going to get off this parkway?) I was skeptical, upon my first visit, that this road would be at all comparable to the great highways like those that that snake through the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Green Moutains of Vermont. In particular, I was certain that this Blue Ridge Parkway was no match for the Kancamagus Highway that cuts 34.5 miles through White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. But I was wrong. The Blue Ridge Parkway's beauty owes no apology to any other of our country's magnificent motorways.

Cabin at Humpback Rocks, VA

One of the things that makes this parkway unique is that it stretches across the backbone and valleys of the southern Appalachians and cuts through the mountain culture of the German and Scotch-Irish people that populated this area from the early days of our country's history. Unlike what happened when the Skyline Drive was built through Shenandoah National Park, this time the Department of the Interior was intentional in not evacuating the people and razing their cabins after purchasing their land. They were determined to maintain as many of the physical structures as possible that depicted the early 20th century mountain culture. In most ways, this isolated culture more resembled life from the preceding century. The depression era road building project began in 1935 utilizing the many unemployed of Virginia and North Carolina through the recently created Civilian Conservation Corp and was a project on the grandest scale. The final section around Grandfather's Mountain, NC, which included the building of the Linn Cove Viaduct, was completed in 1987.

Linn Cove Viaduct

Over the last week, I spent some time traveling along the parkway... once again being reminded of the beauty that is this region. While dodging deer, turkey, rabbits, squirrels and spandex clothed cyclists on my 45 mph journey, my senses were in overdrive as I was in awe once again to behold the majesty of God's creation. We always associate God's proximity to us as being....up. I think the mountains give us a sense of being closer to the One that created them...and us. I'll be back.

John Brown's a-Hanging on a Sour Apple Tree

Who the heck is Max Factor?

The daily ritual

Let me just say from the outset...this blog post is going to get me into big trouble. But I am a dashing and daring man who is not afraid to throw caution to the wind so...here goes.

This is an open letter to all the women of the world. But first, let me recall a story. Many years ago my wife Carol and I were driving to Atlanta for a weekend getaway. Somehow the topic of make-up/ cosmetics came up. For the life of me I can't imagine how it "came up"...but, it did. I asked Carol why women wore make-up... it's time consuming to apply, it is expensive (worldwide cosmetics sales are over $170 billion dollars per year) and, in my view, unnecessary. She argued that men would not find women attractive without make-up or that many woman who are not "natural" beauties, need to wear make-up to improve their appearance. I asked "improve their appearance in whose eyes?" She said...men. I said she was wrong. See, I think women wear make-up primarily because they compare themselves to other women. They have convinced themselves that they must wear make-up to be "attractive." I told her that I thought she was attractive without make-up. She looked at me like I had two heads and accused me of lying. Lying? Why the heck would I lie about that?

But, you see, I think women are beautiful or, are at least seen as beautiful by the men and families who love them...(make-up not required.) This "discussion" we had lasted for nearly an hour and the more I talked the more angry she became with me. I'm not sure why she was angry when I was telling her that I thought she was beautiful just the way she was. I also said that if someone could convince all women to stop wearing all make-up for two weeks, by the end of that two weeks no one would care anymore that women had stopped wearing make-up. You see for this to work...EVERY woman would have to agree to stop. No cheaters. Again, she looked at me like I was crazy.

Men don't wear make-up (most men at least.) How can women bear to look at us? I mean, it's just us and our plain faces. I think the cosmetics industry has done an amazing job of convincing women that they are not attractive enough. That's just a big fat lie.

Max Factor began his career in the film industry in the early 1900's. Stage actors had been wearing grease paint for years but the film industry required something not as heavy or thick. Max Factor ultimately produced creams in various shades for actors and actresses to wear. We, of course, know where those early beginnings eventually led. And the more well to do people have been using various forms of face paint, lip coloring for thousands of years. I know, I know...it's been around since Cleopatra. I saw how Elizabeth Taylor was made up.

But, I still don't understand it. One of Carol's arguments for make-up was that her eyes seemed to be more sensitive to light if she wasn't wearing mascara. I think she was actually on to something there. You know how baseball and football players will put the black stuff under their eyes? It's to absorb the light shining near their eyes...it cuts down on the glare.

So, I guess mascara can have the same effect. OK...she scored one point. But I was still getting hammered because I think she thought I was just teasing her. I wasn't.

So...am I full of you-know-what, or not? Hold that thought.

Let me get something else off my chest. First, I will admit that I think Angelina Jolie is a very attractive woman...one reason being her very full lips. (Carol thinks I am crazy on this point as well.) But, that's not the point. What is it with women injecting stuff into their lips to make them look plumper (if that's a word?) Every actress whose before and after pictures I have seen that has "enhanced" her lips looks so much worse afterwards. Every one. What's that all about? I know there are other "enhancements" out there as well. We'll let that lie for now.

I love the line in "Mrs. Doubtfire" when the old bus driver is hitting on Robin Williams' cross-dressed character who inadvertently reveals some hairy male leg despite being fully decked out like an old woman. The bus driver never misses a beat. He says "Oh, I like that Mediterranean look in a lady...healthy...natural...just the way God made ya."

So...that's my line to all the woman out there...you are beautiful. Because that's the way God made ya. No need for Max.