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When you travel to a different landscape, there is often an opportunity to connect with the resplendence of the outdoors, and when that happens, first light poignantly resonates with your inner self.

It doesn’t matter how much you enjoyed dinner or how little you slept, if pre-dawn accompanies your morning routine, you become flushed with good feelings which stimulate a mood of thanksgiving.  You think good thoughts; you wish for peace on earth and in your neighborhood.  The words that make up the “Golden Rule,” become golden in your thought process as they flash through your consciousness.  Somewhere in there is a reminder that we ought to be moved to “to live and let live.”

The stillness at daybreak envelopes you and spawns abiding reverence.  For nature; for flora and fauna, unless a black bear appears within arm’s length. 

There are an estimated 8,000 – 9,000 black bears in the mountains of Western North Carolina.  The bear population increases 3-5% annually, which means if you choose to live in these parts, you are going to have to coexist with the bears.

Black bears are omnivores who enjoy a diet of both plants and animals which suggests that if they played football, they would likely be linebackers.

According to our friend and host, Charlie Callihan, leaving a case of beer in an unlocked car, might make you think it is safe.  “Not so,” he says.  “They know how to open car doors and will rip into a case of beer with brute force and tear up your car in the process.”  (I forgot to ask which brand of beer black bears prefer.  If anybody knows, it would be Charlie.)

I didn’t come this way to sight a black bear which I would enjoy only if I were in a sedan with the doors locked.  When Charlie’s wife, Carolyn, walks their dogs, Augie and Sophie, she outfits them with a necklace of bells with the objective of letting the bears know they are nearby.

With the temperatures trending downward, it won’t be long before the bears will segue into hibernation, which is always a welcomed time for Carolyn and other dog owners although there are very few recorded bear attacks on an annual basis.

With fall color emerging, this is another time to reflect.  Sit out on the Callihan’s deck and you are literally immersed in autumn leaves.  As the varied colors float down, you hear Roger Miller’s touch on the piano, bringing forth his No.1 greatest-selling piano recording of all time— “Autumn Leaves.”

Mountain living has much to offer.  There is the floral splendor of the spring when the blooms overwhelm and life becomes abundant.  That is planting time.  Gardeners like Charlie can’t wait for that time of the year as they embrace cornucopia’s bounty.

The cool of the evening when summer’s heat peaks will always be a reminder that there can be no more restful time for sleep than in the higher altitudes.  Many mountain homeowners are given to building fires in summer which means that you can enjoy an emotional and inspirational lift year-round.

There is harmony with each of the four seasons, but my favorite is fall when the temperatures call for putting another log on the fire and the brilliance of autumn puts you in warm-hearted awe.

An encore with the Callihan’s was a reminder that October is almost over but the harvest scenes remain.  November will be chillier, but there will be much about the landscape that will lift spirits and make us gratefully await the coming of Thanksgiving.

We can also embrace fly fishing in the fall, and we are now into quail hunting in South Georgia, an activity that lasts through February.  A walk in the woods and fields is a reminder that with the coming of the seasons, there is much to enjoy and appreciate.

And when the land turns fallow and winter’s harshness sets in, that is not a time to fret.  That will be a time to start a fire and take up with a good book.

There is something to appreciate about each of the seasons, and I have learned to savor each one of them.  Glory, glory Hallelujah!