Photo Phriday II

You can see I haven't been very consistent with Photo Phriday so I thought I would post several to kind of catch up. All of these were taken at home.
The first is of storm clouds on the eastern horizon just as the sun was setting. This storm stayed to the east of us but it did provide some beautiful photo op's.
The second was a much needed drink of water for the yard and garden from an earlier brief storm.
Next is a shot of the sun flowers planted by the birds who visit the feeder. I'm amazed that the flower heads seem to get bigger every day.
For weeks we kept wondering where the humming birds were. The feeders were in place but we just didn't seem to have any visitors. Finally they started showing up but I'm not having any luck so far getting pictures with the Bird Cam. This is not a very good picture but I was just excited to see the little fellow.
Sandy caught this frog in the front yard and he posed for a picture.
This house finch seemed to be having a hard time flying and at first we thought it was hurt. It let us get very close and I think it was just a baby still getting used to its wings.
The bees seem to like the sun flowers.
And last, a little bounty from the garden. This is my first crop ever of beets and the first time I've ever pickled beets. We are looking forward to the taste test.

My Photo Phriday

I'm copying an idea from my son who is posting a new photo each Friday on his blog. Because I know he likes honeysuckle, I chose this one taken at the edge of the backyard. There's probably not a lot of opportunity to see this flower in New York.

Bird Cam II

Still don't have a hummingbird but these pictures of a male Blue Bird are awesome. The bird house was attached to a pine tree but seemed to be getting invaded by insects. I washed it out and left it to dry on the deck and the neighbor told us the Blue Birds were all over it while we were out. Moving the camera caught the birds visiting, perhaps checking it out for building a nest.

Garden Update

The Ranunculus was a surprise for Sandy whose favorite color is yellow. She created this planter arrangement.

The little gnome's lantern doesn't compare to the brightness of these pansies and violas.

This is the second planting of Lantana. The frost did a number on the first but I think they will make a comeback.

Look in the center of this picture for a sphynx moth that I have tentatively identified as a humming bird moth using this link.

After fits and spurts with late season frosts, the garden and yard are looking good. We thought we had lost 3 tomato plants but I left them in place and planted replacements. Now the originals are growing and have almost caught up with the new plants. There should be plenty to share.

Thinning the beets gave us our first taste of fresh vegetables when we added the tops to a salad.

Growing in this small space challenges my engrained experiences of planting in rows with spaces between for cultivation with a tractor. I'm thinking that square foot gardening may be the best way to go.

We created a new flower bed along the driveway with coleus and snapdragons. It looks like last night's frost may have gotten a few of them. It's hard to believe a frost this late. I'll post some pictures of it after the plants have gotten a little bigger. Hope you enjoy these pictures.

Bird Cam

For Christmas, my children gave me a camera that mounts outside near a bird feeder to automatically take pictures. I mounted it yesterday afternoon near a hummingbird feeder and was pleasantly surprised to find it had taken a couple of fairly good pictures. I need to tweek it a bit and practice the set up and focus but not bad for the first time.

There might actually be a humming bird in this one.

Top of Mt. Le Conte

Hold onto your hats! Note the gentleman's arm on the very left edge of this photo. He is holding an anemometer that measured the wind gusts at 39 mph.

Easter on the Edisto

Imagine my surpise, when researching South Carolina State Parks, to come across a link to treehouses on the Edisto River under Lodging/Unusual. A call to a couple of paddling friends and a plan was set in motion to spend Easter on the Edisto, the longest free-flowing blackwater stream in North America. I was like a kid waiting for Christmas as I anticipated the trip and the chance to spend the night in a treehouse. The weather was perfect on Saturday as we put in about 9am at Whetstone Landing just below mile marker 105 on the river. The outfitter told us to look for wood duck boxes being used as mile markers to show the distance to the ocean.

The trees were just starting to leaf out and

will soon be as green as this mossy bank.

The wisteria was a bright

spot in this tree covered

with Spanish moss.

Our accomodations included a well supplied tree house with a heater, gas cook top, futons, kitchen and cooking utensils, blankets, gas lantern, hammock, fire pit, picnic table and a

wonderful view. The sound of the river lulled us to sleep after an evening of night sounds including owls, whippoorwills and frogs and a most amazing light show of stars and lightning

bugs. The swinging bridge took us across a creek on the way to the outhouse.A luna moth found its way to our deck and the tiki torches.

I think anyone making this trip would be well rewarded with the peacefulness and the beauty. There were long stretches of river with no trace or sound of human intervention. It was a great time spent with good friends and nature.

Gardening by the "Yard"

Gardening has been a part of my life since birth. Every spring I get the fever and visions of home grown tomatoes dance in my head. Finding a spot for a garden in my new home required a bit of compromising but Sandy agreed to give up a spot of her well manicured lawn in exchange for not having to mow the slope in the backyard. With some basic skills, determination, books from the library and well intentioned advice from the onlookers, we undertook the construction of a retaining wall that we are very proud of. The digging was the hardest part and if you've ever dug deep into red clay soil you know the challenge. Once that was behind us, the actual building was fairly easy and quick. All that's left is backfilling with some top soil and deciding what to plant.

I'll be the first to admit that my gardens, like so many unfinished projects in my life, have fallen by the wayside. It feels wonderful to know not only that I did finish something but that I did it with Sandy working shoulder to shoulder with me. My world is a wonderful place to be.

I should probably add that the original plan calls for two retaining walls with a walkway between so maybe the project is only half done. In any case, there's a spot for tomatoes and okra and squash and that's good for now.

Cabins and Caches and Celestial Karma

One of my goals is to visit, camp in, explore and really experience all the wonderful state parks in South Carolina. To start it off, my partner Sandy and I spent this past weekend at Edisto Beach State Park. The cabin was located on Scott's Creek and the sunrise reflected brilliantly off the water into the bedroom each morning, great alarm clock. Fully furnished (except for a tea pitcher) clean, quiet and central to most of the island, the cabin and park were great. I would definitely recommend a stay there.

Geocaches are plentiful all over the island and nearby. Some are whimsical, some are artistic and some teach a little history of the area. Many thanks to all the folks who work so diligently to put out and maintain caches. One local point of interest (and a geocache site) is the Angel Tree, a huge live oak, thought to be one of the oldest living things east of the Mississippi River.

I went out to take pictures of the sunrise on the day we left, Christmas Eve, and was delighted to find the moon still shining in the west. The official full moon was to be that night. How often would one get the chance to take pictures of a full moon (almost) and a sunrise at the same time!

Fall Along the River

It has truly been a while since I paid any attention to my blog. I found this in my drafts and decided to go ahead and post it even though it was started in November of last year.

Carolina Sunset

A few months ago I read a book called Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg, an absolutely delightful book that I've shared with several people at work. The main character, Mrs. Elner Shimfissle, started a tradition of having the neighbors come over each evening to watch the sunset while they visited and talked about their day. Mrs. Elner couldn't imagine anyone not wanting to see the sunrise or set each day because no two were ever alike. I think she would have enjoyed this one as much as I did.

Music

For many years I had the great honor and pleasure of volunteering at a series of women's festivals in the southeast. Through these festivals I was introduced to many musicians and a wide genre of music. I continue to follow the careers of three of these wonderful women, often traveling to their concerts when they are close by. You can buy their music from their individual web sights or click on the title of this post to link to Lady Slipper, a great company specializing in music by all women.
I've been out of touch with festivals for quite some time now. The longest running and still going strong is the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. I'm sure there are others out there if I just do the googling.

My favorites:
Cris Williamson is probably one of the most well known. My favorite of all her songs is Sweet Woman.
Tret Fure is another great. My favortie song from Tret is Tomboy Girl. She will be performing in Charlotte at the end of this month, October 07.
But if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Deidre McCalla. Everytime I hear Mama's Little Baby Girl, I get tears in my eyes and Cradled in Green describes everything I feel about the South and the great outdoors. You can download songs from her web sight.

Proud Mom

Check out this link to a series of DC comics character cards for sale on ebay.

Panthertown

Saturday was another wonderful day spent hiking with friends in a beautiful area called Panthertown Valley near Lake Toxaway. The end goal was a geocache called Yosemite of the East:Panthertown Pilgramage which was found, but the beauty of the area was the real prize. It took the better part of the day to do the 5 mile hike but I would do it again tomorrow. The pictures above are a few of my favorites taken on the hike.

Tracks

Today I was out taking pictures at the river and I think I found a raccoon play ground by the looks of all the tracks.

The Pinnacle of my Saturday

After all the fun at the Whimmy Diddle Competition, there were caches to be found. I started driving north on the Parkway and decided to try Pinnacle Power. This short, half mile hike almost got the best of me because it was uphill all the way. When I broke through the trees and saw the views all around me, I wanted to sit and take it all in but time was short and B&B were waiting for me back at the car. A quick look around did not turn up the cache but that just gives me more reason to go back, as if I needed more. This was definitely the high or should I say Pinnacle of my day. One of the reasons I'm so hooked on geocaching is that it takes you to so many beautiful places that you might never see or even know about. Who needs drugs?
Maybe the young guys who were chasing each other through the intersection when we got back to Asheville. We were driving down Tunnel Road when out of no where came two cars, squealing tires and bumping each other as they sped through. As they disappeared down the side street, we heard several gun shots and immediately dialed 911. B gave her description of what she had seen and a police car that happened to be behind us in traffic, u-turned and took off in that direction. It was like something on a TV show, but scary to witness in real life.
That was my truly awesome Saturday, a lot to pack into one day. I just want to get back on top of that mountain with plenty of time to sit and a camera.

Whimmy Diddle

The plan last Saturday was to continue from the Lake Cherokee CITO to the World Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle Competition at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville, NC and meet up with my daughter and son-in-law. Unfortunately, they were detoured by a phone call to come to the hospital because son-in-law's father had possibly had a heart attack the night before.
I didn't say everything about my day was perfect but, modern medicine is so very awesome because the next day they inserted a stint to by-pass a 90% blockage and he is home doing well.
At my daughter's insistance, I continued on to Asheville and thoroughly enjoyed my first Whimmy Diddle competition. The MC was entertaining and kept everything moving along and strictly by the rules. This was entertainment of the home grown, mountain variety which suited me perfectly. I brought back several but haven't quite got the hang of making it gee and haw.
The Folk Art Center is full of beautiful crafts from quilts to face jugs . There are trails nearby, picnic areas, geocaches and always, the beauty of the mountains. Stop in and visit and make plans now to be at next year's event. There's music, dancing, craft demonstrations, something for all.

Day Full of Wonder

Yesterday, September 15, was one of the most awesome days I've had in quite a while. It may take me all week to tell all the stories. It started with a drive with my best friend to a local lake to participate in
Beach Sweep/River Sweep.
A couple of good friends have hosted this clean up for three years and this year tied it into a Geocaching CITO which included fellow Geocachers from the USCGA
The morning was clear and cool and working together, eleven of us gathered 600 lbs. of trash from in and around the lake. The area looks much, much better and I enjoyed meeting and working with everyone.
At one point I stopped to admire the smooth bark of a huge tree and noticed water droplets falling all around me. I looked up to see a squirrel chasing left over rain drops to the ground, and life was good.

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This is a location I drive by everyday on my way to and from work. The flags make perfect sense coming from the other direction but seem like a joke from the other. I couldn't help turning around to get a picture.

The Not-So-Broad-River

The pipe laying down in the water, about the conter of the picture, is usually covered with turtles sunning themselves. I've not seen many this summer, especially after the temperatures shot into three digits.

Somehow the wild flowers seem to make it. These are practically growing out of the rocks.

To give an idea how low the river is, the two pipes in the back ground usually stick out about two feet. I'm guessing they're about 6 feet out now.


I've lived in South Carolina all my life and cannot remember a summer so hot or so dry. We've actually started hoping for a tropical storm to brush by and bring some relief. My garden withered away. My flowers barely bloomed. And for one of the rare times in my life, I welcomed the use of an air conditioner.
The river that flows through the county is so low the geese can hardly swim. I've no idea how the fish are surviving.