Blue Ridge blog

Contentment

It is cool and breezy Blue Ridge evening. In fact, I wore sweatshirt when my husband and I rendezvoused on the deck. Because I had a day off from work, I puttered around the house and garden, completing tasks as I deemed them necessary. I straighted the American flags, removed dog hair from deck, and gathered wildflowers to generously spread them throughout the house. Last week's flowers were pink roses but this week it is the daisy's turn to delight me. It seems silly that such a small vase filled with raggedy flowers fluttering in the wind might be the highlight of my day, but as the sun retreated and its dappled light, filtered through leaves, spilling upon the amber vase, I smiled and was content.

Yeah she does, Mother Earth has curves...

The view from the saddle of Howard's Knob looking northward...I love the Watauga Amphibolites!

A full Saturday in the Valle...

I started Saturday hoping for a nice long run in the Valle Crucis Park. By the time I hit the park entrance I was reminded it was the Blood, Sweat and Gears morning. No sweat here. I saw my friend Tammy and she waved me to the side of the road. "Go get photos," she said. And I did. What timing. I climbed the platform 3 minutes before the 1,600+ bikes took off. I even had time to say a quick hello to friends Fay and Brenda Binning.
(Note to self: Gotta find time to catch up with them....
I did end up having
a wonderful muggy 4 mile early morning romp in the park before I met Franya and members of the HIgh Country CSA for a farm work day at Charles Church's farm. For two hours I hand weeded beets and romaine lettuce with these lovely ladies. I know more about farming. That, and I learned weeding goes so much faster when you have a bit of gossip and girlie companionship to occupy the time.
I left the farm about 10:45 and felt rather proud of my morning productivity. Later, after a couple of hours of tending to my own garden and its maintenance issues, Annie and I returned to the park so she could dip her paws in the river. I introduced her to the creek on the unpopulated side of the park where she tromp and stalked crayfish and brook trout. In the park, folks were picnicking and enjoying the mountain temperatures and outdoor activities.

But Annie and I soon learned that early worms get tired way too early and by 4 p.m., our day was pretty much over. It was deck time...not always a bad thing for a Saturday.

Roses are pink and they do not stink...

Just sharing a tiny glimpse of my garden...don't even ask to see my weeds!

In making hay there is hope...

It was the first cutting of hay today in Watauga County. Things I noticed about hay while crawling through the fields: Lots of spiders, crunchiness, ichy-ness and deer hooves in the muddy plow barrows. The most absolutely wonderful thing about cut hay? Future decent weather. At least, the majority of the local farmers are betting they'll be able to make hay while the sun shines. Hope.

A population explosion in Valle Crucis

Yes indeed, the number of folks visiting the Valle increases during the summer months. Here are two of our distinguished off-the-mountain friends. Their temporary residence is the Appalachian State Goodnight Sustainable Development Farm on Dutch Creek Rd.

She

She stirs hornets for sport.
She jumps.
She jumps with muddy paws.
She stomps baby plants.
She can't be trusted around babies, small animals or old people.
She outwits the $300 wireless fence system.
She plays 'chicken' in the middle of the big curve on Broadstone Rd.
She hitchhikes with strangers.
She couldn't care less.
She is 80 lbs of knucklehead.
She eats poo then comes in for a sneaky lick of the face.
She runs amuck on a leash.
She eats the neighbor's turkeys.
She is lucky to still be alive after that stunt.
She is obnoxious and strong-willed.
She is my special needs child.
But I love her because when I call her name,
She gallops towards me as though I complete her world.

The sun sets on another work week (or hallelujah it's Friday)

Productivity.
Been there and done that this week.
Now it is time for Marie to do some serious R&R. First order of business this weekend is to sleep in Saturday morning...all the way to the point where my body refuses to rest any longer, which will probably be at 6:30 a.m. or when Annie barks at the roaming neighborhood bunny rabbits
Then I do believe I might go hang out at the Valle Crucis Park...or wander down the River Rd. Later in the day I hope to check out the Valle Crucis Creekside Bluegrass Festival and stop at the Mast General Store annex to see the critters from the Blue Ridge Wildlife Institute. Yes indeedy, I can't wait to play tourist in my own town, errr, Valle.

(Sunset courtesy of Mother Nature on Wednesday evening)

A Valle morning near Howell's place

As you can tell by the waist high grass, we've had plenty of rain in the Valle. This photo was taken this morning just as the sun popped through the low hanging clouds and right when Howell came out of his house and caught me sneaking around his Dutch Creek farm with my camera. He said "good morning," and I was all back at him with the greeting. Then he went about his business.

While I was snooping, I got a bad case of garden envy as I noted Howell's garden looks so much better than mine. His cabbage is huge as are his potatoes and onion plants. I really wanted to reverse my steps, hunt down Howell and pester the man with questions, but thought better of it.

On the home front: My parents visited this weekend and we bottled our first batch of ale together. We had a sweet little production line going as my husband filled the bottles while Dad and I capped them. When done, we tasted a bit of the green flat beer and I must say, I've certainly had much worse. In two or three weeks I will be more able to more accurately report our home brew results.

A tree, the sky and a few million buttercups...

I just could not stand to post the rainy day photo I originally planned. The photo was of drops of water on grass. Blow me away with excitement! Instead, I give you blue skies and field of dreams taken off the Blue Ridge Parkway on the only day we've seen that distant bright orb this week.
Good news is that the sun will come out tomorrow and I fully intend to be outdoors, starting with a visit to the Farmer's Market in the morning. Additionally, I will try to get some photos of little Miss Annie.
Y'all have a great weekend.

Check it out...

I probably shouldn't post this because it is an out take of my photo session on Grandfather Mountain today. I went location scouting to see what was doing what where. I found the Rhodos are almost peak, but not quite yet on top of the mountain. I suspect the same may be true for the blooms on Roan Mountain.
Regardless, I have been heavily experimenting with off-camera flash via Pocket Wizards in outdoor situations. I've suffered many fail whales, but have had a few successes. For example, my husband's photo on the Viaduct yesterday was nothing more than a carefully metered flash explosion combined with ambient light reading. I messed a tiny bit with some tonal contrast, but the effect is mostly an in camera fill-flash effect. And, for the first time in forever, he behaved and took my direction. Thank you husband, Troy and David LaChapelle.
In any case, my blog is me; a work in progress.

Driving the Viaduct

"Enough," he said.
My husband put down the sander and told me he was gonna take a shower and then asked if I would lay down the hoe and join him later for a Sunday drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
"Twist my arm some more or handcuff me please," I teased.
So at 4 o'clock today, we began our weekend of relaxation.
My husband raised the lid on his beloved '59 Ford Retract and we cruised to the sounds of nifty fifty tunes.
Tis the start of the Parkway season. The scent of wild roses, wild pink catawba rhodos contrast against the blue skies and the lush green mountains await visitors this week.
I saw many photo ops and plan to return soon for *cough* serious work.
May I suggest you come up here and play soon?
You'll thank me.