Portland Slideshow

A photo-story of my travels and the silliness that comes along with me.

DonarsChoose.org

I'm trying my luck with some freelance fund-raising.
Check out my project, and spread the word to all your philanthropist friends.

AMS2OBX. MUSICFEST. 11.06.10

Before and After

My colleague Rick requested my barbarous barbershop skills to clean him up before the new school year started.

Here's his summertime, crazy, dirty hippie look before I worked on him.


Here we have the after picture. Rick now appears to be a fine, upstanding, respectable, public servant.

Hiking the Appalachain Trail

Last summer, my friend Richard and I backpacked a great stretch of the Appalachian Trail, from Sam's Gap to just past Roan Mountain.  We made it back to pick up the northbound trail where we left off.  New to this year's trip, our two dogs acquired over the past year, Dewey and Bruno.
Backpacking the trail, carrying everything you need (and more) on your back is near the top of my list for enjoyable activities.  I have yet to hike from the beginning of the trail in Georgia, up through the Smokies and to Sam's Gap, but I feel strongly that someday I will.  Hopefully, one day, I will have hiked the entire stretch of the trail from Georgia to Maine.  Little by little, I am adding up the miles.  So far, out of an estimated 2,179 miles, I have completed 103.  That's just amazing, because the memories from those 103 miles will always seem like an epic journey in my mind.

Here's a slideshow from our four days on the trail:

Update: Bling Summit 2.0'10

Go to Bling Summit 2.0'10 album

Bling Summit 2.0'10

Well, the Parrot has landed to officially kick off this season's Bling Summit.  If you don't know what a Bling Summit is, don't worry, we don't either.  Bottom-line...fun, gut-busting, tom-harkin-foolery.

Update as needed.  Do you need to be kneaded?

Tubing

This past week has been all about beating the heat, and tubing the Swannanoa River near Warren Wilson College.  The river can be shallow, but with the late afternoon storms that have been passing through, the conditions have been excellent. 

Here is a slideshow from the trip yesterday with Jhomas Tefferson and Bruno.  Go out to Kmart and get'cha a $5 tube, find a river, and cool off!

Save the French Broad: Updates

It's been a lazy summer of leisure.  Notice how I haven't finished updating the "Save the French Broad" trip.  Someday I will...hopefully. 

Check out some of the footage:





Check out the story directly from the dangerous mind of the French Broad Riverkeeper:
http://www.savethefrenchbroad.com/

Save the French Broad: Slideshow

I reallize that I have some updates to make concerning the last half of this trip.  In due time.  While you are all anxiously waiting, pacify yourself with this slideshow...

Day 5

Rhoades Farm field wake up with the dog pack stampededing with 20 or so horses.





Bruno, Junebug, Kodiak, Dingo, Harper, and Bomber all tugging on the same stick at the same time.
Oh yeah, it's my birthday. Gonna paddle like it's my birthday.
Took a morning plunge in the river via the jumping tree.






Packed.
Left farm via muddy harbor. Almost lost a shoe to the mud.

Back in the boat with ol' John.





Great morning of paddling.











Stopped at a rock for lunch. Flipped boat while trying to stop!
Ate lunch. Jumped in river to cool off. Sunglasses not secure. Sunglasses now river debris :(

Ol' John took over the rudder after lunch.





Birthday boy kicked back in the front and took a nap.

Getting closer to the city now.






Stopped at another farm to camp. Pizza and beer for dinner. The group sang "Happy Birthday".






Happy it was.

Day 4 Recap

Woke up cold in hammock tent next to babbling stream. Last one up. Packed and waited for folks. Cleaned boat. Recycling run with Haywood, I mean Hartwell. Whatever your name is. Took a trash dive.
Drive back to river. Hot hot hot!! Short paddle. Good swim. Tighty whitey tree jump. No women.
Made it to the muddiest harbor at the most beautiful horse farm, Back Rhoades Ranch.

Here's Mr. & Mrs. Rhoades


Big country. Big clouds.



Tree swing rigging. Tree swing really didn't swing. Better to jump off tree.


Rain threat. Why did I set tent up in middle of field? Didn't rain. That's why.



Lots of doggy play.


Stars, smores and snores. Really amazing. Sleepy-time at fire circle.



The journey continues...

Notes from Day 3

French Broad Paddle trip. Day 3 recap.
Solo paddled a canoe with Bruno. Independence. No appologies. Slack floating. River clean up with Riverkeeper.



Canoe became trash barge. Found TweetyBird hangin in tree. She/he then became a back support. Mastered art of laying down and paddling. So much trash.



Picked up a CO2 tank from the fallen tree dam. Had to lift boat over same tree because it blocked the whole river.





Arrived at "campsite". But some peeps didn't like it. After pros and cons it was decided to go to nearby Davidson campground. Felt like the umbelical chord was cut. I wanted to stay close to river. Feeling the connection grow.





Stayed up talking to country Chris. Too loud. Common respect. Moved to the chattering stream. Nice sharing the spiritual journey. Back to river for day 4. Short day expected.

Day 2

We had way too much fun the first night. Some new buddies staying at the campsite from AVL, who weren't part of the trip gave me my first taste of strawberry appalachain moonshine....whew!!



I woke up to Bruno scratching himself and trying to poke through the tent screen. I let him out so he could sprint laps around the other tents at the campsite with 3 other very energetic dogs. I guess they acted as the camp roosters.


The campsite was on the river next to a field and farmhouse.


The morning mist was deluxe, as was the coffee and breakfast fare. We packed up and got on the river by 10.



Above, you have our fearless Riverkeeper, Hartwell Carson starting the day of right by finding a rope-swing tied to a tree above maybe 3-4 feet if water.



Here's Bruno enjoying the ride with my shipmate, John from Fletcher.


Stopping for lunch.


Check out Hartwell's fancy new boat. I guess he crashed his old one.


We passed by slot of mountain ranches and farmlands.



We saw several groups of cows in the river. Obviously, it feels refreshing for the cows, but the damage they do to the riverbanks is a contributor to the number one pollutant to the French Broad, sediment.


We saw a lot of areas where the banks of the river were extemely eroded due to humans using the land all the way up until the shore. Ideally there should be a 100 foot buffer of vegetation to limit erosion.


I learned a lot on the trip today about the challenges facing our water supply.



It is a real treat to live on the river.



Here's the group chillin' at our camp, Hap Simpson Park on the riverside in Brevard.


We went into Brevard for dinner at Square Root.

More updates to come.

I'm your huckleberry

Day 1

We started our journey down the mighty French Broad at the confluence of the North and West Forks at the appropriatly named Headwaters Outfitters. It was an easy day starting with Sweetwater Beer and burgers and hotdogs at Headwaters. We then paddled ten canoes and kayaks about 8 miles of beautiful mountain countryside to our destination, Hannah Ford outpost. We were greeted with a wide variety of snacks and Sweetwater beer. Living the dream.


More to come. Twenty miles tomorrow followed by a Save the French Broad party at Square Root in Brevard. Come out and join us!

Save the French Broad

Today marks the start of an epic 122 mile journey down the French Broad River to raise awareness of water quality threats affecting the river and those who call it home.



You can support me in this journey by visiting my canoe-a-thon website:

http://www.firstgiving.com/barnold

Make a pledge for each mile I paddle, or make a flat donation.
I'll be posting updates as the journey continues. Stay tuned, and thanks for the support.

Beauty Spot Videos

Bruno is quite the fetcher.  Not the best retriever, but a great fetcher, and really good at catching the frisbee on the run.  So camping on a "bald", as mountains are called when the top is a meadow instead of covered with trees, made for a great fetching experience.


Part II


 An ode to Beauty Spot with reference to the nearby Roan Mountain.

Current Works

Here are some things I spent time on this past weekend. I worked on these two projects Saturday morning before going out to give some mad "trail magic" at Beauty Spot, TN to my friend Tannis, who's been hiking the Appalachain Trail this spring. It was an incredible weekend.  Up next, the final week of the 2009-2010 school year!!!

Recycling is Reusing: Mixed media collage. I started this as an example for an Earth Day project I taught at school.

A work in progress. Inspired by the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.

Close up.



:P

Spring 2010

Here is a slideshow of images taken over the last several weeks of my life.
Enjoy!!

On Exhibition

I have this print on display at the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University until July 10th.
Here's the story.

Montford Arts Fesitval Tomorrow!!

Come on by!! 

the bunkhaus

Montreat, NC

I went to Montreat, NC over the last couple weekends.  It is such an amazing, beautiful area, and so close to home.  I couldn't stop taking photos with my new iPhone app Hipstamatic.  I just love the effects! 

Cooling Off

Here's a shot from my bike ride on a fun trail near Clayton, GA It's been a pretty active Spring Break for Bruno and I. Since dogs don't have sweat-glands, finding a cold mountain creek to lay in is the next best thing.

Happy Equinoxication!!

One egg. Equal gravity from the North and South Poles. Balance.



Another shot for the non-believers.



Oh yeah, there is also a keg in the kitchen.

Snow and Art Day

The snow and the decision makers who decide whether to drive busses on it or not may keep me from teaching art, but it can't stop me from making it.