Re-Cycle Canteen

11/15/2025

Todd Snider Dead After Assault and Hospitalization: Alt-Country Singer Was 59 https://share.google/VoU97Obx6VX2HBEDr
RIP Todd Snider. You were one of a kind.

Todd Snider, country singer and songwriting legend, died on Nov. 14, weeks after he was hospitalized as the ‘victim of a violent assault out of his hotel’ and later diagnosed with pneumonia. He was 59.

10/23/2024

If you can, please chip in❤️

Dear Friends and Supporters of the Virginia Creeper Trail…

As you know, the entire region has been rocked in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The small town of Damascus – the halfway point on the Creeper Trail -- was particularly hard hit. Damascus and the other communities most impacted remain foremost in our thoughts. The trail between Abingdon and Damascus has now reopened and you can help support the businesses of both towns by visiting during this beautiful time of the year.

However, 18 miles of the 34-mile mile Creeper Trail, from Damascus to Whitetop, have been devastated. To date, 18 trestles have been lost – destroyed or washed away. In extended sections, the trail itself no longer exists… reclaimed by the rushing, flooded creeks. Trailheads, access points, amenities and signage have been destroyed as well.

This grand, historic trail has provided unforgettable and magical experiences to hundreds of thousands of visitors and residents for almost four decades. The trail is the lifeblood of the town of Damascus and one of the top economic drivers in the region… over the years becoming synonymous with the growing, vibrant outdoor economy of SW Virginia.

The Creeper Trail is supported by a vast and varied community - a community first of trail users but also of small businesses who depend on the trail as their livelihood, along with the municipalities of Damascus and Abingdon who own and maintain their sections, Washington County, federal and state legislatures and governing bodies, civic leaders, our nonprofit partners, Grayson County, and of course, the US Forest Service, where the devastation occurred within their boundaries.

It will take time and significant funding to rebuild, and no single entity can shoulder the entire rebuilding alone. To that end, the Virginia Creeper Trail Conservancy has launched a “Recovery Campaign” to augment as much funding as possible. And that’s where each of you come in…as we rebuild, your support and commitment to the Creeper Trail today and its future is essential. As we move together as a trail community into the recovery phase — strengthened, determined and committed — we look towards the rebuilding of the trail to create a sustainable future across the region…and it will take each of us, working together, to get there.

The motto of the Virginia Creeper Trail is “One trail… by the hands of many”. Never in the history of this majestic trail has “the hands of many” been more needed.

Go to vacreepertrail.org/get-involved/make-a-donation to donate.

We are grateful for your support.

The Virginia Creeper Trail Conservancy

09/03/2023

These are sweet words and a wonderful story about Jimmy Buffett posted on FB by my friend Cindy Naas Nathan:

He was a genius. Jimmy Buffett imagined a perfect place and he spent his life selling it to us- and many of us bought it and couldn’t get enough.

So many of us turned 40 and also realized we weren’t in the place we thought we would be. All of us pirates turned 50, still going “What is this place, and what are we doing here?” And then we’d head back to that sunny perfect location somewhere between Florida and the Caribbean, imagine ourselves sitting on the always sunny beach unscathed by hurricanes and taxes. And adulting.

He made people happy. His music brought a generation of us to that one particular harbor that was always there, just one CD away. We didn’t worry when he sang, no one got melanoma and it was always 5 o’clock somewhere. Totally not realistic, but as far as fantasies go, it wasn’t the worst.

When I heard that he’d gone, I cried, in a totally selfish moment. Because he wrote all the songs, he sang for all the people, he traveled and loved and seemingly had a great life. But, the world feels a little poorer now, and the oceans less smooth, and the beaches seem cloudy now.

I went to Costco this morning, and I noticed that among shoppers of a certain age, there were several with red puffy eyes. And then, in the wine aisle, someone started singing: “Yes I am a pirate…” And we all joined in. Some people hugged afterward, and it might sound silly, but just for a minute, we all felt better. The pirate king is gone, but yes, we’re all still pirates, still trying to figure out where we are, and what we’re doing. I think Jimmy would have loved that tribute.

09/02/2023

https://youtu.be/_YSigW4DzEk?si=eU1a6a_GFfPrAevd
Rest in peace

It’s a pirate’s life for Zac Brown Band and Jimmy Buffet. ☠️⛵ Enjoy this performance of "A Pirate Looks at Forty" from 2010. ...