Unexpected...

 beauty.

Salmon!

 'Salmon' Beauty

We 'caught' this huge salmon azalea bush in the country 

(at a yard sale) with a trickling mountain stream 

and yellow buntings nearby. 

What breathtaking color!

lg

Foggy Morn

It's a beautiful foggy morning here in the High Country. 

The fog is thick and unexpected. 

These are two shots of the fog lolly gagging about.  

Top Shot: A real beauty of a fat and a wide all white 

azalea bush (rare) we spied at an 'out

in the country' yard sale. There were loads of huge black
bumble bees floating in and out of the blossoms,
but do you know that they don't like being photographed?

What a great way to start off this week!

Enjoy!

Come and walk these ol' hills (with me!)

lg

A Few More Photos...

of a beautifully painted morning
in the High Country!

lg

Dreamy

O.K., so I am an incurable romantic, I suppose...

This morning the skies were awash in watercolor!

(What a glorious glimpse of a gentle spring 

(wet, with low lighting) morning!)

(I apologize for the sparse blogging this week! 
I am currently having problems with 
my uploading of photos (so slow-slow-slow)
and hope to have this worked out! )

I know, I know...

 Tender Pink (Paper Thin)Azaleas Out Front 

(before the 'so far 2 day storm...')

...I 'should have' gotten you a photo of the snow falling yesterday, 

and how it stuck on the top of the picnic table (where Ginger stands) 

and in the troughs of the garden, BUT I just plain wimped out! 

The winds were blowing up to 45 miles per hour! So, instead I mainly 

stayed inside (aside from 3 car trips and a down filled jacket out.) 

O.K., I just couldn't force myself to go out in that wind!

What is it about a month of weather in the 60's that turns one into 

a wimp? I hated that blowing wind yesterday.

It is morning and it is supposed to WARM UP today.

Hallelujah!

I have been thinking about photographing, for you, how we 

wrapped up all of our plants in blankets with clothespins, and cut up 

sheets and put them down in strips, with rocks to hold them...and how 

my husband tore apart a bale of golden hay and sprinkled it (wet) all over 

our tiny, budding plants. It remains to be seen, as the wind is still howling, 

just how our young plantings fared in a freeze....

(Never plant until mid May; is that our lesson, 

here, I am left to wonder at this point??!)

Of course, dear reader, you will be the first to know

...just how our garden survives. I think the tops of 

my rose bushes were crispy, however. :-(  

Today's Pics:

Indoor shot: My Husband's Secret Recipe (fresh out of the oven):  
Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread; very g-o-o-d! Sink your teeth in! :-)

Rainy Day Fun...

The Girls (Top: Vintage!)

Come on! 

Let's have a doll party!! O.K., O.K. So~I was born in 1958, 

therefore Barbie was a BIG influence in my era (you know~ there weren't 

a whole lot of other choices for us at the time, you see!)

I played with her endlessly (even in snow-lake-puddle diving as the 

Wisconsin winter was melting away, as a girl :-) ) 

She was a lot of FUN. 

Recently, I asked my 16 year old daughter if she wanted me to 

sell my vintage and antique dolls, or restore them (for her.) 

Of course, she answered "I want (you) to keep them (for me) Mom..."

So, I began, on a very rainy day, this week, to restore them. 

Here are the results on a small baby (antique) sleepy-eyed 

doll that was my Mom's/Aunt's or Grandmother's doll. She had no hair 

(just strands of carrot red but mostly bald) and dirty clothes. 

I am planning to still repair her slightly cracked eyelid and further 

clean her up; also gluing on the sweet wig you see that I ordered 

(I had never ordered a doll wig or any wig before, so this was fraught 

with difficulty for me.) 

Doesn't she look cute, though?

She is still in good shape. I imagine that she is from the 1930's.

Then~~~ there is my early 1960's vintage pony tail-swirl 

Barbie (next in the long polka-dot gown.) She had no clothes and was 

crunched up in a case that was ruining her hair. 

Doesn't she look grand??? 

Yes, I did have many a good day, as a girl, holding her red painted fingernail hand...

Finally ( I couldn't help myself once I did get started...) 

Things are like that, don't you think?

I got a steal of a deal (at Big Lot's) on a reproduction  

(Barbie) doll of her. Apparently, the vintage Barbie pony-tail swirl doll is worth 

quite a lot of money today (as much as $150.00 or so.) 

Who would have 'thunk' it, seriously?!

I hand sewed these gowns (and the stole) for them (O.K., come on!!)

 I have always, always 'wanted' to design clothing. 

And here is (was) my chance! It was great fun and certainly a challenge for me. 

It had been a LONG time since I had even looked at a pattern.... 

I still have work to do on 2 other dolls. 

I hope you like this trio.

Yours, 

Louvregirl,  the 'designer.'

Sweet.

Crescent Moon Beauty

 

Crescent

I hopped out of my bed today to capture this, 

a crescent moon beauty amid pine needles;

waving, on a light purple and gray sky.

:-)

Just for Fun...

Morning

  

Sunlight streaming in 

on wet, moist garden

mounds that offer birds sweet

delicacies.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hair’s (Definitely) the Thing

Teenage daughter wants blue hair.

I don’t like my white hair.

Son appears with brown mop, thick-growing facial hair.

Dad strokes long beard, gray-lamenting “No hair.”

Collie dog hair-everywhere.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Possibility

Possibility

When left to my own devices, what would I do?

Roam the hills, weave up wild flowers, and bring them to you?

If given time, to find my thoughts, what would I say?

Love is like a blossom, tender in May.

If I could sit some place peaceful, in a chair, where would it be?

At the bedside, of my son (although he is 23.)

If I could perform a menial task, what would I choose?

I’d weave the tail of a horse, or flip a pancake, or two.

Charlotte Skyline...

 

Charlotte Skyline (Posterized)  

Top: Night Time City-scape

A drive to nearby Charlotte this week revealed blue 

skies and these well designed sky scrapers. And they were 

even well dressed up at night! It was a balmy 78 

degrees out of the mountains...just heavenly!

A Tribute

The poem today is posted as a tribute to my mother-in-law, who was a prolific 

writer and a song writer. Much of her work has never before been seen in public. 

As you can see, this writing is a song (and I wish I could have heard 

the music she had in mind for it.) When she was young, my mother-in-law recorded 

a record in Nashville. She had her own band. It is also indicative of the period of the 

1960's in it's subject matter (a time she raised a child through), but I think that the concept 

she was speaking to still applies today. Just weeks before she passed away (at age 78), 

she spoke about being hopeful that she would (someday) have her 'own' book signing. 

She never did get that chance on this side of heaven. 

We have much sorting to do of her writings. 

This post is dedicated to her husband, Leonard.

lg

In Honor of Thomas Kinkade

Setting Sun Golden (in the Appalachians)

This photo is dedicated today in memory 

of "The Painter of Light,"  

Thomas Kinkade, 

who passed away on Friday. 

Thomas Kinkade was my exact age, born in 1958. 

I always enjoyed every interview that he gave. 

He was inspirational, hard-working, and prolific 

as a painter. I have one of his prints in my home, 

with the following verse from Isaiah: 

"And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, 

and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places."  

He is quoted as saying about his own work

 "With whatever talent and resources I have, 

I'm trying to bring light to penetrate 

the darkness many people feel." 

I concur. 

He will be greatly missed.

louvregirl

Fun Day

 Lofty Bird's Eye View of the Blue Ridge

 Split Rail Fence Against Spring Sky

 Spring Sky Beauty

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Remember when you were a kid? The bottom pic is of my 

teenage daughter (the one on the bottom with her hair flying :-) ) 

and her girlfriend rolling themselves down a very BIG hill 

on the Blue Ridge Parkway! The spring weather 

is perking up here making for some almost summery 

periods of enjoyment and of just plain FUN outside. 

The Parkway was especially wonderful yesterday with 

deep blue skies, fluffy white clouds and spring long views...

Spring has sprung and is in the air with flowers blooming.

Violet Patch

 Front Yard Violet Patch

I have been waiting to photograph this small 

(wildflower) violet patch on the side of our front lawn.

I dearly love these sweet little blooms. They are miniature 

flowers and appear in just one rather smallish patch in the side lawn. 

I call them "Quakers" as they shiver and quake in the mountain 

breeze that comes upward on the sloping side yard. 

Aren't they adorable?

Here is my offering to them (in a poem format) from last year! 

As you might guess, I'm glad that they are back :-)

Ode to a Wild Flower Patch

Tiny purple patch
the smallest of wild flower
Tiny violet patch
quaking under the wind's power
Tiny blooming bunch
you rise to greet the day
Tiny cornflower stars of blue
you grace the first of May.

Luscious, precious petal,
four and a tiny face…
too small to gather in a bunch,
the mountain wood your vase.

Tiny violet bloom
alone up on the hill,
pressed now firmly in my heart…
remember you-I will.