Blue Ridge blog

Coming full circle...

Perry Greene held audience yesterday as he sat on his John Deere Sulky plow while being pulled by three Belgian Percherons in the field behind the Mast General Store Annex.

"Ya just don't see this see sort of thing much anymore, " one passerby commented.

While resting his horses, I ask Perry why he enjoyed tinkering with this antique method of farming thinking his answer would lean towards the aesthetic and reminiscent yesteryears.
Instead his response was more telling:
"It's cheaper than paying for the diesel fuel to run the tractor and besides, this field is going to be used to grow feed for these horses. Reckon they ought to work for their meals."

If gas price continue to rise, we may see more and more of this...

I've been missing my Valle Crucis News. I found out it is temporarily being stored here.

Ponies!

I was so tired last night that I slapped up the previous shot on the blog without much fuss. Upload image. Press save. Done. Sleep.

This post is a bit more deliberate. I stopped by the Dutch Creek farms just as the light was waning from the sky last night. I shot several scenics and distance scenes of the horses in the fields with my BRAND NEW Nikon D300. Suddenly I felt like I was being watched. I turned around and saw this cluster of ponies tucked against the barn, with snow laden backs, staring at me with such sorrowful eyes. Naturally, I pointed my BRAND NEW Nikon D300 right at 'em and pulled the trigger.

Anyway, I'm just reporting that yesterday was a good day. I mean, how could it not be? I scored a BRAND NEW Nikon D300 and I got to see fuzzy ponies.

I woke up this morning at 5:30 a.m. so you wouldn't have to....

Venus and Saturn were visible in the morning sky. This shot was taken at 6:30ish from the Blue Ridge Parkway somewhere between the Yadkin Valley Overlook and Raven Rock Overlook.

Swinging my camera and tripod a bit to the right, I see what I believe to be the city lights of Lenoir.

The dawn's early light gets brighter. I was having severe focusing ineptitude during this series of shots and this was the only respectable image. Sigh.

I made my way south on the Parkway to visit Price Lake. The boats look so lonely. As you can see, the sun has yet to appear.

My final image of the morning were of grazing horses in a pasture. Time to go to work now...

(The purpose of my early morning jaunt was to scout sites, lighting times, etc for autumn shots. I can't believe I have to wake up early again.)

Scene

I've seen many scenes over the past several weeks. I'm getting particularly familiar with Hwy 321 between the Wendy's intersection in Boone and downtown Columbia, SC. Made the turn-around trip twice now in a week.
Someday, but not tonight, I'd love to tell you more about the Possum Hollow Night Club, the Quickie Mart, the Dixie Diner, Crepe Myrtles and all things southern that should be cherished for well, their lovely southern-ness. All of which, are seen on the colorful route Hwy 321.
In the meantime, I offer you a Valle Crucis scene of the Taylor's horse shoo-ing the flies away with his tail this evening. I like the way the distant hills fade in the sidelight in this photo. This is true.

As the story goes..."When Momma ain't happy..."

The heat and flies ticked off this horse near the Shipley farm in Vilas today.
I know just how she feels.

The following is an open letter to my Mother:

Dear Mom,
Remember when I was 18, on the cusp of 19, and I mocked every word you uttered? If not that, then, I at least thought, not so silently, that you were quite possibly the stupidest person on the face of this Earth?
Well, your then wish finally came true.
I have a child just like me.
Yikes.

Love,
Marie

P.S. Today, I just passed along these same most sincere wishes to my Eldest.
What? I'm simply keeping the family traditions...

:)

It is August

I groped around in the misty morning, searching for my daily clarity occasionally found by looking through the viewfinder. The August mountain flowers and fog, I noticed, are stitched together by pearly webs. I wandered into the Valle where one Keith Ward's horses lumbered from the field to the barn for breakfast. I saw my first Iron Weed making its debut on Broadstone Road. The Joe Pye and sunflowers are bending from the weight of their blooms, so much so, that driving by them on a narrow gravel road with the windows down, is an open invitation to receive a perfume smack. Butterflies flock to the Milkweed. It is their addiction, as is the month of August in the Blue Ridge mine own.

Major the Mule

It not often I see a dozen mules parked in between the yellow line of the Walmart parking lot. But yesterday was just one of those days in which it seemed perfectly normal to see such a sight. Like everyone else, I walked up and talked to mules, not so much to the nice guys to whom the mules belong. This is Major the Mule. He was my favorite because he wasn't camera shy and seemed comfortable in his own skin. Major seemed to enjoy his visit to the Walmart parking lot. As did I.

Earth Day 2007--Appalachian Style, of course...

I enjoyed watching Ted and Barney get in touch with the earth yesterday as they plowed a field behind the Mast Store yesterday. But frankly, my own call to the wild today was oh so much more satisfying.
I was compelled by the forces of nature to go for a run/hike. I was not alone. In fact, like ants to a Parkway picnic, all of humanity in the tri-state region received the same inner calling as me: "Be outside-Go to any vacant spot to be found on the Blue Ridge Parkway between mile marker 290 and 305."
I listened to the voices and heeded them, as did everyone else.

I chose to run at mile marker 295 or there abouts the 2.3 mile path circling Price Lake as it felt like the right thing to do. As I climbed the trail I scurried around tree roots as my toes skipped rocks. Every once in a while a birch tree would be close enough for me to wrap an arm around it so I could catapult myself onto a switchback. As I focused on the path the rhododendron shadows offered me a 5 fingered wave as if to say, 'Remember us? We have also unfurled ourselves, released finally from last week's late winter grip."
I passed beaver fallen trees and maneuvered around storm-downed branches while my own limbs stretched in revival. Towards the end of my run I crossed a sunny purple patch a violets, bending their petals in my wake as if in a personal shout out: "See, you are in a renaissance, just like us. Welcome Back to planet Earth."

Quick and dirty info on individual Blue Ridge Parkway Milemarkers may be found Here.

A few snow photos...

 

All of these photos were taken in Valle Crucis, North Carolina today. Click to get a better view of each image. More area photos by by Brent who also has some freakin' awesome tunes  on his blog. I'm going to go chill now....

Taking care of the farm...

So before we were rudely interrupted by a major ice event I was telling you about my friend Bo...who is not to be confused with my other friend, Bo.  It is a common nickname around here, as you might imagine. Anyway, this Bo was out feeding her horses on Thrusday. Bo is a kind soul who rescues animals, particularly the equine variety. About a year or two ago I wrote in the Democrat about how she had saved this one horse, Sadie (the gray mare) who turned out to be pregnant and gave birth to a blue-eye gentleman. When I'm lucky to meet up with Bo, we end up talking politics, philosophy and junk all while she works caring for her critters. I'm no help,  I just take photos. She's pretty amazing really. Bo understands the reality that hard damn work is sometimes what life is truly all about. And, the special times are those you spend with those you adore--family, dogs, horses....critters. Here are other photos: