Monadnock!

Today was a relatively quiet day. Mom was much more docile and cooperative with Dad and me, thankfully. After the day we had yesterday, we definitely needed a more laid-back kind of day through which to recuperate amd recharge.

I had to go to the store, buy some birthday cards, and get them in the mail. My father still keeps in touch with a guy (Curtis) who was in the Army with him back in the 1950s, and his birthday is on the 14th. My dear friend and "sister" Toni is having another birthday on October 16th, along with my father's younger sister who stayed with them for a couple of weeks at the end of August. So, I picked out cards for everyone, addressed them, and got them in the mail before the last scheduled pickup time of the day. Then I came back home and watched a DVD movie on the laptop, and talked to my husband and brother on the phone.



The Blue Ridge Mountains, a subset of the Appalachian Mountains that stetch from northern Alabama to Maine, pass through the northern portion of the county in which my parents live. As one travels downwards in elevation from the larger mountains into the piedmont region of South Carolina, many smaller, isolated mountains called "monadnocks" dot the landscape. One of the most prominent is Glassy Mountain (elevation 1,647 feet), seen here from atop another, smaller monadnock called — I kid you not — "Tater Hill." The bump on the horizon to the right of Glassy Mountain is Paris Mountain, in Greenville (SC), another monadnock about 20-ish miles away.

I always thought Glassy Mountain was a cool-looking little mountain, with the long, casual slope, the bulging crest at the summit, and the exposed granite "face" on the north side. I always fancied that it somewhat resembled a happy slug, watching out over the folks who lived nearby. Yes, I was also warped and twisted as a child, I know, I know... 



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