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

Let the Painting Begin!

As is so often the case for all of us, the days fly by with all manner of activities. So often people exclaim that they are busier once they retired then when they were working, and perhaps there is some truth to that. I'm not entirely convinced, in part because our memories are faulty. In any case, most of us have plenty to do, so I very much appreciate you taking the time to keep up with Camera Crazy! 

Before we delve into painting, I did finish the quilt after seemingly forever. The inspiration fabric for the quilt is this wild print that I saw at Hobby Lobby, who knows when. Maybe before we came to North Carolina last summer? At any rate, I found the fabric, then chose about twelve others using the same color way, a term I learned from our friend Irene, who now lives in our condo community but is selling her place to move further afield. Now that I think of it, she will feature again a little further down this post. Anyway, here it is with the binding strips I made atop it.

As you may recall from this long term saga, I bought the blue in a whole bunch of pieces from the nearby craft sale at the fundraising for the library. Come to think of it, fundraising will be mentioned again too as it is a constant in this part of the country. This is Appalachia after all.  In the photo above I am trying to remember how to join the two ends of the binding to make a mitre. But first I had to sew all 375 inches onto the quilt. Please note the presence of curtains that my darling husband hung! 

Once I remembered how to join the ends, I sat down with a needle and thread and spent probably eight hours, or something like that, sewing on the binding. Good thing I had sports to watch while doing so!

The finale is a trip to the washing machine, followed by the dryer and there you have it.

In spite of washing in cold water, the quilt is still a tiny bit smaller than I hoped for. Well, that is homemade for you! No complaints here.

Honestly thinking of complaining, the only thing recently that has not brought out the best in me was a trip to the movie theater.

Oh my word was the movie terrible! While we lived in Vancouver, this happened twenty floors below. Even if you are no fan of Deadpool, most folks are interested in movie star sightings and mine was a good one! Vancouver is a hot bed for film production and since Ryan Reynolds is from there, the site is a natural for him. While I tolerated the previous two movies, this one was really hard for me to sit through. The good news is the cost of attending is merely $5.50 for the evening show, so there's that. 

Shall I jump into painting now? I think so, but not before I show off the beautiful cake stand that Pam brought as a housewarming gift when they visited a month or so ago.

The stand is beautiful and the cake was delicious so a match made in heaven. What I want you to note is the wall color. Okay, that is what I am now calling a faded yellow color. Now there is not a thing wrong with the color, but since we like a little more of a jazzy look (see quilt above), after much, much deliberation, we chose an historic Arts and Crafts color by Sherwin Williams called Hubbard Squash. We did, however, have it made at our local paint store on Tennessee Street owned by the Hughes. Lovely folks, and part of our mission to buy local when possible. 

In the past I would choose a paint color by a name that I liked, think Dancing Green for example, or just because I felt like changing things up. This time around, none of that was in the cards as we did not want to make a mistake, if at all possible. The walls are heavily textured plaster that required a thick napped roller. The room feels so elegant now. Oh my goodness, it is something else. As mentioned earlier, Irene was to come into play again and it is because she has used a similar color in all of her living spaces wherever they may be. 

While not well portrayed in this photo, on the right is a new art piece I bought at, you guessed it, Downtown Marketplace!  I cannot tell for sure, but it seems as if it is painted on silk and depicts deer! I will await the arrival of Matthew and Tom who are far more well schooled in art than I! And here is a daytime look.

The living room will soon be Ruskin Room Green, another in the Arts and Crafts line. I will admit to being a wee bit nervous in advance. but we are thinking it will give the room more depth and a richer look. Not as in money richer, but in a deeper feeling. Does that make sense? We shall see.

Speaking of a rich, deep look, rarely do we have much of sunset, or at least that is visible here. Last night, on the other hand, I could see by the reflection on the porch wind chimes,

that the sky would be putting on a show and what a show it was. I walked around the block, seeing the reflection on the courthouse through the trees.

Seriously intense! Plus, what I am thinking were Chimney Swifts were flying around like mad.

Now, let us have a little look around the yard, including this!!!

I was so pleased to have gotten a nice hummingbird shot. The Rose of Sharon is putting on a new show, but at the same time leaves are yellowing and dropping like mad. Plus many of the buds remain closed before falling to the ground below. I have no idea what is happening! Except one thing I know for sure is that the pesky squirrels are partly to blame for the fallen blooms.

Two things on the Cardinal front. One, I was pretty sure we had some juveniles in the mix here, and today through the living room window, I watched Papa feed one of them in the Lilac tree. Lately we have added a suet cake to our bird feeding repertoire and it came in handy for Papa Cardinal! So that bird looked super, but this one not so much. Molting has begun for this fellow.

Because we have finally had some rain, the fallen sunflower seeds are sprouting, but for that problem we have rabbits!

What is interesting about them is that they seem to not fear us, at least from the porch anyway. The birds will skedaddle the minute we even come near the edge of the porch. One day I will get a nice shot of the puffy little cotton tail!

Speaking of rain, we have had more of it and one day I took advantage of it by placing my plants on the walkway to receive the gift of rain.

It has done wonders for the grass! Here comes another look at the Japanese Maple tree, in part because I think it is interesting, and in part because I want to document the changes as the months pass. What in the heck will happen when Autumn arrives?

I am pretty sure I see the remnants of the nest as well. 

I have no idea what these plants in Sandy's yard are called but they sure look pretty don't they? 

Shifting gears, wildly I might add, this came in the mail the other day, forwarded from Orlando.

One might have thought that surely someone in her campaign would have caught that blatant error. Oh politics, how I hate thee!

Here's something! Dottie, one of the friends from church, upon learning of my interest in the history of Murphy, having lived here for forty years, was eager to share a few things she has saved over the years, mostly articles from the Cherokee Scout. Imagine my surprise while perusing some of them, discovering that in 1984 the Olympic torch came to town! According to the newspaper account, there was plenty of excitement in these parts.

Mr. Peck is pleased as punch with his new vacuum system he's created for his tools. It's a first for him and most welcome.

This is a super busy time at the church with all manner of activities happening, mostly charitable as in participating in this program. 

It is my understanding that 80% of the areas schoolchildren qualify for a free lunch and because this is so, next year all children will be given free lunches. I imagine it is less awkward? Anyway, food was collected and on this day, bagged up for distribution.

Sarah June is carry a box filled with jars of peanut butter that she obtained from her other volunteer work at a food bank. 62 bags were loaded with goodies.

And now it is time for what they call the White Tag sale. What I am calling it, is awesome! Last year I bought an terrific iron at the sale, actually your favorite blogger's husband found it, and it has been a godsend. Yesterday I helped put things out, shopping at the same time. I came home with a blender for $2, stainless mixing bowls, a big rug, and more for $20. It is crazy to me how inexpensive they price everything, but at the same time I am not complaining. Friday and Saturday I will be one of the ones checking folks out, so I will see plenty of treasures leave all the while raising money for various projects of the women's group. 

Walking there this morning I helped with pricing, which consists of tape denoting the asking price. $.25-$2.00 for most anything! In that vein, I came home with more today including a container that had all these little figurines in it. Having not the foggiest notion of what they might be, I thought they were kind of cute, so for $.50, I thought, why not? I also picked up an owl thing, so there's that too. Anyway, I was pretty sure it seemed as if they were from England and by golly, after Dottie drove me home because I was laden with plenty, I looked them up and this is what I found. Here is what they look like as a group:

and here is what they look like in a close-up.

I do have to wonder if Tom, or his mum, Jane, have seen them before as they are from England.  Honestly they are as cute as a button in person. Or so I think they are. So does this woman.  Bruce asked me what the heck was I going to do with them and folks, you are looking at it! Because that bench is slightly unstable, we don't want anyone to sit on it so now they will know it is out of commission except as a perch for my little collection of "Wade Whimsies", courtesy of some kind soul!

Bruce is sitting behind me at his desk as I type. It is gorgeous outside and soon we will be heading to the shops and library. He's working on what he terms, a "takeoff", a construction term for a list of supplies and costs for an upcoming ramp project. You might remember Tom and Jane whom we visited, she of the beaded figurines. 

The report from Orlando on the baby front is all good news. Baby boy Peck is coming along nicely. Fallon is feeling much better and Bill is filled with excitement. In the meantime, we will keep on improving our beautiful home that came to us as such a blessing. Before moving in, I wondered how I would like the kitchen as it is such an important part of my life. Our lives really!

Turns out, I like it just fine. And no plans are imminent to change the stove because, by golly, it works like  a champ! As to having very little counter space, well that just adds to the excitement. Or so it seems to me.

your friend,

Gail