I like to explore and tell descriptive stories about places. I also make jewelry, music and mixed-media art.
May, 2023 While at Stanimal’s hiker hostel, the manager, Bugs, suggests I check out the Russell Museum in downtown Waynesboro while I’m here. This is not something that I have time for, or would have even planned, but I am going downtown. After visiting the local herb and stone shop, Pyramid – which is fairly […]
Read More Waynesboro, part 3: The Russell Museum… and a Charlottesville outroSHE WORE A GREEN LYCRA DRESS TO THE WAREHOUSE PARTY The parties were funded by DuPont as it set up on a spring basin near the river. The scene had been Basic before that, it was all metal. Then came the industrial dance all-nighters and occasional death rock and harsh noise. It got huge, over […]
Read More Waynesboro, Part 2: A Walk Along the RiverMay, 2023, Afton and Waynesboro, VA INTERSECTIONS and PORTALS I’m standing at Rockfish Gap of the Blue Ridge, looking east as Interstate 64 descends toward the Virginia piedmont and Charlottesville. To the west, the highway drops in to the Shenandoah valley. Here the Blue Ridge Parkway meets Skyline Drive, to the south and north respectively, […]
Read More Rockfish Gap and Waynesboro, part 1: CROSSING and ARRIVALIf you like dinosaurs, this is a story for you! Mark Cline says we are experiencing the future right now. In an early morning hour near Natural Bridge, Virginia, I stand outside the Dinosaur Kingdom II, meeting the artist who created this attraction and many other fibrous sculptures and installations. Next to us, motors whir […]
Read More A Tail of Two Dinosaur Roadside Attractions (and the SLIGHTLY fibrous nature of time)Late July, 2022 I’m back at the mountain family property at Fancy Gap, Virginia, clearing paths and finishing construction of the stone labyrinth. There have been storms; trees have fallen, and mushrooms are growing all around (including in the labyrinth). I’m learning to identify these mushrooms, so if you know these species, let me know […]
Read More Mushrooms and a rainy season in southern AppalachiaRoanoke, Virginia was initially called Big Lick, when it became a settler community in the 1800s, from the salt marshes by the river that would attract wildlife. The Warrior’s Path, and then the Great Wagon Road, came through this valley, forking here toward the south and west, serving as foundations for future transportation corridors like […]
Read More The Quest for Blooming Rhododendron near Roanoke, part 2: Stars, returns, and moments of esctasyJune 2022 Rhododendron catawbiense are the purplish flowering of these soul-comforting mountain shrubs and are euphoria to witness in bloom. There are several sub species of Rhododendron, this one widespread throughout the region but only in bloom for a short time…sometimes as short as two weeks in certain areas. Generally, this happens in Southern Appalachia […]
Read More The Quest for Blooming Rhododendron near Roanoke, Virginia – part 1: taking the scenic route“Down in the Virginia mountains, On U.S. fifty-two, There is a long old mountain That truckers blood does stain. Four miles from top to bottom, That trailer brakes will burn, Many curves ahead, They call it Fancy Gap.” From “Ballad of Fancy Gap” by Jim Marshall of Hillsville,VA Some of my first memories are riding […]
Read More Ballads of Fancy GapYears have passed…life got busy, a pandemic came, and I stopped traveling for a while. For 2022, a goal of mine has been to travel again and tell stories of the land, if only to a quiet section of my current state. Little is hidden forever, and much can be recovered, including this blog.. So […]
Read More New River Valley calm, old mining towns, and a return to writingMid April to Early May, 2018 As my sister and i travel ( she hikes, i support and hike some) north on the Appalachian Trail thru Georgia, toward North Carolina, the weather turns cold with two April winter storms passing through, bringing ice and then snow to the mountains. We freeze, some nights together and […]
Read More The Appalachian trail from N. Georgia into the Nantahala
arianna's creative travels 