Blue Ridge blog

I've got a strange feeling that someone's looking at me...

                                 

Friday mornings have become special to Harley and me. Today I packed her into the Jeep and we headed to Valle Crucis Park for a walk. On our way there, this is what I saw in my rearview mirror.
It has turned cold. Yesterday I went to Walmart to buy warm socks and those little insta-hand warmers that are  dandy for keeping my fingers and extra camera batteries toasty. The busiest place in Walmart was the hunting section. Somehow I resisted the urge to buy a pair of camouflage longjohns. But I don't know, I may go back and buy them because today those longjohns are still calling my name. I just never know when I will be out and about and may just want to blend in...

On our way back home, Harley and I saw this looking at us:

The three of us just stared at each other for a good minute. This buck is very lucky that I carry a camera instead of a gun. After I captured his image, I whispered a promise to him that I would never ever tell all those hunters in Walmart of his existence.

At the edge of night

I had to prop my camera on a bean bag rested upon the hood of my Jeep to get this photo of last night's sunset. It was not too cold at this point. Yet this morning I had to break out Ye Old Pea Coat and wrapped myself up in it before heading out to work. The Highland Union bank thermometer read 20 degrees. I heard rumors that Appalachian Ski Mountain will open on Friday. I checked out their web cam and indeed, they are making snow.

Its whats for dinner

I missed a perfectly good opportunity to sleep in this morning and I didn't take it. Hmmm. Additionally, I am way too lazy to search the web to identify the beautiful berries that I took a photo of on Hwy 421 near Moltox today. Sometimes I don't get myself: I'm lazy, yet won't sleep in given the chance and then I'm too slack to look up something on the internet for you, but I am perfectly willing to stand out in the rain and take a photograph to share...

Last night my husband and I were being silly as we watched the Discovery Food Channel together. And I add that I am in complete awe that my husband and I watched not only one cooking show, but two. We are not normally such high falutin' people. Usually he watches Monster Garage  or Junkin'  on Turner South and I shake my head  the whole time wondering how I got this way.  Now don't get me wrong, I am proud of my southern roots and all, but frankly, I would rather be engrossed in a show such as Lost . In any case, we found ourselves watching a fine Yankee cooking show called Cookin' in Brooklyn . Tonight the chef was making chili. Our jaws dropped as this dude put in pork rinds ( who knew that this was a Brooklynite snack food?)  as well as Syrian Fig Jam! He diced in eggplant, arugula and pickles too.  I was relentless in chastising this guy for his food faux pas when my husband turned to me and flat out said, "He cooks the same way you do."

Well, all I have to say back to him is this: 'Honey, guess what's for dinner tonight?"

**Update** Several of you have identified this beautiful plant as the invasive Bittersweet. It is indeed lovely, but will choke out native species. Additionally, the chili I made last night was not good. Not a keeper recipe.

Revelations

Here is my front yard. You can see my favorite rock, my favorite dog and my second favorite Maple tree. There is a spring beneath the boulder from which a constant source of fresh water flows.
Voila! The bare bones of the forest can be seen after the leaves have dropped. Nothing is protected out here much anymore. I can see even the smallest of creatures flitting from limb to limb or hear them crunching between the dried leaves-much to the delight of my cat, Mister Man.

I just never tire of this view.

APP-solutely Ours!

This is the side of the jug that my friend K.B. will see every single time she looks at the space above her television until the next time that Appalachian State plays Western Carolina. She graciously allowed me to photograph her personal "Old Mountain Jug" prior to the outcome of the football game.
But:

Final score:
ASU 35 - WCU 7

Oh. And K.B. is my friend and a part-time High Country resident. She is a huge Western Carolina Catamount fan. Odd choice given that she’d just as soon be in Boone, but it makes more sense knowing that K.B. is a WCU alum of ‘69 and ‘72. But one other curious fact about K.B. is that she has not missed a single battle for the Old Mountain Jug game since 1976. It doesn’t matter where the game is played, K.B. will travel-sporting the Catamount purple colors, of course. And she joined another record breaking sell out crowd (25,584) that crammed into Kidd Brewer Stadium Saturday which gathered to watch the Appalachian Mountaineers stomp the living puddin' out of the Western Carolina Catamounts.
“Every game that we win is my favorite game--which isn’t too many lately,” K.B. admits.
The friendly spirit of the rivalry is what keeps K.B. coming back for more each year.
Last year was good year because K.B. saw her team smack Appalachian with a 30-27 defeat at Western’s E.J. Whitmire Stadium. So this year, maybe the payback is like, hell. Heh.
(insert note to self here: Be nice, Marie)

One more interesting note: K.B. makes the competition really personal. Several years ago while shopping at a Foscoe antique store, she found her own ‘Old Mountain Jug.’ She stuck an ASU logo on one side and on the other, her favorite Western Carolina kitty cat logo. “ I get to look at the winner’s sticker on the jug in my living room all year long, ” she said. Well, the photo above says it all.

Enjoy the view K.B.

With much love and with the most sincerest of hillbilly wishes,

Marie

P.S.-And yes, if the Catamounts win next year's game, I will post the flip side of the jug on my blog. I promise.

Valle Crucis potatos

Potato sacks wait to be filled at the organic Church farm on Broadstone Rd.

I went to a Veteran's Day ceremony in Blowing Rock this morning. Am I the only one who tears up during patriotic moments? I'm a patriot but I'm not generally an overtly sentimental gal. Yet sometimes seeing an old man in uniform salute during 'Taps' just gets to me...

View from Danner Cemetary

Yes, the view really did look this good from Danner Cemetary yesterday morning. If I actually had the time today to wander up to this same view today, I guarantee there would be about seventy-five percent less leaves on the trees. A front stormed through last night that proved merciless to the remainding autumn color. I'm ok with that. I know that winter is coming so let's just get on with it!

I would like to mention to any of you photographers out there that my scenics this month I have shot mainly using Nikon's Proprietary Format--in raw mode, if you will. I am loving the control that I have when opening an NEF photo in Photoshop. Thanks to a gigs worth of memory card, I am finding much more digital predictability. I would talk more, but I'm revealing my inner nerd.

Valle Crucis cornfield

I don't know why I like this cornfield so much. I've taken many photos of it this season but haven't taken one that I liked until this morning. I like how the roof of the Mast General Store Annex peeks just above the old stalks. I'm not sure, but I think the blueish mist is caused by chimney smoke that sometimes gathers in the valley.

On a completely different note: Suspects have been charged in yesterday's murder . Sad.

**Update**
I got punched in the gut by this message today? Amy is one of my most favorite bloggers ever. Among many other qualities too numerous to mention, I was always impressed by the air of authenticity that she lent to writing about her subjects--whether it was her tomato harvest, her navel or death of her mother. Amy is a class act.

And, something that turned my frown upside down was the news that I am apparently HOT! Not smokin and flamin hot like
her and her ( I think ) but I'm #25. I'm just smoldering...

And if I'm hot, then This Guy is most definitely cool.  Be sure to also check out The Coolhunter  website for items that you most definitely can not buy in Boone.

She needs more cowbell...

Sorry. This morning was spent working a pesky murder. Watauga County averages 1 or 2 murders a year. Most of the time, it is just a spat between good ol boys that goes horribly wrong. One of my favorite quotes I ever heard from a confessed killer was: "He just begged to be kilt and I was happy to oblige him." Today's murder was a bit more gruesome than the normal hillbilly killin though. It involved a slightly burned body which was stuffed inside the trunk of a car. Somehow I don't think anyone begs for that to happen to them.

So, all you get right now is this portrait of Crissie the Cow.