I read three books last month that I want to share with you today. The three are very different from each other, so perhaps at least one of them with pique your interest. I recommend each of them.

After my comments about the books I read, I have my weekly update on Hurricane Helene recovery in western North Carolina. I look forward to the day that I no longer need to report on that September 2024 natural disaster.

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I Was Anastasia, by Ariel Lawhon

I was so impressed with Ariel Lawhon’s writing style and writing voice while reading The Frozen River in January, that I requested I Was Anastasia from the public library.

Reading this novel transported me back to the book and movie, Dr. Zhivago.

The Romanov family ruled Russia from 1613 until 1917. In 1918, Bolshevik revolutionaries executed Nicholas II, his wife, and their five children by firing squad. History tells us there were no survivors.

The Anastasia in this novel is the alleged daughter of Czar Nicholas II.

Anastasia’s survival of the Romanov family being executed by a firing squad has remained one of those mysteries of the last 100 years. Is it fact or fiction? Is it what would be called an urban legend today or a conspiracy theory or the truth?

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

I was on the waitlist for this book for so long that I forgot what it was about. It was worth the wait, though, as this 118-page book was a fast read and thought-provoking.

The author is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and is a professor of Environmental Biology at The State University of New York. She pulls on the wisdom in those Potawatomi Nation roots to offer us a path to economies of sharing and reciprocity. Ms. Kimmerer’s premise is that Mother Earth holds all the resources we need.

The problem comes in when people see those resources as commodities instead of gifts. When something is a commodity, the idea of scarcity enters the picture. Scarcity triggers greed. When a resource is valued as a gift, it is treated with respect and is cared for.

The title of the book comes from the Serviceberry, which she calls a “calendar plant.” The author encourages us to adopt the wisdom of earlier times when we enjoyed only the seasonal produce. Referring to the seasonal practices of traditional Indigenous People, she writes, “Eating with the seasons is a way of honoring abundance, by going to meet it when and where it arrives.”

She writes, “We force the food to come to us, at considerable financial and ecological costs, rather than following the practice of taking what has been given to us, each in its own time.”

I must admit that I love the convenience of freezing the blueberries I pick in July so I can enjoy them on my oatmeal and in muffins throughout the winter, but do I really need to have access to watermelon from southern Mexico in January?

Taking the ideas presented in The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, by Robin Wall Kimmerer to heart even in small, incremental ways by each of us could have a impact on how we view the gifts of the Earth.

The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness: A Memoir, by Sarah Ramey

I learned about this book through Ann Patchett on Instagram. Ms. Patchett, in addition to being a well-respected author, owns Parnassus Bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee. She and her dog post videos on Instagram highlighting books she wants to publicize.

Little did I know when I requested The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness: A Memoir, by Sarah Ramey from the public library that it was going to in a multitude of ways describe my own health journey!

Ms. Ramey has some health problems I do not have; however, we share the diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. In her book, Ms. Ramey details the physically- and emotionally-painful 14 years it took for her to get a diagnosis. I can identify with her journey, although it did not take me that long to get a diagnosis.

As Ann Patchett did, I recommend this book to everyone.

If you have not personally experienced years of being brushed off by doctors who are ignorant of this or some other mysterious illness, if you have never been told by a doctor that your painful and debilitating symptoms “are all in your head and you need to see a psychiatrist,” consider yourself lucky. Whether you know it or not, you probably know someone who has had such an experience.

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Hurricane Helene Update

Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge in western NC: A full five months since Hurricane Helene dumped up to three feet of rain and hurricane-force winds on western North Carolina, on Saturday, March 1, one lane of I-40 in each direction opened with a 35-mph speed limit. The lanes are narrow and they’re separated by a 9-inch wide and 9-inch high median. Tractor-trailer trucks are allowed, but most truck drivers interviewed by a Charlotte TV station said they will avoid that part of the interstate.

Alongside these rebuilt/repaired lanes, the original east-bound side of I-40 will be rebuilt from the Pigeon River up. It is said now that it will take two or three more years to completely rebuild and reopen I-40 in western North Carolina.

As of Saturday, 148 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included 11 US highways, 16 state highways, and 121 state roads. That is an overall decrease of seven in the last week.

Sadly, a number of wildfires have broken out in Polk and Buncombe counties (and maybe others) over the weekend in the areas that have suffered so much from the hurricane damage. It will take years and years for all the trees that were downed by the hurricane to be cleared up. Until then, they lie as dead wood on the forest floors.

Nantahala National Forest: Perhaps Elon Musk didn’t hear President Trump say in January that he was going to take care of western North Carolina that was ravaged by Hurricane Helene last September. He claimed that President Biden hadn’t helped western North Carolina at all.

Here is an example of how President Trump is helping western North Carolina recover from that natural disaster: Last week 17 federal employees working to continue to clean up the 531,148- acre Nantahala National Forest lost their jobs because some teenaged computer nerds working for Elon Musk are being paid to eliminate the federal work force. I guess rich people and geeks don’t appreciate our national parks and forests – the enjoyment they bring to taxpayers and the tax dollars they generate from the tourists who spend money for lodging, food, and shopping in the surrounding areas.

Nantahala National Forest ranges in elevation from 1,200 feet to 5,800 feet. Recreational activities include whitewater rafting and camping. There are more than 600 miles of trails for hikers, horse-back riders, mountain bikers, and off-highway vehicle riders.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

As of Friday, 12 National Park Service employees stationed in Great Smoky Mountains National Park had lost their jobs. I can’t help but wonder if one or more of them assisted me in some way when I visited the park last summer.

Perhaps the park ranger who led a group of us on a hike to see three remote waterfalls lost her dream job last week. No doubt most, if not all of those 12 people, were still working to clear hiking trails and rebuild foot bridges damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Helene.

Visited by more than 13 million people in 2023, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most-visited US national park. It covers 552,427 acres in NC and TN.

Blue Ridge Parkway

At least one National Park Service employee assigned to the Blue Ridge Parkway lost their job last week. I report on the post-Helene status of the Blue Ridge Parkway almost every week in my blog. How are repairs and the rebuilding of that road and strip of right-of-way supposed to be accomplished with fewer employees than it had before the hurricane?

As I reported on February 17, 2025: “The flooding and wind from Hurricane Helene last September caused 48 landslides in one 38-mile section of the parkway between Asheville and Linville. There are no estimates for when those 38 miles will be completely rebuilt or if all of it can even be rebuilt, but it will not happen in 2025.”

While I’m on the topic of National Park Service cuts… six employees assigned to Cape Hatteras National Seashore lost their jobs last week. The Outer Banks of North Carolina were not damaged by Hurricane Helene, but the Cape Hatteras National Seashore is a fragile, beautiful, and wild strip of land that is buffeted by the part of the Atlantic Ocean known as “the Graveyard of the Atlantic” due to its storms and hundreds of shipwrecks.

The Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Cape Hatteras National Seashore are among the most-visited parks in the United States. The statistics I include today are just a few of the some 1,000 national park service employees and 3,400 national forest service employees Elon and Trump are letting go.

You know the National Forest Service slogan: “Only you can prevent forest fires”? It is true today, and apparently only you can put out a fire in a national forest. The employees have been fired in the name of government efficiency.

WNC Nature Center in Asheville will reopen on March 17. The 42-acre park includes the 100-year-old Recreation Park Zoo and the Nature Center which opened in 1977. The center showcases wildlife of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. As western NC slowly reopens to visitors, check out the center’s website (https://wildwnc.org/) and start planning your vacation!

Innovative Bridge Company of Petal, Mississippi has built 40 bridges in seven western NC counties since Hurricane Helene. The company had never done disaster recovery work until the City of Asheville and the NC Department of Transportation reached out to them last October.

The company repurposes flat rail cars and boxcars into foot bridges and vehicular traffic bridges. These temporary emergency bridges will be in place until permanent bridges can be constructed over the next two-to-three years. There are two short videos on the company’s website showing the work they’re doing in western NC.

Precision Grading of Saluda, NC continues to donate his time, materials, and equipment to help individuals at no cost to them. He is doing this through his own money and donations from the public. So far, he has done this hard work for more than 150 days.

The 21^st Century Packhorse Librarian continues to take, organize, and distribute book donations to put books in the homes of people who lost their access to books or income due to the disaster.

Brother Wolf Animal Rescue in Asheville is continuing to work from temporary quarters. After five months of fundraising, the organization is looking for a safe location where they can rebuild.

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Until my next blog post

Thank you for reading my blog.

I hope you have a good book to read to take your mind off what happened at the White House on Friday.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet