Blue Ridge blog

An announcement! In case you missed it....

   Marie and Virgil Freeman, of Valle Crucis, and Sharon and Ken Schul, of Charlotte, are proud to announce the engagement of their children, Elisabeth Claire Freeman and Kenneth Holden Schul.

   The bride elect will graduate in May from Appalachian State with degrees in health promotion and exercise science. She is currently employed at the ARHS Broyhill Wellness Center in Boone.

   The groom elect will also graduate in May from Appalachian State with degrees in criminal justice and military science. He will be commissioned as an Infantry officer in the U.S. Army this May.

   Elisabeth and Holden are planning a June wedding at the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center in Boone.

 

 

Redbud

 

 

I'm not sure what my attraction to this place is, but every single time I pass the homestead on my way to and from the post office (aka the Mast General Store) I look and nearly stop. It could be an overwhelming urge to see if my ample arse might fit within the tire swing and give it a go...or it may be the well-crafted ladder to nowhere which piques my interest. More likely it's the memory of the red bud tree in a blush of bloom which ignites a passionate fury within my frozen Appalachian soul. I've no remembering clue if the tree with the tire swing is a red bud or if it's one near the barn in the bottom photo. Regardless, like the swing clings to the tree, my heart is Saran wrapped around the hope of the pink-y promise of emerging buds. 

 

I like it when Jerry Moore smiles....

...And he was smiling plenty yesterday.

Appalachian beat Western Illinois 42-14 in the biggest snow I've ever seen at The Rock on a game day. 

For the fans, band, grounds crew, football players, coaches and yes, photographers, it was a day to embrace the conditions and have fun.

Here's a gallery of images ...just so you get the snow drift.

I promise, promise to post plain old regular pretty snow photos later today. Why? Because I am glady snowed in;)

Fog in the Valle

Autumn hasn't happened yet, but it's sure getting close. It is smell-able in the air. The goldenrods and the purple asters are summers' floral leftovers. The maples lining Rivers Street are turning from the top down as they always do. I've squeezed every bit of good out of my garden except for the kale, brussel sprouts and spinaches I recently planted. I'll plant my garlic soon. The canning, freezing and other hard chores are finished. I rejoiced this week when Iretired the weedeater for the season.

 All of the above are indications of the autumnal equinox, the shift into the falling season. I believe most of Earth's plants and creatures sense the change. Must be why I recently took stock of my sweater drawer. I have had an overwhelming desire to ditch my bra and woobie it up with my favorite ASU sweatshirt. I feel autumn....

 

I scream, you scream.

It would be lovely to have a 3 day weekend every week, wouldn't it?

I savored a slow, chilled weekend with visiting friends. There was no agenda other than eat way too much and drink a little, then, do whatever it was we felt like at the moment. Mostly we felt like sitting on the deck, enjoying the cool breeze, and chit-chatting.

Lately I've been in home improvement mode, and sadly for me, improving the home is almost always deviant, as is my nature. When it came time to think about making a scarecrow for my garden it got me to question what might scare me from eating tasty tomatoes and tender squash. I eventually ruled out a zombies or extraterrestrials in favor of a 3-D inspiration of  Edvard Munch's apocalyptic painting "The Scream." I crafted this beauty out of paper mache (of the Mountain Times variety) and plenty of spar varnish over the month of June.

It is theorized that Munch's red sky was inspired by  the devastating volcanic explosion of on Krakatoa, which led to eerie crimson skies in the Northern hemisphere during the frigid summer of 1883, often referred to as The Year Without Summer. It is a theory. Nonetheless, I hope it scares the varmits out of my garden;)

In any case, I have done an extensive search on the internets and this is the one and only "The Scream" scarecrow in Valle Crucis and perhaps, anywhere. I did find blow-up dolls, but we won't go there...

 

All these things I have done with y'all and all...

I have a full time photography job and then, I return home to my 60x20 job, The Garden. I love my works and have finally figured out why.  

My photography job allows me the opportunity to create with others as a team. We collaborate, we joke, we bitch, we moan, we rejoice and celebrate our successes and otherwise have a mighty fine time winging it on a daily basis.  Sure, there is the occasional work photograph which I own from concept to fruition, yet this is rare. I work with several talented, intelligent folk whose input at any point may change a doomed project 180 degrees in a better direction. I am blessed with a day job I look forward to every morning. Sincerely.

Yet, in contrast, I savor the time I spend (mostly) alone in my garden. My husband has helped me with the hardest of tasks and Annie is my happiness as she explores the perimeter of our land flushing rabbits from the brambles. My children have (mostly) left the nest so my tomatoes, muskmelons, cukes and beans are my new babies. I nurture them daily in playful, yet reverent solitude, pulling suckers, tossing them chicken turds and tickling their pumpkin flowers. Gardening can be a hard, dirty job, fret with problems such as addictions to weather radar on the iPhone, deer invasions and obsessions with worm castings (no kidding!) Still, I look forward (mostly) to the garden bootie/hard 'putting up' season come August, because it is a sign of a higher successful creative collaboration between me, Mother Nature and God. Truly.

Again, I am blessed.

More garden photos:

 

Half runners...

 

A picklin' cuke blossoms...

 

The Kitchen Garden, where I grow more than 200 garlics, kale, lettuce, a few tomatoes, squash and herbs...

 

A soaker hose hugs my precious pumpkin pie babe...

Gardening is a process. My biggest questions: 

Will you still love me when my squash crop comes in?

 

 
 
 

 

Mr. Donkey

 

So here we have landed in the year twenty ten.

I could whine about how cold it is here in the Blue Ridge Mountains but a quick look at The Weather Channel's map shows others farther north are suffering far worse. Yesterday I bundled up, packed my Nikon and Annie into the Jeep, and went for a ride around Valle Crucis. The wind was fierce, though the sun was reflected through the glistening veil of blowing snow. I visited the Taylor Farm where I gave the outdoor residents, Mr.Horse and Mr. Donkey a bit of camera love. Poor Mr. Donkey quickly became my favorite as Mr. Horse repeatedly nipped and head butted his rival out of the way. That, and when I was on my knees taking Mr. Donkey's photo, the horse bit my hat off and I'm a sucker for taking the side of the under dog. 

Christmas day ice storm cripples Watauga County

Nearly twenty-four hours after a Christmas day Ice storm wreaked havoc on Watauga County, North Carolina, my husband and I ventured off our mountain to check on a few of our interests in the neaby town of Boone. Note: The above images are taken through the dirty, cracked windshield of our Dodge truck. While the main roads were fine yesterday afternoon, side roads remain ice covered. Mind you, all the white stuff in the photos are the remnants of last week's sixteen inches of snow but which have now been transformed into ice.

Locals have named this particular state of emergency as the "Crystal Christmas of 2009." Most Wataugans lost power and as I write this, 500 remain unconnected to the grid. I have not heard of any loss of life caused by the ice storm but to be certain, there is plenty of property damage. In areas, entire tops of trees are twisted and splintered. Mother Nature did shoddy job of pruning. But to live in the mountains is to accept the often rugged conditions with resolute determination. And , a dose of good humor never hurts. After the fact, a friend of mine who was stranded alone for over 24 hours without power, showed his power of positive thinking and said, " Hey, free mulch for all!"

Indeed;)

Monte Mitchell of the Winston-Salem Journal wrote a good round-up article on the storm.

The blissful goats of Bethel

I was fortunate to be out and about in the Bethel community yesterday. Bethel is one of those tucked away gems that every time I have a reason to visit, I am grateful for the opportunity. I saw all sorts of photogenic eye candy, but it was these goats that retained my attention. I parked my Jeep, engaged the emergency brake for the steep incline and jumped over the electric fence so I could point my Nikon at the nubians. I used the 50mm lens wide open at f1.8 because I was in a bokeh sort of mood. These goats were pleasant posers.

Here's another:

 

And one more:

 

Watauga River Road and other goodness...

This weekend, after checking my mail, I wandered up and back on Watauga River Rd. to take in our first real snow of the season. It has long since melted.

In other news:

Sadly, I will not be traveling to Montana to watch my beloved Mountaineers play in the FCS semi-final playoffs. This truly is a game of epic proportions. I will be wearing my lucky black and gold tie dye and Appalachian State hoodie to watch the game on ESPN at 4 pm (ET) on Saturday.  Man, Is it Saturday yet?

And check this out:

Buddy Brian Shumate sat for a portrait today. Brian is my co-worker and for sure one of the geekiest, whiz-bang, fun, computer gurus out there. We all laugh because this photo captures his technobilly essence. And I love his Tweets even though sometimes I don't always understand them. For example, today this was his response to another Twitter giving him some love on portrait:

"octothorpe ampersand at sign percent exclamation YEAH colon right parenthesis"

I had to look up the word 'octothorpe.' It is the # sign.
Now you can go decode the remainder of the message;)