Saturday Roundup

My last post must have gone on facebook at the wrong time so very few seemed to have read it. Should you be one of the few, thank you so much! Those who missed it can find it here.  

Or maybe it just wasn't all that interesting???

Speaking of interesting, I still had a window open on my computer with my very first post which then prompted me to take a look at the post I wrote on/about this date in 2007. I can hardly imagine I did those things! Taking all of those tests? Yikes! Read all about it here and I promise you it is much shorter than my current offerings. Bruce has been busy today which is why I have time to write another entry. This week, while not really cold, has had plenty of rain and it has kept me from walking as frequently as I prefer. With daylight savings time just around the corner, I suspect I won't be taking any shots like this one very often. I will be long done before nightfall.

Indeed, Spring is coming. Well, duh, it can't be stopped now can it? There is a road that runs alongside the park that I like to take because birds often perch in some of the bushes along said road. Well, I did not see any birds on this day but boy did seeing these daffodils, on the slope of someone's back yard, thrill me to no end.

Even better, they are opening in the bed below the bird watching window! I had no idea how it would go cutting some of the blooms for indoors, but so far these are still looking really nice.

On a sunny afternoon I took this one too.

Does that demonstrate the power of natural light or what? Buds are forming on a few of the park trees, or will these be flowers first? Leaves or flowers, that is the question?

Hearing a hawk before I saw it, before I knew it, it flew by so fast I was lucky to follow it across the river up high in some trees, thus the lack of definition, but I did want to document the happening, hoping it won't be the last. Rarely have I seen hawks here, or at least so far. They were so common at Lake Pineloch Village that I am afraid I took them for granted. (these are some awkward sentences so forgive me)

Another bird, about a tenth of the size of a hawk, landed on the sidewalk and I left the photo exactly how I took it to demonstrate just how small these birds are.

Above is a Yellow-rumped Warbler, aptly named as I think you can see below.

Maybe just a dot on the tail feathers? Definitely hard to see, but in person, cute as a button!

Sounding like a broken record, the volume of birds at our feeders is astonishing. They fly up, down, vie for perch space,

or maybe feed one another? I'm not so sure yet. Or maybe it is a kiss!!

And then, with a woosh, they fly off all at once! This goes on for hours on end mind you. 

We had to go to Lowes for something or other and while Bruce did his thing, I ogled the garden center where I saw flowers that you could plant without fear of them burning up in the sun. But then again, deer might eat them, so there's that.

So if it not out one window, it is another. One window I see the birds, another window the deer. All ten of them which before you think to correct me, note the white tail on the right as it runs out of the picture frame.

Hopefully you are not tiring of seeing the deer because, let's be honest here, neither Bruce nor I are!

Last Saturday we were meant to go on a hike with some church friends, however, with a rainy forecast, it was cancelled. Late in the morning however, it began clearing up, so I suggested we go to a place called Cherokee Lake off HWY 294. We've been there once before and enjoyed it, but the real reason I wanted to visit was to see the local birds. Turns out there was just one other person in Cherokee County that recored their bird sightings and that person saw all manner of birds at the aforementioned place. Before we go further, check this email out, or at least part of it:

We want to send a huge thank you to everyone who participated. More than 600,000 people from 209 countries or regions were out birding February 16-19, and found 7,842 species. We had more than 350 community birding events reported. Birds truly brought the world together for GBBC.

Super cool, right? Also, what do you think of this font size? Is it easier to read? Should I keep it? 

Anyway, arriving there, the gate was closed, apparently until about April so it is likely that the man walked in. Instead, we decided to take in three states in one road trip! First we landed in Ducktown, followed by Copper Hill, TN, and McCaysville, GA, the later two share a main street!

Nancy used to live in Bristol, TN which did the same with Bristol, VA! 

Obviously, copper was king around those parts.

Super exciting to me was seeing a blooming tree that, while it does not rival our gorgeous Tabebuia trees that are now blooming back home, it is wonderful just the same.

BTW,  birds are flying back and forth out the bedroom window where I am typing this. No telling if they have already emptied the feeder that was filled this morning, entirely not out of the realm of possibility as we have learned. 

Back to the matter at hand...

A souvenir shop carried these fun things.

What the heck, I had to document Bruce standing in GA while I am standing in TN.

It's a vibrant downtown due to the influx of tourists all summer long from the Blue Ridge Railway. As such, an entrepreneur thought to build this building where we had a scrumptious pizza. On a warmer day this will be a beautiful spot to watch the world go by.

We went into an antique shop and when I saw this covered fruit bowl, and I use that term loosely, I was happy to part with $8.00.

One thing we noticed immediately is that TN was much greener than where we are.

We are standing at a river outfitters, I think Ocoee Whitewater or something like that. Anyway, it almost felt strange seeing all of the green. We think it is because, and maybe you recall this, that when trying to recover from the disaster that was copper smelting that killed every bit of vegetation within a fifty mile radius, they planted pines. Purely speculation on our part why there are so many pine trees. I love the cloud shadows on the mountains.

Illustrating the difference when we were nearing Murphy on our return journey, not only check out the bare trees, but those houses amongst them!

Concluding, and I was planning on keeping this a secret, but I am just too excited to do so. THIS morning, look what I saw!

Counting the days around here!! Will they or won't they?

your friend,

Gail