Our Little Town

Walking out on the front porch in my bare feet a short time ago, the concrete was cool from the lowering overnight temperatures.  Fog cannot hide the signs of the season, such as Sandy's 75 foot tall red maple changing to it's namesake color. The painters have finally returned to the house across the street after a few weeks away. I'm dying to see the colors that have been chosen. Soon I will know.

It's meant to be a sunny day, matching the previous days of this week. What a shame that rain hampered the attendance to the weekend festival.

While it was not raining when we arrived, an hour or so later it began. Actually, probably about the time we saw the bagpipers walk by, a group that can be heard long before being seen!

Most things become trendy again and I think the same holds true for macrame as we saw more than one booth with some creative use of the craft.

For Bruce no festival is complete without lemonade. I am ambivalent about the drink. 

So many folks in our region rely heavily on the income they make at the festival so having two days of rain, albeit mostly gentle, is so challenging. Normally at the time Bruce was getting his lemonade, there would be a line twenty deep.

This path above clogs with people heading to the food trucks and the festival barn where Appalachian music and dancing is celebrated, keeping the old traditions alive.

Our friend Marji said her sales were down by a huge percentage. I do remember those days and do not miss them for a minute!! 

That same night we went to the Big Brothers fundraising gala where the theme was Dirty Dancing. We did our best to look a little festive using what we already own. I rolled Bruce's jeans up, along with his plaid short sleeved shirt sleeves and he slicked his hair a bit. I wore a swirly skirt, sweater with pearl-type buttons and white Keds. Our friend Ann was kind enough to buy the $100 ticket and I'm glad she did because we had fun.

Well how about that....Mr. Peck is behind her perusing the silent auction offerings. John donated a five piece set of Adirondack furniture for the audible auction. He and Laura just returned from a biking trip in France. They do love their exercise! The wineries along the way don't hurt.

At the event these folks were getting a little exercise of a different persuasion.

Following church on Sunday, Bruce and I went to Valley River Brewing for lunch. I'm not a beer drinker but I do love their food. We mostly always like to sit at the bar and chit-chat a little with whomever is working. A family run pizza and more restaurant, on this day the daughter was behind the bar and we got to talking about watching sports. She claimed she was not much of a fan.

We had been talking about football, however, when asked if she liked watching any sport, she answered that women's lacrosse was her favorite. I did not see that coming!! 

Taking a walk through town on Monday afternoon, most all of the dogwood trees are beginning to show their fall finery.

Here's another view of town from the other side of the street.

On another day I walked through town on my way to the riverwalk, rather than go down the street closest to our home. Along the way I saw some things that you might find interesting.

I remember going in the visitor center when we first arrived. I could never have predicted that we would make Murphy our home. NEVER! On this day I met about three couples visiting Murphy for the first time that I was able to help by either answering questions, or giving directions. How about that? 

Would you just look at the pollen on this sunflower plant I came across! I had no idea they dropped so much pollen until I displayed them in our home. 

Walking through the streets adjacent to the train tracks, I had fun watching these mockingbirds strutting about which is maybe not a good way to put it but I can think of no other!

Morning glories graced a fence post,

I noticed a Downy woodpecker having his way with carport rafters.

It was so crazy that when I backed up a bit, look who was watching me from the roof.

Do you see the giant spiderweb in the bright sunshine.

A closer look.

The golden color of the large one was unique to me.

Back on Campbell Street, the geraniums continue with an abundance of blooms. The hydrangea plants are finally blooming!

I was beginning to think that it was just a bad year for these beautiful flowers as my neighbor's normally prolific bloomers have been mostly bare. They are so pretty as cut flowers and last a good long while indoors. I don't think the picture below does justice to this bloom's size which is actually about eight inches wide!

In the garden the dahlias are still showing off.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined me being someone who has dahlias that bloom like mad. I remember once paying a pretty penny for a few dahlia plants in Orlando and they wilted in the heat. Talk about a joy! 

Every day I am picking green beans, the okra is still producing, as are the shishito peppers. Here's something funny....take a look at a six month old carrot.

Isn't that a hoot? The tops are so lush one would think a lot was going on underground but one would be wrong!  Alas....there still are some in the ground that I will just leave until a freeze comes along. 

A few tomatoes are hanging on, while the herbs are going gang busters. It's sure been fun to have a garden. I was telling Bruce, as I put some okra in the fridge, that I really cannot believe that I grew this food. Not bad for a city girl!

On an afternoon when we were sitting on the porch talking on the phone with David, Bruce saw one hummingbird, but none since. Seemingly they are on their way. Don't get me going on the miracle of migration. The zinnia plants are so darn tall now that they are blocking my view of the bird feeders from inside. 

Raising the feeders has been the ticket...no more trouble with Lucifer who I will have to rename as he has changed his ways with a little help from Bruce.

Leaves are falling in our back yard but it is so crowded with trees, here's the only view to show the changing color.

Since I took the photo, more leaves have fallen and we can now see a bit of the sky.

While I was picking up two buckets of the chestnuts, aka spike balls, I was thinking about how amazing seasons are and how well organized and planned everything is. I had never once thought about how when the leaves fall, more sunlight can reach us allowing for a bit of winter warmth. Of course if one lives where it is gray and gloomy all winter, this does not apply, and I am sure that there are benefits to those places, but being a Florida girl, I do like a bit of sunshine whatever the season. 

Then again, I like life in all it's many forms. And the mountains...oh my what a treat.

Talk about purple mountain's majesty!! 

your friend,

Gail

October Baby!

Friends, we have made it to October and I for one could not be more thrilled. Yes, it ushers in cold weather that my darling husband is not so fond of, however the Mrs. in the family says bring it on!! I can always put more clothes on but I cannot take more off!! I could hardly wait to buy pumpkins and put up the new wreath.

Plus, as it turns. our geraniums love October. We celebrated Bruce's 50th birthday by flying to England to see from whence the Pecks came. Hingham, East Anglia should you be wondering. I believe I mentioned it recently, highlighting the beautiful rapeseed fields we saw, yet something else I have always remembered were the vibrant and prolific geraniums we saw, at least that is what we call them. A beautiful British flower book Matt gave me for Christmas enlightened me on the proper name and that is pelargoniums. How about that??? I learned too that there are around 280 species of pelargoniums, just so you know.

But I digress...

My point was to marvel at how well my geraniums, which is what I will probably continue to call them, are doing! Never in my life have I had such an abundance of blooms. I am thrilled. As well, I am aware they do not fit the fall color scheme, but I am perfectly fine with that! The new wreath is an autumn themed, as in the colors, of the one I made for the 4th of July.

Bruce was kind enough to help me jam the fabric squares into the straw wreath I purchased at the thrift store for a dollar. Speaking of fabric, I am once again making a seriously mismatched scrappy quilt. 

Made with 2" x 3.5" pieces, there will be well over a thousand separate pieces when it is done but we do love a scrappy quilt, so why not? I have been going upstairs to sew for a few hours at a time, although one night I paired up pieces on a tray while we watched television, bringing them upstairs the following day.

For some folks it will be way too busy but it is Bruce's favorite and I like it as well.

I may be able to sew a little, but this young woman loves to paint and is showing it off on any number of downtown buildings. We were delighted to meet the artist when our friend Brittany, in the dress, called out to us for a chat.

She was still working on it when we saw her. Apparently everything starts out white as you see the upper flowers. Just like me wanting to put out an Autumn wreath, the businesses go all out to make things beautiful for the locals and tourists alike. The biggest event of the year is tomorrow and heavy rain is predicted for the day; let us hope the weather folks are wrong because more than 100 craftspeople display at the Folk School Festival, in it's 50th year. The school itself is celebrating their centennial. 

We did have some rain last week and then the sun came out. You and I both know that when that happens, a rainbow is sure to appear, which is why I went out front and looked to the sky, seeing nothing. Not long afterwards, D'Anna calls, saying, there is a rainbow! They were driving back from Atlanta and were heading through Murphy when it happened. I immediately ran back outside, a camera in hand, and oh my I was so glad that I did.

I don't know what I will do when Tom finally decides to build on his lot because it works so well for me as a photography spot! Glorious is my way of describing the rainbow. 

Here is a good view of how the trees still mostly look like. Fat and green with the tiniest bit of yellow. I took a walk to monitor the color, or lack thereof.

What is notable, aside from green, green, and more green, is the presence of kudzu big time. We saw a show that said it thrives in the sun, but I am here to report it is not too unhappy in the shade! 

This is a road adjacent to the river walk of which there are really multiple parts with different material underfoot along with different flora and fauna. On this day, I was on the part that you can take all the way to Lowes. There are some very rocky parts rather than the paved part on the other side of the river; the part that runs through the park.

You are looking at a chunk from the mountain along with a leaf that has turned early. Before too much longe,r that mountain chunk might well be buried in leaves! We did drive to Lowes last week and holy cow! Mixed messages were to be seen.

I have no idea how long it has been up, nor do I know how long the Halloween stuff has been up. Check out the price of this big boy!

What I do know is it, along with the rest of Halloween, is not taking the primo spot in the store, superseded by Christmas.  

On my walk I came across some intensely colored Morning Glories.

And a bluebird, the likes of which I have not seen for months.

My morning bird count is rising as more birds come through, or return to stay the winter, which is what I expect this Carolina Chickadee to do.

We had some very chilly mornings last week, as in the 40's!! We also have a bunch of spider webs on those chilly, foggy mornings.

Bruce took the photo below of me when we were at the top of Amicolola Falls.

No need for a sign to remind me not to cross the fence because I had no intention of doing so!

After lunch today I picked more green beans as they keep producing. They have been doing so well, as has the Italian parsley, which is so pretty and delicate.

And, in spite of the mildew the zinnias continue their blooming ways. It seems to me that the color has become even more intense as the heat has diminished slightly.

My local library came through and I have now read Whistler. 

Sometimes it is hard to sit still long enough to read novels when you have this sort of thing happening in your backyard.

That is one hecka big groundhog!! 

We have had some fun with friends outside of pickleball. Linda is a fountain of knowledge about all things Murphy. For fourteen years she owned a much beloved local bookstore in both downtown Murphy and Andrews. 

Picking her brain for stories is a pleasure we enjoy any time she is available.

Our pickleball friend Evelyn had a party on Saturday afternoon. Oh my!! What a setting, what a house!! 

We have been to lots of folks homes here and not a one of them looks like the other, something that is very refreshing after living in Orlando where many homes are quite similar. Set down a long gravel road, once you drove a mile or so into the mountain, it opened up to reveal the beautiful river. Those of us interested in that sort of thing, took the house tour with Evelyn where she described how they turned a shack into a showplace doing much of the work themselves.

Not every project turned out as they planned because the above was meant to be a green house but turns out it is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, but one thing for sure, it is sure cute.

I ran into Eleanor at Lowes a year or so ago and she told me she liked to work on her house. Little did I know then that what she has done is nothing short of remarkable both with the outside and inside!

Back on Campbell Street, this very well may be the last hummingbird photo I take for the season as I have not seen one in three days.

Does he look fat, like he is ready to go on a really, really long journey? From what I have read, I will leave the feeder up for two more weeks to catch any stragglers on their way South.

Colin came to visit us on Wednesday!! He worked with Bruce on many projects and soon became friends as well. He's from the UK but has been an American citizen for decades now. While we played pickleball, he drove to Bryson City, a place he'd not visited in thirty years. From there he headed back towards us. and we met in Andrews to go to Hoppy Trout, a restaurant and music venue that has been getting rave reviews from our friends.

Heading back to Murphy, he had the house tour as you can imagine. I force it on everyone because the house is so cool and that has nothing to do with us. It's got good bones!! Plus, Colin is a carpenter and I knew he would love seeing Bruce's shop and all the woodwork. We continued our fun in town where we saw folks we knew everywhere we stopped. Colin is a ready conversationalist so it was fun. If I had to guess, the man with the phone is photographing his elderly parents and a brother. It appeared to be three sons. I did my best not to stare.

So I am leaving you with this photo that shows the state of the leaves. It should be fun to monitor, right?

I lied. 

Late Tuesday morning I was walking, not far from the above. What you see depends largely on the time of day and on this day, late in the morning, I'd not seen a whole lot except I just knew I would.

And then I did.

I cannot tell you how long it has been since I have seen a Monarch butterfly in the wild. Oh what a happy day. If that were not enough, soon thereafte,r I heard the familiar sound of a Pileated Woodpecker. Looking up, while trying not to look directly into the sun, woo hoo, I found it!

Perhaps this does not excite you but it sure does me. Now I know just where to look come springtime!! Baby woodpeckers are pretty cute and they usually come in threes. 

Enjoy the cooler weather dear readers!

your friend,

Gail