Field Trip, Part Two

 Here is something that you don't see every day.

Before I go further, a view from the top.

On the first of July, we basically stumbled upon this place called Fields of the Wood. You can be assured that I have done lots of research about our surroundings and I did learn that this was one of the attractions attributed to Murphy, although it is quite the distance from where we are living. Thus, I was delighted when I saw on the map that we should stop while in the area. I know I can't seem to quit going on about that house with the massive flower garden, but it was on the same road, so here I go again.

It is just so thrilling to come across such unexpected beauty!

Okay, back to the attraction. So ours was one of about four cars in a massive parking lot on this Saturday morning.  The park is quite large with many monuments to view and signs to read.

There are 350 steps to the top of the commandments which we did not climb, however we did check out the psalms. One thing to note in the photograph below is not only Mr. Handsome, but the cracked monument. Unfortunately that was an all too common sight there. It is hard to know how difficult it is to raise the money for repairs.

Essentially the whole park was dreamed up by a fellow named A. J. Tomlinson who had a vision to create not only this park, but several denominations as well.  Should you be interested in the "more to the story", click on the link above.

On the lower level there is a replica of the tomb,

as well as a baptismal font donated by the Church of God in Florida in 1943.

The mountain setting is so beautiful and I will say that the grounds were very well maintained. Lots of steps everywhere!

While not for everyone it is very impressive indeed.

One last view of Prayer Mountain.

Because this was unfamiliar territory, I had the iPad open and discovered that we were going right past, oh wait, no we weren't....we stopped! Cherokee Lake Recreation Area part of the US Forest Service. Seriously, lakes are somewhat of a premium up here, mostly reservoirs which this is one as well. When you come from the land of water to the land of mountains it is completely understandable that when you see a sign for a lake you STOP! 

By this time of the day it was quite warm so standing on the dock didn't make much sense, thus when I found a trail we took it.  Along the way I saw this pretty yellow wildflower, one of countless wildflowers I have encountered on our explorations. Because I keep seeing them I have finally started a wildflower folder to go along with my mushroom folder. Generally, I am far too lazy to make folders, but if I ever want to revisit these subjects, this should very much be my plan. Let us see how long I stick to it!

At the end of the trail there was another small dam.

Undoubtedly you noticed the water in the lake looked brown something that mystifies us, but it is quite common. Yet, look what you see on the other side of the dam?

This too is mystifying because it is as common as the brownish water. Sounds like someone you know needs to do some light research!

While it was a very short hike with some ups and downs, having my walking stick is always a welcome accessory. It probably looks goofy to some folks, however, as most everyone's mother taught them, "it is better to be safe than sorry!"

Whew, made it back to the parking lot! 

When is writing about how much I love the mountains too much? Now? 

Our dear friend Keith has been so good to keep watch over Bruce's tool closet and anything else that comes up, so I know it is not that he is tired of helping, as he is very, very, generous with his time and talents. Asking Bruce a few days ago if we were ready to come home, I know he was disappointed with Bruce's answer. He misses Bruce!! And while we miss him and everyone else, in the interest of keeping Gail from losing her mind in the heat, Bruce had to reply that he was not looking forward to returning. Have you seen how hot it has been in Orlando? In the sun it is plenty warm, however, the difference here is that even when the temperature rises, there are all of these gorgeous shade trees to hide under! 

Or we can head to our favorite hang-out,

where we never know who we might meet. Jen opened the shop a week or two before we arrived and we have been frequenting ever since we discovered it. It's a family affair; that is her father-in-law playing the accordion in the background while she and her husband are behind the counter. I suspect he can do polkas but instead he did very soft and lovely music which was very much appreciated.

We just love the small and cozy shop and have met so many interesting folks there. It is too bad that Bruce, and I believe his name was Michele, are out of focus, but sometimes it works out that way. Anyway pretend you can see him clearly, will you? He and his wife were super interesting having ridden bicycles across the country from San Diego to Maine! Shockingly, they had no Florida connection which is mighty rare around these parts. 

One reason we have been so supportive is because we so want her shop to succeed. Chatting with a local friend yesterday, she says the town changes significantly when folks like us go home to Florida. That said, lots of folks like us decide to move here after living in a charming little town for a bit. I tell you one thing, it is mighty quiet. 

Until we meet again, I remain,

your friend,

Gail

p.s. if you missed Field Trip, Part One, you can find it here.  

Field Trips, Part One

Finally! Let me say that one more time--finally! Of what, pray tell are you referring to Gail? After seven weeks in North Carolina, our mail should be coming soon. Tell us more you say, and so I shall.  While we do not get a lot of mail, we do get some. Most of our bills are done online so that is not really a problem, that is unless I want to study the expansive American Express bill. Where does the money go? Right? More than that, every now and again we receive some mailbox money and letters from Dale, our Vancouver friend who still has no electronic means of communication by choice. It was just weird, so after two weeks without mail we checked at the post office here. Wait, I already wrote about that in June. I won't belabor the point, but it has taken multiple phone calls over the following weeks with plenty of false information disseminated but the confirmation of address change that I began on June 10 has been recognized. So there is that good news. Here's a photo of where we are staying, in case you are new to this space, and that driveway that is a little bit challenging for us to go down, what with our weary knees and all. Note the mailboxes at the end of the driveway. 

After the early weeks of rainy days, it had largely been raining just every now and again, however, this Thursday, our regular field trip day, it is raining this morning. We shall see what the day holds in store for us, but for now I thought I would begin to catch you up to date on the field trips we have already taken. I am pretty sure our first trip was to the nearby Nottely Dam where I took this photo.

Water, rocks, greenery and trees will be a familiar theme of this post because there are plenty of those beautiful creations around!

Nearby there are some trails to hike which we did. Naturally I had to take a photo of my dear husband amongst the trees.

As I mentioned, we both have knees that are showing wear, making hiking challenging, however, putting one foot in front of another day after day is what we gladly do. While on the river walk yesterday, I was talking to Nancy about how sad it is that we have lost two sisters, especially Carol at 63 years old, and how grateful I am that we can, indeed, put one foot in front of another.

Early on we went to see Mary near Lake Fontana and were treated to this lovely view on our way.

I absolutely love looking at the mountains from the valley floor, but being up high like this view from the deck of the house Mary rented is pretty darn wonderful as well.

Of course that entails lots of winding roads to traverse to get up there, but after weeks of practice, Bruce is taking to it. 

Here's a little thing that I wanted to pass on and that was that in our Orlando world we venture but a few miles from our little part of the city. Here, people think nothing of driving twenty or more miles to do something with the explanation that the drive is both scenic and relaxing as there is so little traffic. A different perspective for sure. 

On our return from seeing Mary we stopped in the nearby town of Andrews, a place we visited ages ago. I found this album from June of 2008 from our visit. That was fun to revisit. Anyway, since that time Andrews has lost some of their population as well as their businesses. The downtown is still cute, but seeing this sort of thing was both sad and hopeful. At least flowers filled the space!

That said, they are not giving up. Forgive me if I already wrote about this but when the three major factories closed down, people were forced to look elsewhere for work wherever that may be. Here was a sweet mural I spotted.

This place is the scene of the current Andrews Idol competition that, according to the Scout, continues to be a rousing success. The space is very attractive.

Here is why it is called The Blue Stage. 

According to many people we have spoken to, below is the primo restaurant in the area. The outdoor look is lovely and so, apparently is the inside with terrific food. Perhaps we will try Sage for our upcoming anniversary. 

Taking the photo below, I had no idea that in a few weeks time we would meet a man whose family is heavily involved in the trout industry.

Interesting because he is one of the few people we have met that are actually from the area. As I have mentioned before, most everyone we meet has a Florida connection, however, we did meet another local on Wednesday evening and he said that the locals are none too happy with the Florida invasion. Sounds kind of like how we feel in Orlando!

As we got closer to Murphy, returning from that trip, we saw a fishing sign marked along the highway. Pulling into a field Bruce followed the bumpy. pitted, gravel road to its end and while he investigated the close by water, I enjoyed this beautiful view.

A veritable sea of green that in a few months time will look anything but. Now that sounds exciting doesn't it? 

One of our visits to the folk school we went through the museum, filled with beautiful examples of what is taught there, including blacksmithing. The weaving...wow!

Just past the entrance to the school in Brasstown, off old HWY 64 W, not to be confused with HWY 64, there is a small cluster of colorful buildings used as shops. This stands guard outside a closed station with a somewhat curious sign.

What could "sons of arthritis" possibly mean? 

UPDATE!

I began writing this yesterday morning and as it turns out the rain held off for a bit so we did a small field trip AND some mail from June 20th arrived!! Woo. Our sweet mailman wrote on the back of one of the envelopes, "my apologies for the forwarding fiasco." He said it better than I could have! And yes, there was some mailbox money along with a statement that let me know that insurance only paid so much, thus I owed money to our doctor. 

Time to go play pickleball with our new group. Speaking of new groups, our friends Shirley and Shelly made it into this article in Orlando Magazine.  Aw shucks, I heard from another friend late last evening, a friend texted and said, it should have been me in the article. I don't miss a lot from Orlando but I do miss friends and family, that's for sure. 

Lastly I miss seeing the sunrise and sunset every day. Rarely is there color in the sky here except for this one evening.

Plus I am not seeing as many stars as I would like but other than that, it is all good.

your friend,

Gail

 

Mrs. Peck Goes to Washington

In first class, no less.

A little slide show of some things I saw. I tried to show you only things that are not typical of a visit to our nation's capital. Furthermore I've added captions if you are interested click on the album.

Arriving in DC a little after 11, Bruce and I parted company, he picked up his rental car, I hopped on the Metro. I've found there are always people willing to help a stranger if you ask nicely. In this case, the attendant punched all the buttons on the machine for me with the end result, a day pass. I took the blue line, getting off at the Smithsonian stop and was on the Mall by 11:35.

Because my time was so limited I went into only one gallery, the Freer. Mostly I lugged my backpack and purse around outside. It was fairly warm and muggy, but not enough to send me inside into air conditioning. Instead I found several wonderful gardens awash in gorgeous flowers.
Gardens

The day before we left a strange symptom occurred. You're not surprised are you? After eating lunch I noticed that the left side of my jaw, extending behind and below my ear, swelled up. I was at a loss, so called the doctor, mostly because I was concerned with flying. Suffice it to say, I got no help there, at least coming away with the impression that it couldn't be too serious.

With that in mind I decided to go anyway. I tried to locate soft foods hoping to minimize the weirdness. It took me till last evening to figure out what is going on--something to do with my parotid gland, the major salivary gland. Again, you're not surprised are you? I always have strange afflictions. What this does tell you is that in many cases the web is of no use; not a thing about salivary glands came up after typing in "swelling jaw while eating." It does, however, help to have worked in the diagnostic end of medicine for 30+ years. What I'm going to do about it is undecided at the moment.

Trying not to lose your interest, I will try to be succinct, really, the pictures tell most of the story anyway.

Next time I'm not sure what camera I will take, but I'll definitely use a different backpack. The fabric on my new fancy Patagonia rubbed my shoulder raw. I was so tired that I slept from 8:30-6:30!!! On Thursday Bruce and I visited the National Cathedral, an amazingly beautiful and peaceful place. Wow is what I have to say. Lots of the buildings are on a grand scale in DC, this one is no exception. It is hard to convey the beauty in photographs. Also, did I mention that everything was taken in the middle of the day with much too much bright light?

Bruce also toured me through the space where the Capital Grille is beginning to take shape. I stand in awe of builders, really we take it so for granted. When I saw all the layers of work being done, trying to imagine how anyone makes sense of it all, I couldn't help but admire the job Bruce does. Naturally I've always felt that way, but it is always a good thing to be reminded of the complexity of it all. No wonder he has to work so much! When the job gets closer to the end I'll go back for a much longer visit. He'll probably be staying for a week or so.

Baxter stayed with Michelle and Dave while we were gone and he isn't done pouting yet.

The Sun is in Hiding

As you can imagine I take loads of pictures of flowers--hey, you know the title of the blog! I decided to embed a little slideshow of some that are good, some not so much. You be the judge.


I took a field trip today to Mt. Dora, a charming town about 30 miles from Orlando. Because I was so close I decided to drive into Tavares, another small town in Lake County I'd never seen before. Both are pretty sleepy, but Tavares is more so. I believe Mt. Dora has grown more because of art; here's what I'm getting at. Some years ago (obviously I don't know how many or I'd tell you) Mt. Dora began hosting an outdoor art festival accepting only top notch artists. The word got around and these days around 250,000 people attend each spring. People coming to the festival saw the natural beauty of the area (gigantic lakes), the close proximity to a city, and there you go. I had a yummy salad for lunch in a quaint restaurant.

Unfortunately I'm not feeling up to par, so all of it was a stretch. I've been home for hours now lying down, and that's my plan when I finish typing.

I did speak with Mr. Bruce and the inspection went well--he makes it look easy but believe me it's not!

Last night I read a great article in The New Yorker about the Plant City Strawberry Queen. Talk about a small town way of life.
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Listening to: The Verve - Virtual World
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