Butterflies and Mountains

A winning combination for sure. Who does not like butterflies or mountains??? Not me! In fact I love them and this past Friday I got a chance to see plenty of both. Earlier in the week I had a health issue that kept me from being as active as I like to be, but nothing to worry about. More like a nuisance. 

By Friday I was rip roaring to head to the Liber's house for what D'Anna called a lake day. We left the house at 9:30 and got home at around 8pm so it was as advertised. Forecasted rain never materialized, much to our relief. Within a few minutes of getting there my camera saw action as there were so many butterflies on both her huge phlox bushes and a large butterfly bush. I cannot remember seeing so many butterflies at one time unless it has been a butterfly attraction. Honestly I was in butterfly heaven!

I took an obscene amount of photographs because what if the next shot was even better than the last? Bruce got into the act as well.

Here is a funny little story: Knowing that my friend has had a lot on her mind of late, when I did go out for a walk one afternoon last week,

just over the bridge I came across a Tiger Swallowtail on a flower and snapped this shot to send to her.

Little did I know that she was running a butterfly sanctuary at her home and could take all the photos she wanted!

On that same walk I did come across some pretty cool mushrooms brought on by recent rains.

Have I mentioned before that while the iPhone is a whiz at identifying birds and plants, mushrooms seem to have it stymied. I've yet to take a mushroom picture and get an identification, so perhaps one of you knows what type of mushroom was under a tree along the river in abundance?

Before we get back to the lake day I do have a few photos of interest, or at least they are to me. I was standing on the front walkway, studying the Mourning dove's nest when this little critter flew in. 

Insects are usually identified as was the one above as a Swamp cicada. Now you know! Me too.

Much to our dismay, our baby doves have grown up and left us but not without siblings to come. How about both parents on the nest with the new batch?

We shall see what happens next. The backyard bunny continues to entertain us. Still much smaller, she seems to come every morning and evening to munch on the weeds. 

The little cotton tail shows when she is on her haunches.

As you may recall, the house came with all sorts of art work, most of which has been fine, but not necessarily what we would pick leaving us with no choice but to fined new pieces, a task that is easier said than done. While Bruce was changing this essential lightbulb that had burned out, it does show off one of the latest pieces from the downtown antique store. I have named her Dixie and she replaces a huge wooden pineapple from the Philippines which was fine but, well, you already know my thoughts.

Her sassy look is watching over us as we exit to the basement or the back porch. That was a very challenging lightbulb change, so hopefully the advertised nine year life span is correct!

Ask me if I have any cowboy decor in my house aside from Dixie. I suspect you know the answer to that!

Alrighty now, back to our lake day and the multitude of beautiful things to see.

More butterfly goodness.

What were once white hydrangeas are now pink.

I love seeing birds at feeders, but when they land way up in a tree, especially when I have a zoom lens in my hand, it is magical.

Nantahala Lake is a few miles from their home so with the boat already on the trailer we took off and went to the beautiful water. First stop once we were on our way was for lunch at the terrific restaurant on the lake. The approach is beautiful!

Duh, I did not need to tell you that because you can see it with your own two eyes! 

We sat on the upstairs porch admiring that huge willow tree all while eating. Back to the boat, after heading down some steps,

it is lovely to behold. And to think that in only a month or so it will looks completely different!

Before we actually got to the restaurant we watched folks jumping into the water near the dam that makes the lake possible. As is the case with all of the nearby lakes, they have been created by the TVA.

I love seeing the mountains from the car,

and I love seeing them from a boat!

I am just taking a moment here to acknowledge how incredibly lucky and blessed we have been since moving here, to not only be a witness to seasons that will before we know it will change this scenery drastically, but to meet so many wonderful new friends. To tell you the truth, I hardly know what to say.

Returning to the story, David was driving us to a fishing spot that he knew about and had Bruce very excited as it has been a very long time since he was able to fish. Before we got there though, David noticed some folks waving for help and so he helped them by towing their boat quite a distance to their home dock. After that, we got on our way,

and look who is fishing off the back end of the boat? 

No fish were caught, but fun was had. Whoops, I almost forgot! D'Anna and I went swimming. Initially it was chilly ,but before long we were comfortable as can be. Time to head back to the boat ramp, and look what I saw!

Once back at their home, we sat for awhile on the front porch enjoying the multitude of hummingbirds coming to the feeders. The humans enjoyed some refreshments as well! 😊

Whoa Nelly, the drive home...

was fantastic with those low clouds hanging in the mountains.  

On Fridays it has become our custom to play pickleball but on that Friday we went boating instead, meaning we had to miss Karen and Rich who were visiting from Orlando. Staying in a nearby town they are not afraid of driving, so returned to Murphy on Saturday and we went to the annual Bloody Mary contest at the farmer's market where they were celebrating all things tomato. But under the big tent, restaurants vied for first place. Case in point. the new Gordon Ramsey restaurant at the casino.

They definitely went all out, including a skewer with a slider, tomatoes and a jumbo shrimp! We asked a passerby to take our photo before they went back to their sight-seeing.

So much green in this post!! We will all enjoy it while we can. Bruce and I popped over to the market and I want you to get a look at the variety of jellies!

I tried the one made with Rose of Sharon and it was pretty good. I am finding it so hard to imagine how she does it. By the way, our Rose of Sharon trees are on round two of blooms, and it is just delightful to witness.

Before I close this uplifting post, I have some sad news to report. As you know, we work twice a month at our church's free lunch where Bruce washes dishes and I greet the folks as they arrive. This last Thursday a woman arrived who usually has two friends with her, one of whom I had the hardest time learning her name. Finally I had the name Angela etched in my mind and asked if she was coming? Imagine my shock when Emma told me she had died over the previous weekend, her husband having found her dead in her bed. Gosh that hurt. Emma was devastated as she, along with another woman, had gone out to lunch together on Friday and she was just fine until she wasn't on Saturday afternoon. After a year of seeing these folks bi-monthly, it is easy to get attached. 😢

After that sad report I want to end this on a positive note, staying in step with my title.

Butterflies, mountains, friends, water, clouds, trees, cicadas, rabbits, holy cow, it's a wonderful world out there my dear ones.

your friend,

Gail

A Tale of Two Ages

That's a cryptic title isn't it? Then again, I'm pretty confident that most folks don't even notice the title. Once upon a time I was considered the title queen, helping other artists come up with titles, although I have not picked up that mantle here in Murphy. Somehow, and it even boggles my mind, I have come up with 2,196 titles for this blog! Speaking of old blogs, if you want extra credit you might want to read this post from 2007 where I describe how to make okra, or this one from 2017 with some cool photographs of Bruce's mom and dad when they were young. 

So what do I mean about ages? It's a stretch, I will grant you that, but we have some baby doves in our yard who are merely a week or two old! I was on the phone as I walked out the front door and said, oh my goodness, I need to hang up and get my camera!

Yes my friends, for the first time in 2,196 posts, I am showing you a young dove which if you want to get technical is called a squab. Sort of like a young swan is a cygnet. In any case, I was amazed because it stayed on that branch in the Japanese Maple tree for like hours. So strange. And even stranger is when I discovered that there are two who are hanging around in the beds outside the porch wall.

This morning when I was leaving the house I looked over and one was just chilling on the front porch carpet under the chairs. And even more crazy is when Bruce returned they both flew atop his car hanging around on his kayak rack! Perhaps you remember when I noticed some unusual dove activity in that tree a few weeks ago? To refresh your memory, here is one of the parents.

Noticing earlier today that they were flying in and out of the tree again, by golly she is on the nest again, albeit a shaky one, which according to Cornell is quite common. As is having a second batch right after the first one that is successful. So how exciting is this news? We are enjoying finding them in new places around the yard!

At the same time we have a young rabbit that is so cute. First thing in the morning we check from our perch on the back porch. This morning I went out back to fill the feeders and little bunny did not even move. Up close I discovered she is the size of a squirrel!

Much smaller than the parents whom I have not seen lately.

At the same time as all this excitement, by golly I am still growing tomatoes, much to my surprise.

Flowers were present for weeks and I was assuming that they did not take but my assumption was flat out wrong. They are so cute and tiny and there are actually five of them to look forward to. The cucumbers are super tasty. This little salad is my home grown produce including the Italian Parsley.

I just had to make a BLT to use one of them. So yummy!

The herbs are looking very lively indeed.

The balloon plant is back in action after about a month's hiatus with no blooms.

The color is so lovely, isn't it?

And the mushrooms have returned, this time going so far as to spread amongst the caladiums. (Caladiums are the best! I bought a pack of bulbs in the clearance section of WalMart and they are providing such great color for the $3 purchase!)

Note that they are on the tree in their beginning form which takes no time at all to turn into petite umbrellas.

Goldfinch have returned,

as have hummingbirds. Finally!

Some days, especially when we are eating lunch adjacent to the window out to the front porch,  there are three of them buzzing around. One day, one of them was flying right towards me and barely flew over my head!

As it turns out, summer here is warm, but full of activity that keeps me going. One of the fellows we play pickleball with graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in agriculture so whenever I get the chance, I ask him questions. Just yesterday I learned it takes 45 days from flower to a tomato ready to pick. Cucumbers are half that time, as we are finding out for ourselves. 

It's been so much fun watching things grow and change and the same holds true for little bit, Christian, who continues his winning ways, melting Fallon and Bill's heart each and every day. He continues to work on his crawling and is becoming very vocal. As I've mentioned before, Fallon is so thoughtful, sending us videos with frequency in order for us to keep up.

All of the above is about being young, but there is beauty in being old as well. Saturday a week ago, we attended our Sunday School classmate and friend, Esther's 90th birthday party held out at the Folk School. 

As has become common a slideshow of photographs was running and I thought this one showed her sweet spirit even at a young age.

She was born and raised about four hours east of here in typical Appalachian fashion for the time.  In other words, very, very simply. Both her son and daughter were there, as well as lots of extended family, both biological and of the friend variety. For some years she was the head of the Folk School, and you might remember I told you how her husband is honored on the River Walk for his contribution to making it happen. 

You know me, I could not resist documenting the occasion for her, so I did my best to photograph every guest, of which there were many! Just as I was taking her daughter Sarah's photo, well ....

What a photo bomb, right. I believe that man's name was Jeff, and later he asked me if I would take a photograph of him with his mother's quilt that she made for the festival back in 1983. Apparently she passed away recently. My pleasure!

Yup, another photo bomb! So fun. 

Lots of family members helped to put it on, including her granddaughter who made the beautiful banner behind the table.

That carrot cake was delicious! 

When I asked them to pose for me, Sarah immediately wrapped her arms around her momma showing so much love, it really warmed my heart.

I got to thinking about what in the world my Mom would have been like had she lived 12 more years?

Our trips to the Folk School have been infrequent this year, so it was a joy to wander their gardens again, and much to my delight, the Purple Martins were active.

How much longer that tottering pole will last is anyone's guess!!

We drove home, content and with full hearts and while driving amongst this kind of scenery, who wouldn't?

I learned something else from Tom the other day and that was the first frost, on average, is October 10th.

My word, that is only about 70 days away, which seeing as how fast time seems to fly, is just around the corner!  

Did I neglect to mention that I took a light jacket with me this week? Yup, 70 degrees felt a little chilly.

your friend,

Gail

p.s. Just finished 1 Thessalonians.