Good Morning

The Watauga River

Color!
Top: I did not get
too awfully close.
Bottom: The
Watauga River
here is
a very lovely
hue of
greeny-blue.
I could not seem
to capture
this in a photo,
though. Perhaps it
was the lighting...
:( This was my
best attempt
here.

Tennessee Photo Journal: A Saturday's Journey

Favorite Pics:
Our car trip
into Tennessee
was filled
with beauty
and so relaxing.
What a great day!
Along with
some pretty
incredible
country stores
and a few diner-type
restaurants
where we met
some great, friendly,
kind and helpful
people along
the way~~
we were able
to procure
these shots...
Colorful
bee hives
all in a row,
a lively green
barn quilt,
and the
butterflies
in a secret
meeting
of some kind
by a shallow
river bed.
Whatever
it was all about~~
they were excited!!

Tennessee Road Trip: Colors Swirling

These are two of
a series of photos
of a convocation
of butterflies
by a shallow
river bed.

Top: More illusion
Middle: Another close-up
Bottom: Original in motion

More~~
coming soon
:)
Happy Sunday
to you all...

Voila!

Open...
:)
:)

Front Yard Happenings

Today's Guessing Game:
Answer and assign the
appropriate number
to the photo.

1. Front Yard Movie
(Now Playing...)
Attack of the:
t_ _ _
_ _ _ _ l

2. What flower is this?

3. Bee's Playground

Zucchini Boats, Bread and Top of the Morning to you!

Top-A Departure:
My husband made these stuffed zucchini boats the other evening.
They were filled with a tomato/panko breadcrumb and lima bean based stuffing. He put in a heaping amount of this said same stuffing and they were extremely tasty!
Yum. Yum. And yum-- like
totally. He's the dude in my book when it comes to creative vegetivity.
:)
Thus far we have (also) had: 1. Zucchini thinly sliced in salad, 2. a cold pasta, zucchini and vegetable dish, 3. Zucchini cake (absolutely scrumptious I might add. It was a HIT and even with my kids...amazing-- for sure!)
Hey wee garden...keep them coming!!
Middle: Yesterday, I am so proud to announce, I made my first homemade bread completely and utterly by hand. I do have a bread maker, but the loaves come out oddly shaped and sometimes they just don't fully rise. Voila!!
:) Won't you join us?!
Bottom: The sunrise yesterday here with a light morning misting in the Appalachians...
:) Enjoy!!

There is such quiet here

on the mountain. The wind is building, building and whipping up big today. It is sunny and bright with a intermittent long, cool mountain breeze. Me thinks that I have found a taste of heaven (here.) Even the dog, with her head held high and nose up-- stood strong next to me today (in a real sense to honor the lovely breeze) ...on top of the big road up with the cool mountain breeze ruffling her heavy fur all the way down to her skin. :)
Pick of the Day:
A Quiet cabin,
some weathered
barn board and
a red and bold flower
(of unknown name)
that we transplanted
into our front
garden plot
from a wet
rocky outcropping
on a winding
mountain
road high up.

Country Barns, Bee Hives and B-I-G.

Some photos
from last weekend's
road tip!
My dear sweet
husband loves
photographing barns...

What do YOU think of
the rather LARGE fungi
in our front yard??

...Did I not tell you that
items are LARGE in the
High Country (beetles,
mountains and their
wondrous tops,
butterflies, rock formations,
the snow accumulations
and the like...?) :)

Also- the active bee hives
were an interesting
hue of greeny-blue
lined up on a farm
that you could visit.

P.S:
I spent yesterday
annihilating an 8 (to ten) inch
hornet nest around
our corner to the left.
The ornery fast moving
mob attacked my son
(who was stung) and Ginger Bear (unscathed...)
--Had to-- remove them.
You should have seen me
(in stealth)
shooting a 15 foot
stream of poison (twice;
two whole cans...)
from the seclusion
of our white van; windows UP.
It might have looked
a bit unusual but...
it did the JOB. :)

So Proud...

of our
first
watermelon.
:) :)

Color

Butterfly

Butterfly butterfly,
flutter by...butterfly.

Butterfly butterfly,
flutter by...flutter by,
flutter by me.




[This large iridescent
specimen fluttered
over Ginger this A.M.
(early) to dry its wings
(apparently) in the
morning sun on our
windowsill.
It was so large
that Ginger saw it,
stood with her
head cocked up,
and barked loud
enough to
wake
the entire
neighborhood!]

Watery Interlude

This was a rare
four waterfall
view (in a
small public
park)
with a bridge
in the back!
(Valle Crucis,
N.C.)
Artistically
rendered
by me;
what a dream
come true!
...Wish that
I
was 'miniature;'
this is all
that my world
would need to be!

A Slice of North American Beauty...

To Celebrate the 4th!
Top: The view off of tempestuous
Mount Mitchell; the "Big Boy" of the Appalachian Mountains at 6684 feet! The state park at the top of this mountain is the at the highest point east of the Mississippi. I would say that as we were driving, 'perilous' was a good word to describe the mood of it. One gets the feeling that Mount Mitchell is to be taken quite seriously. I imagined the first people coming up to it's summit. The top was like a strange, new land with oddly altered vegetation everywhere that would require some study (actually.) There were many stark, white and dead trees interspersed throughout the other trees also. Looking down was a totally new affair. I liked the view down but could only see down partially~ we were just too high up!
Sign: We had never seen this sign before; it describes a blind switchback (circle) to go UP (The road curves the opposite direction than the sign~ go figure!!) :) The road trip up to Mount Mitchell off the Blue Ridge Parkway was AWESOME.
Vegetation: The trees at the top (over 6000 feet)
were strangely mutated, dwarf and utterly windswept to the point of looking damaged. It gets very cold up on this mountain in the winter. Even in July, it was almost a full 20 degrees cooler at 6000-ish than lower in the mountain range.
Queen Anne's Lace: We saw a giant variety of this plant that must have been 5 times larger than ours at a mere 4000 feet. It was huge.
Mountain shots: The mountain mist/fog rolled in past 5000 feet. In each shot, Mount Mitchell is the mountain in the back! It is massive and well above the lower peaks.
Yes: We will go back!

(When) He's Down

When he's down

it's almost as though

her heart becomes a heavy weight,

pressing...

He's been down so many times before.

It's very hard

to separate herself (from him.)

How long will it take (this time?)

"Am I strong enough?" (No.)

(I need more time.)

(Let me rally myself...Yes, I must be stronger now.)

Stronger I will be-

and she longingly wills him strong, too.

Then she thinks back

to the very essence of

her son

as a pale wisp of a boy, at thirteen-

gaunt and leaning over (almost as if to flop;)

his young strong frame propped up, crooked in the bed.

I pray he can summon what he needs.

After her prayer she decides upon a walk.

That day,

just

as she rounds the bend in the road with the dog--

her eye catches him

moving his slender frame

in a slightly crooked fashion;

down the mountain path he slips

from shadow and into the light.

With a wry smile he states, simply

"I just got up!? "

"I don't know why but I feel better!"

With her breath caught

as if

seeing an apparition

she breathes a deep sigh of

relief and hope and thankfulness

all mingled

together;

what a

sweet release

it is...as if

another uphill battle has been eluded-

the enemy has again

been

strong-armed into certain submission.

She is sure that she see shadows

slip back.

Let us now dispose of the remains of the day~

far from the pain

the morning brought.

He is so unpredictable; this son.

She smiles. He loves the element of surprise.

Does he plan it that way?

Will he always find her startled at his rising;

at the tricky nature of his comeback?

He bounces back when I have almost given up.

He bounces back when I let the outcome go.

I must remember

this one

thing.