This Blog Matters

It’s the first time I’ll say it. I want to write a post daily here this year. I’ll write because I hope that what I have to say matters. By the account of my friend and constant blogger Cathryn Wellner, when we blog because writing matters to us, and then to do so about topics that matter to us, then it matters! So, I hope you’ll bear with the indulgence as I write about whatever it is that strikes my fancy this year.

It may be that I write about food.

It may be that I write about walking, or running, or dance.

It may be that I write about friends.

I may, and hope to, have audio installations – podcasts – that capture interviews of the most interesting people I know.

I’ll do it here and now because it’s high time I speak up, whether its about the minute observations, like ones I made today on a first time visit to The Asheville Public for breakfast, or bigger ideas, concepts and questions (that I’ll save for later).

My two cents on the old Silver Dollar (now TAP) are that the renovations have turned the dark shell of a greasy spoon into a bright and welcoming destination. The designers thoughtfully included laptop plugs at the bar but overlooked the install of necessary purse hooks (which are hard to come by in this town at any rate). The waitstaff are still wobbly on their service; I had to flag down my waitress for coffee refills, salt and pepper for my companion, and the bill. I didn’t bother correcting the botched custom order of the house cured salmon bagel, and wondered why they paired the salmon with such a run-of-the-mill bagel in the first place.

I feel like a food critic, and I’m not. I’m a simple girl, with simple food tastes. I know what I like, and I think that generally the food writers in Asheville are overly kind about their experiences. It’s a small town, and I understand not wanting to ruffle feathers, or worse, make enemies. In fact, I’ve been trying to avoid that for a long time, which is why I’m speaking up now, even if it’s something as mundane as needing a better bagel.

At the dam, on the dam-pasture trail at WWC.

After breakfast the cold wind drove with Julie and me to Warren Wilson College where we took a hike on the network of trails from Pasture-Dam to Suicide Ridge. We snapped a few photos at the dam, I performed a few cartwheels through the pasture, and we ambled easily on the paths talking, as hikers do, of everything and nothing. 

A cartwheel for 2012!

Several years ago someone talked of spending New Years Eve in the way you want to spend the next year, perhaps surrounded by friends, dining finely, or partying heartily. Really, it’s however you want to spend your time. I always take that to heart as the New Year approaches. How do I want to spend my year?

I want to spend it as I’ve spent these three days since New Years Eve, sharing meals with friends, taking long runs, practicing yoga, writing, walking, speaking my mind, celebrating the beauty of this place, and having conversations about everything and nothing.

How do you want to spend yours?