Country!

We took a trip via Highway 88W
while passing through Creston,
N.C. where we pulled off to venture
into this local artist's country studio and shop!
The colorful 'Quilt' signs and various paintings
she had displayed on the gray barn exterior
made for these great shots (in the early morning light.)
The inside consisted of her studio (Anne Jones)
and an antique/odds and ends shop. We were glad
to enjoy the ambiance, stretch our legs, and get
in some shopping. I do love 'exploring' the myriad of
country shops, artist's niches and stores along all of
our rides in North Carolina, Virginia and in Tennessee.
You never know quite what you will find...
I believe that we live about 13 miles (or so)
from the Tennessee border
(and quite close to Virginia, as well.)
Enjoy the color here
(click to enlarge for all the
pretty colors to pop...!)

White Duck

I liked this photo of a white duck upon muddy water
(although it did not come out as clear as I had hoped
thus the posterization...as a last ditch effort to save
the subject matter and the form of the pic;
which I did like.) Ducks are hard hard to
capture as they flit back and forth so. Just when you
think you have them in a frame...they move out.
And if you try and think ahead to frame them,
they never go just where you think they are
going to go! (Taken on a muddy river in
Damascus, Virginia by the Old Mill Inn this
past Saturday.) This is a great place to go if you like
a casual bike ride. They shuttle you up into the mountains
via van and have a GREAT bike trail for miles of
sailing down through the mountains. It is a very
popular thing to do in Damascus judging by the
scads of people riding down the trail. As an aside....for any
of my readers...if you did hear that it snowed in the
mountains in North Carolina well; that was
surely not the case here! It is supposed to
reach 62 degrees here all week
(and we are at 4000 feet.)
:-)
Happy, blessed Monday folks!

My Front Lawn Puzzle

My Front Lawn Puzzle

Rustle, crumple, scuttle, and crunch-

my leaves are piled up high in a bunch.

The wind it tosses, sends heaps and it whirls

the withered leaves around my feet, they curl.

The leaves they dance, drift, shrink, and spill,

the rattling rake corrals them all-still;

pushed this away and pulled, way off on the side,

I did drive them down deep in an effort to hide--

but mountain wind and upward air

have let them loose and I’m unaware

of the conspiracy

of my lawn-ward leaves

to pile themselves high,

right up to my sleeves.

I hear myself heave out a sigh,

as I spy them there-now, about nine to ten feet high.

What once was swept is now, not clean.

These rustling leaves are spiteful-mean.

Yet, I love the fall and how it toils and it plays

with piles of leaves for weeks and for days.

Their crazy colors so delight my soul

that I long to knit them all up in a bow

and fashion a chain to ’round and then down go,

alternating with color of a most fiery glow.

Red--autumn’s most ostentatious color,

anointing us with her ‘pop’ and ‘zing,’

she can sure sing of a rockin’ autumn—she’s won the prize.

Folks, she’s cut all others right down to their size.

And the overhead gala, a leafy canopy of fun—

it makes all my senses just get up and run.

Sugary yellow, orange, green and brown-

all glittering jewels

in Boone’s forest crown.

They are lazy,

crazy, psychedelic leaves

all piling up and even tugging

my sleeve, yet somehow

strewn , splattered and now spread--

a heaping mosaic that plays with my head.

My front lawn puzzle of painted leaf-gem,

I will rework and then work you again.

Hillside Mosaic

I have enjoyed fall here.
The colors (weekend last, especially)
have been vibrant and exploding!
Check out the bottom two photos enlarged.
Seeing an entire mountainside covered in
such a mosaic of color was downright overwhelming.
It was like being Alice in a storybook.
Driving the many winding roads through the mottled
sunlight under a canopy of color I will not
(easily) forget! Oh what a truly
marvelous fall it was, here.

Real Beauty.

Color

Red Leaves in Wind

My Yard

it's no joke.

Fall Color...

taken from the Blue Ridge Parkway, yesterday.
We have rain today and it is too overcast and
cloudy to photograph the gorgeous fall
colors we are currently experiencing.
(click to enlarge...)
:-)

Fall Color

Subtle Mauves and Browns

Yellow Forest

Not So Subtle Red

Our Favorites...

A child's belly laugh and the giggles that ensue afterward...
An owl hooting to another
and the answer back...
The first rays of the sunrise on a hazy morn
in the mountains...
A blank canvas...
A single pecan sandy...
A plant's tender shoot upward
and the lime green of it...
The curl of a good smile...
And the floating of many leaves on water
embraced by the reflection of colored thinning trees...

What are your favorites?

Pumpkins Galore, Fall Colored Leaves, and Red!

The above was a very large pumpkin patch
we came upon in our travels last weekend.
There were literally pumpkins as far as the eye
could see! They were a brilliant shade of
deep orange. :-) (One of my favorite colors....)
As you can see by the next photo, our leaves
are rapidly changing right now. Actually,
there is s-n-o-w; yes-- I did say snow, predicted
for the High Country this evening. I will let you
know and try to procure a pic. If it does snow
(and stick) it will set a record! Bottom: My hubby
is busy picking the last of our veggies to prevent
them from becoming wrecked (in a freeze.)
Now-- (just) what did happen...
to summer???!

I heart trees...

:-)

Thank You, Aquillrelle

***

On Poem Writing

Some words jingle, foam and pop;
sweet dainties of the mind-delight.
Like twangle, dangle, smoof and pling-
words that make my heart-song sing.

There are those words that ‘ping’ the night-
they sneak up fast behind with fright.
Like hooga, dooga, swarf and blight;
they grab your ankle--snarl and bite.

Like mit, and split, and stagger-twain;
they haunt like spirits…and remain.

Words like soldiers flood my cortex;
piling high; a thought-filled vortex.

A small battalion; they hold me fast;
accusing voice- “You battle-axe!
Just let us loose…to fly away-
or we’ll take you to court today!”

Terse and mean-they oft’ dispute;
“Let us out… avoid ‘bad’-lawsuit!”
They shake their finger-they rock the boat;
and when they’re out-they sometimes gloat.

But after all is said and done-
words like friends are lots of fun.
They link arms and settle down;
to bring joy and blessing
all around.

Like “…joie de vivre” or “jolly elf,"
just stash these words upon your shelf.
And if a rainy day consumes,

or black pitch-filled night
---it finds you;
just take words out and shine them up
to grace your head-
revive you.

***

***

Ode to a Terse Cactus Flower

Once upon my journey,

down dusty white-sand trail,

I came upon a cactus patch;

to enter, I prevailed.

A proud soft yellow flower,

shy and near the ground,

beckoned boasting buttery hues;

upon it I stooped down.

Its petals sheer translucent,

overlapped as if to say:

“Do overlook my prickliness

and cast your glance my way.

Although, my presentation

is lacking velvet touch,

this sun bathed bloom to you I lift.

Now--thank you very much.”

***

I just found out that I have been awarded
the place of becoming a 'shortlisted poet'
for the above two poems. These writings will
be published both in the Aquillrelle Contest
Three Anthology and on-line as well.

(Sending some vibes for a 'groovy' weekend out...to all.)
lg
:-)