A Spike Ball Hill

 Oh my goodness friends!! Sunflowers along the highway!!

Because Bruce is so tied up with all these church projects lately, we are not going many places just to roam around. Last Friday I suggested that we do so, but as it turned out, he had a meeting late morning so we could not go very far away.  Nearby Andrews would work to take a walk in the woods, partly along the Valley River, the same one that runs adjacent to the river walk here in town. 

You begin the walk with this view which I am very much looking forward to seeing again soon when the leaves are changing!

As I have had to report, ad nauseam I might add, it was another hot day, so the upcoming shade was welcome. It is only about a mile walk but pretty with bonus points for said shade. As is always the case, I am looking, looking in every direction and what should I see down a small knoll but a cairn along the river. Mr. Peck is posting our find to his facebook page.

The smaller river rocks were so lovely and smooth.

A view of the river.

Isn't it a wonder how people can stack those stones just so? Life is so full of wonderful things if only we take the time to notice them so says the optimist in the room!! 

On our way to Andrews I had a passing glance at the roadside spectacle; on the way back I was locked in on where were they?? Closer to Murphy than I thought, finally they came into view up ahead. 

Woo hoo! Writing this I am transported back in time, more than twenty years ago, when Bruce and I first went to England on a mission to see the town from whence his ancestors came before heading to America in the 1600's in order to escape religious persecution. Our destination was a tiny hamlet if you will, Hingham, located in East Anglia. Plenty to be said about that experience, but I will confine it to just this---rapeseed fields were in bloom as we made our way in a taxi, the driver of whom told us what the fields of PURE Yellow were. Oh my goodness, what a sight! Should you be interested, there are plenty of images online! 

I see a tinge of color change on the tops of a few trees. Do you? Actually I have been documenting the trees along the riverwalk as the month progresses. Here is yesterday's look.

In the foreground there are plenty of wildflowers which were everywhere.

Before long the hummingbirds will make their long trip to Mexico and Central America for the winter so I celebrate every sighting at our feeder and on the zinnias. And, with any luck every now and again I see one out and about like I did yesterday.

Much to my surprise I also saw an Osprey for only the second time since we have been here. 

Back on Campbell Street, we love our big trees that provide us with not only beauty, but shade as well. As with most things you take the good with the bad and in our case the chestnut tree is great until the nuts encased in what I am calling spike balls, begin falling, falling, and falling. To date, Bruce and I have picked up, one by one, 11 buckets full making this little hill of misery. The spikes on the outside are very, very painful when they puncture your skin and sadly, it does not take much for that to happen.

One afternoon I was barefoot to water my garden and the new plants on the other side of the yard. I thought I was far enough from where they drop; alas that was not the case and I have a tiny splinter of one in my left foot. To tell you the truth, I actually think the tree is in the Ledford's yard along the little wall but the canopy is on ours. Looking at the photo it may not look like much but if I had to guess there are several hundred there. Along with their magnolia pods friends. 

Finally, a giant rainstorm on Saturday afternoon which was actually quite violent, as if making up for lost time as there has been almost no rain for weeks. I was so surprised to find three stalks of my floundering zinnia plants on the ground.

The powdery mildew has taken it's toll on the leaves and if you have no idea what I am talking about here's what I mean.

I decided that while I still had flowers I would bring them in the house to enjoy.

Aren't they just so cheerful?? Then again, when you realize you have been housing a worm for days it give's one pause. Yikes! And this was from a small vase on my kitchen windowsill!!

Not far from where I prepared a favorite dish that I do not make nearly often enough because it is a bit labor intensive. Then too, with my small amount of kitchen counter space, it takes a lot of chopping and ingredients. That said, it is so worth it.

The book behind the pan, which is what I made it in, is filled with favorite recipes that I find useful rather than digital form that I have to keep refreshing. While Bruce was at the gym, I prepared the salad and was looking forward to consuming it with him a little later. Well, indeed it was later, very much later. And do you want to know why?? 

But of course you do!!

In our unique pantry there is a pull cord for the light. While I was getting the peanut butter out of the pantry for the noodle salad dressing, pulling the cord in the usual way, something not so usual happened. The light came out of the ceiling and was dangling. Mentioning it to Bruce when he returned was my first mistake. And why would that be so? Because he is always responsive and got right to it, imagining it would not take very long, but then it did, in part because it is old wiring that one has to make sure works with new fixtures and so and so. Eventually, we did eat the salad that night, and then again, and again, because it makes so much!! And you know what? We did not mind in the least as it is so tasty!

The garden is looking good! Look at this okra flower!!!

And the dahlias, oh how I love you!

And to think this joy comes from a $2 pack of seeds! 

Clouds!! We have had very few of late so seeing this was also a joy.

Aside from playing pickleball we had a quiet Labor Day. Actually I have had some quiet days and have filled them with reading, something I have been not doing enough of. To be a writer, one needs to first be a reader and I have been neglecting that side of things. Currently I am reading, How to Read a Book which I was doing yesterday afternoon until I got to a place where the main character was making a very poor decision and I felt so bad about it I had to put it aside. So, yes I think it is good. The review I linked to above is not anyone I know, but I do see the review was from later 2024 and our little library is labeling it as new fiction. New to me anyway!

This time of year there are spiderwebs galore, but usually I don't see the spiders. This time I did.

I neglected to mention they are, thankfully, outdoors!!

One very great thing about living in a small town is that you have the opportunity to know the shop owners. Not saying you can't in a big town but here it is more likely. And the great thing about Murphy is we have some pretty darn creative souls owning the downtown businesses. Gray Matters always has the best windows, but this time they took it outside. 

Look what was parked outside their door!!

Jeeps are popular here but I've yet to see one that is tickled pink! 

Our garden journey together is not over yet because I planted new brocoli plants and hope they do well. In addition to that I planted both arugula and radish seeds, both of which have sprouted,  and I believe I mentioned the garlic in this last  post.  As you can see, I do not want this excitement to end! 

It's a good thing I saw this butterfly when I did because there have been so few this summer.

My goodness there is a bug too! 

Recently I came across this: "The amount of beautiful things in your life depends on your ability to notice them." 

Sounds about right to me!!

your friend,

Gail

A Pocketful of Green Beans

 Finally, enough for a meal! Tuesday morning, during my garden survey, I discovered green beans on my wild plants and filled the pocket of my dress with them. I took this photo days before so with what I picked and the pictured beans below, we managed to have them with our dinner. Turns out they were pretty tasty!

My tomatoes were mostly small so when the above medium sized fruit appeared it needed documenting along with a few shishito peppers. D'Anna pulled up her spent tomato plants but mine are still growing, in part because the sun has moved allowing more sun to shine on our garden. One thing I have learned is that no two flowers are alike which is pretty darn remarkable in my opinion. Here's some of my zinnia and notice the tops of them to see what I am talking about.

The plants have gotten very tall and absolutely smothered in powdery mildew, something I read about before planting, but still was powerless to keep it at bay. Don't believe everything you read online because although multiple people swore by spraying the plants with diluted milk, I now have even more mildew.

As well don't believe everything your phone identifies because often enough to distrust it, the identification is wrong. Three different plants came up for the zinnias, none of which were correct. Roses it claimed! Thus, I have lost confidence in our "friend" Siri! For those of you who do not have an iPhone, that would be our "digital assistant".

All that to say that I will plant them again because they are such fun cut flowers, bringing charm to every indoor space.

Speaking of charm, we drove over to Blairsville to check out the new Marshalls and what a lovely treat that was. While there we went to a few thrift stores and I found this cup that while I thought was a dollar, turns out it was $7.00. Nevertheless I still brought it home.

Turns out it is a rare pattern from a century old Bavarian maker of china. To my eyes it is super cute and it is just perfect to hold the pennies I collected on the foggy August mornings. We shall put that theory to the test; here's hoping it works better than the milk treatment for my zinnias!

In my last post, I mentioned our visit to The Crowne in Brasstown where our plate was so pretty, and I tried lentils for the first time in the red pepper soup.

We ordered the same and then shared one of Bruce's favorites, a delicious rendition.

This has been a sad year for hydrangeas in not just our yard, but my neighbors as well, however I still have a few beauties.

Just what you have been waiting for....I finally got a photo of Lucifer who is actually quite a beautiful cat but my birds were here first so I dislike him for that. 

Going out for my garden tour, including planting some garlic, he was laying there like he owns our yard!

Do you see my one and only regularly formed cucumber? I am pretty sure it is my fault for planting it in an area that was shaded by other plants. Of course I never dreamed the Italian parsley would get so big. 

For posterity, below.

This is our new bed that is now completely covered with falling leaves from the tree above it. What you might also notice is the relentless sun that has plagued us for about ten days. Good grief it is far hotter than suits me! Of course everywhere is hot isn't it? Remind me of this when winter arrives and I complain about it being too cold. Actually I don't mind the cold but I do mind having to wear so many clothes. 

Driving through Andrews on our way to meet up with friends for an easy walk alongside the Nantahala River, I never can resist photographing the beautiful mountains, and in this case, fog, and corn in the fields!

The walk was right up my alley...flat and fun.

The fun was even more so because I found someone who does not mind walking slow in order to take everything in. Nancy is a tiny little thing.

Eventually we caught up with the rest of the group.

Larry and Nancy have both done some amazing athletic feats in their day, Larry more so than Nancy because he completed, not one, not two, but three Ironman competitions!! The lady on Bruce's left used to do some amazing races in both canoes and kayaks on whitewater no less. And then there is Gail who knows how to take a pretty good picture! You already know David and D'Anna who just learned that they are to be grandparents!! As you can imagine, they are over the moon.

On our walk back to the car we came by where they launch the rafts on the Nantahala River. 

Those are some brave folks rafting solo! 

Eating at the restaurant at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, D'Anna had said the pancakes were really special.

Wondering what could be so special about a pancake ,I did not order them but shared a bit of hers and by golly she was right...delicious!

One crazy thing about that visit was we ate there on the same day two years ago on Tom's birthday! 

Later that day we met up with John and Laura downtown, and oh my word this cloud formation is fantastic!  This is a good view of the downtown improvements orchestrated by Laura and her team.

After much brouhaha, folks have become accustomed to the round about. 

Look, something is happening with the house across the street!!

We do feel for the folks who bought that house as it has turned out to be more work than I believe they imagined. 

I admit to very few walks of late because I just cannot take the afternoon heat but one day I attempted to and I thought what better picture to take than of the river from the bridge, one I have taken many times before. 

You may not be able to see it in the photo but there is the beginnings of yellowing of the leaves. Subtle but noticeable now that we have been here a few years. Wow, hard to believe. 

Wondering what it will look like on October 1? Hang around and I'll show you the changes that will, hopefully, bring on cooler weather.

But then again, I won't be able to start mornings with a garden tour. :(

your friend,

Gail

Late Summer in Murphy

 I did not wake up yesterday morning and think to myself, "how about making some chicken cacciatore for dinner" and yet, that is what I ended up making. Perhaps I wanted to celebrate Mr. Bruce feeling like himself again, after a Tuesday that found him mostly in bed?

Shocked is what you are probably experiencing as you read the above because aside from Covid our first December in the cottage, Bruce just does not get sick. Instead I get both of our share of illness! It seems to have been a 24 hour bug and he is good as am I. Hallelujah and amen to that.

The chicken was good despite the fact that I have not made that dish in years. I wonder why I waited so long? 

Speaking of years, oh my goodness! Old blog post HERE. I was making note of my 701st blog post back in 2010. Call me amazed when I read that post, and you should too by the way, that I was praising to the hilt a book called Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann. Matt read it too and we both could not believe how good it was. Well, if you can imagine, and I suspect you can, I am currently reading a book I got from our local library, two streets away from here, and one of the blurbs on the back of the book is from him! What are the chances that I would come across that blog post yesterday? Slim, my friends, slim. Tommorow There Will be Apricots  is what I am reading. Somewhat emotionally draining which is fine after the fluff book I mentioned in my last post. What I had no idea about is that she turned that book into a little series, so there were others who were entertained, or so it seems.

Whew, let's put in a pretty picture! About time!

While I am not complaining, heretofore there has been a shortage of butterflies for me to ogle. No longer friends. The one above was from Sunday when we finally went to The Crowne for brunch following church. Matthew gave Bruce a gift card for his birthday (5/18!!!) and we surely had taken our sweet time going there. You may recall that restaurant as the site of the wedding in June. 

The garden that serves the restaurant has grown significantly since we were last there and was producing loads of shishito peppers that the owner was picking while I was taking butterfly photos!

With only one plant it is hard to amass too many at one time, but ours are coming along, as is our okra!

And strawberries!! Usually because, again, one plant, I leave them for the birds.

I do love their little pink flowers. On the subject of pink flowers, one of my dahlias!! I love those flowers and I still cannot get over that I put a seed in the ground and voila!

I know that sounds silly, but it is so miraculous to be involved in the process of bringing beauty into the world! 

We take no credit for most of our plantings as they were here when we arrived, but what I will take credit for is appreciation. I am all about counting my blessings and our landscape is full of things to be thankful for.

Rose of Sharon is in the hibiscus family and talk about a prolific bloomer. The tree that split in two is still producing great numbers of flowers in two cycles . It is astonishing. 

Here is a look at the garden in late summer. (yellow dahlias!!) upper right.

It takes a sharp eye to notice that the bean plants are winding their way around the handrail with beans coming along nicely. The herbs are all fantastic and just this week I planted new broccoli plants!! The amount of sun hitting the garden has changed dramatically since I started in late March with plenty of sunshine happening now. Perhaps it would be better to have lots of sun earlier in the year and now when it is so hot, less? I'm still learning! Aside from the mosquitoes, I just love it! 

I've got some insects for you.  A Katydid on the front porch column. 

Bruce spotted this scary guy in the church parking lot. 

That would be an Eastern Hercules Beetle with that scary looking horn in the front.  

Isn't it fun coming across things you've never seen before or rarely see? That beetle is a case in point, however I have to admit it would not be anything I would want to touch. Bruce did pick it up and it had a hard shell. Two days ago I was walking home from the library and thought perhaps I would go around the block to our home and was I ever glad I did because the sun was shining brightly and I was not sure what I was seeing up ahead and then it became clear it was a hawk. A small hawk.

Merlin identified a Red Shouldered Hawk in the vicinity earlier in the morning, a rare occurrence. The truth is I heard it myself, but I'm giving Merlin credit nonetheless. One would think I could identify lots of birds by their call, but one would be wrong.  I do, however, at least recognize the call of a hawk as it not only distinctive and plentiful in Orlando.

It was not until I was able to use my bird id that I discovered that this small hawk is actually a Cooper's Hawk that was kind enough to pose for me before flying into a nearby tree.

And that, my dear friends is why I always carry a camera!

An absolute gem of a rose lives on that same street where I saw the hawk.

My zinnias are very tall and very covered with powdery mildew that I have been unable to stop from multiplying. I read somewhere about spraying with diluted milk, however, that does not seem to have worked at all! Bruce raised the bird feeder, as I mentioned and it is six feet about the ground now which gives you an idea about how tall the zinnias are! 

Too bad there are no hummingbirds on the feeder in the picture above but I will tell you that they have been plentiful this year.  Note the addition to the pole. I caught Lucifer looking longingly above his head, but so far it is too tall for even the likes of that crafty cat.

The hummingbirds feed on the zinnias but until two days ago I'd not seen a butterfly on them until two days ago when I jumped up from my lunch, telling myself to not get my hopes up as I reached for my camera from it's bag by the front door on the coat rack. Generally birds scatter when they hear the door open but not so with this butterfly with a torn wing.

Come to think of it, Dolly Parton died that day. Of course I needn't include her last name because she is one of those unforgettable persons that has done so much good in the world, she is recognizable by only her first name. We have yet to visit Dollywood which is just 100 miles of roads with more curves than you can shake a stick at. Friends have gone though and say it is beautiful and who is surprised by that?

We did an errand yesterday and drove home on some roads we'd not used before which is something we need to do more often because there are lots of interesting things going on around here. This was quite the sight. He had just finished putting feed out alongside the road and looked up and waved when I took the photo.

Those are some fancy chickens, aren't they?

Bruce has been working on all kinds of projects for the church in his role as chairmen of the trustees. Whew...it is a lot, but anyone who has worked with Bruce in the past knows that he does not know how to not put in a lot of effort. It is in his DNA. Good thing I am used to it!

I wish I saw more Carolina Chickadees because they are as cute as a button.

Being the citizen scientist that I am (haha), my bird count was but six this morning, down from at the height of summer, in the 15-18 range. As has been said before, I am learning what birds are here in what months. Plus I am tracking the times of the sunrise and sunset which I know can be done with a phone but it is just as handy, if not more so, to open a notebook with your own handwriting and see what you want to see.  Practicing my handwriting is part of the process because I find when I do need to write something my handwriting is deplorable. 

It's a good thing I know how to type!!

your friend,

Gail