Moomin Light

A wonderful weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains: Part 3 - Tanawha Trail and Blowing Rock

I should post the rest of these pictures before we get to this weekend.* 

Sunday morning, a week and a half ago, it clouded over and fogged up.  It was still a beautiful time to hike.  Since the views in higher places would be fogged in, we decided to hike the part of the Tanawha Trail (which parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway) off of Holloway Mountain Road (if you look at this map, we hiked the section where the "3.8" is on the eastern end of the trail).

Even in (or maybe because of) the fog, the wildflowers were beautiful.  

I think the goldenrod flowers were at their peak.

The gate to an old cemetary.  We were talking to a ranger later in the morning, and she said that there used to be a cabin in this area.

Ironweed

Thistle

An early taste of fall

 Later, we asked the ranger if this field has a name.  It doesn't.

 

View from the bottom.  The field is so beautiful that it really should have a name.

Assassin bug nymphs on a milkweed pod

Gentians

Before we got back to the van, it started to rain in earnest.  We drove out to the viaduct, but it was totally fogged in.  We stopped at the Viaduct Visitors Center, talked with the ranger, and watched a drenched cyclist drying out in front of the fire in the fireplace.  It turns out that there was a Bridge to Bridge cycling event that day.  The ride went for 25 miles from Lenoir to the Grandfather Mountain swinging bridge.  As the Bridge link says:  "100 miles of pure hill."  It wasn't a good weather day for it!

We went back to Blowing Rock and had lunch at Mellow Mushroom Pizza.  Sadly, they had taken doughnads off the appetizer menu since the last time we were there.  They were small spheres of baked dough with garlic butter and parmesan.  There are no photos of them on the internet.  I should have taken a picture of the ones we had last fall.

We wandered around Blowing Rock for a bit before heading home.  

Hanging baskets

Gardens in front of the playground

 

 

High Country Candles is one of my favorite stores in Blowing Rock.  They've got wonderful candles, and the conversations we have with the people there are always interesting.  We bought some tapers last fall and liked how dripless they really were.  I wanted to make sure we brought home some more.

We bought locally grown apples at Sunset Tees and Hattery.  We get them every fall because they've got much more flavor than apples from the grocery store.   You can choose your own, but we always forget what kinds they are so this time, I took photos.

That was the end of the trip.  However, I didn't post some photos that came before the kayaking photos.  They're kind of strange to put at the end of these foggy day photos.

The first morning, we had breakfast next to Price Lake...   ...and watched the mist rising off the water.

It turns out that they rent kayaks there.  How nice!

 

*  Which includes the Duke Gardens fall plant sale, the NC Pride Parade in Durham, and the Carrboro Music Festival (which all mean lots more photos).

Early fall gardens

I wanted to have something to do outside today, but the gardens don't need much work... yet.  In a few weeks, I'll be really busy.  Instead, I took photos:

I started the tithonia seeds in pots rather late last spring.  By the time they were ready to plant, the places I usually put them in were taken up by other plants.  I put this one in the front flower bed where I can see it when I'm on the computer.  It has repaid me well.

These perennial sunflowers are taking over the flower bed they're in, which is fine because most other plants aren't happy in that bed anymore since it's too close to the trees.  They just started blooming last week.

These impatiens plants have been wonderful this year.  I can also see this when I sit at the computer.

This hibiscus bloomed back in July so I'm very happy that it's blooming again!

Japanese anemones are blooming in shady parts of the gardens.

 We planted the deck pots well last spring.  The flowers are still blooming wonderfully even at the beginning of the fall.

I love the pink impatiens and the red love lies bleeding together.

Nasturtiums, impatiens, and love lies bleeding

The black-eyed-Susan vine grew and climbed over everything for a few months before deciding to bloom.

I've never put tithonia plants in the deck pots before.  I had two left over in the spring so I decided to try them there.  Again, I've been well repaid.  This one also grew very tall before deciding to bloom.  The hummingbirds love it.

The shorter tithonia on the other end of the deck

This garden spider made a beautiful web in the front flower bed.

Waiting... these perennial chrysanthemums will bloom in early October and keep going for weeks.

 

A wonderful weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains: Part 2 - Bass Lake at the Cone Manor

We went for two walks at the Bass Lake last weekend.  It had clouded over by Saturday evening:

They're redoing the heart ponds. This was a surprise.

Sunset over the lake.

We went back again the next morning...

...because this is a lovely view for breakfast.

Jewel weed was blooming profusely.

Goldenrod blooming at the end of the lake

You usually can't see this well into the island.

 Duck next to all the fleabane flowers blooming by the dam

 

 

Part of the project they're working on is to keep the water lilies from taking over the lake.

 

I've taken lots of photos of the Cone Manor, but I can't resist just one more.

Hydrangea by the lake

A wonderful weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains: Part 1 - Kayaking

Dear husband and I had a wonderful weekend.  Of course, there are lots of photos!

For the first time since... I can't even remember, dear husband and I went camping - just the two of us.  Older son was too busy with schoolwork to be able to go, and younger son decided to stay home too (he's been too tired lately to deal with trying to sleep in a tent). 

We camped at Price Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Boone, NC.  It was a bit noisy - there were drunken (we assume from the sounds) campers late both nights.  We were so tired that we only briefly woke up.  

Saturday morning, we headed over to Rivergirl Fishing Co. in Todd, NC to rent kayaks.  We've been kayaking twice on the Eno River in Durham and once on the French Broad River in Asheville, but this was our first time kayaking in the area where we usually spend our fall vacation.  

Rivergirl is in an old train depot:

They have already decorated for Halloween, and Petunia was out front:

  

The temperature was in the lower 70's, and the day was beautiful:

 

There were wildflowers all over the banks:

 

 Interesting:

The water was very clear, and it was very shallow in parts.  We got stuck on rocks fairly often (not here, of course) because the water is low this time of year.

Dear husband:

More beautiful scenery:

Steve took some pictures of me.  Here's my favorite:

 It's, by far, my favorite place we've kayaked.  

Saving the hummingbird

We tried to get rid of anything red in the front of the garage years ago.  Hummingbirds would be drawn in by the color, then they would fly around the ceiling until they were exhausted, and they would rest on the wire to the garage door opener.  Dear husband would climb up on the roof of the van, get the hummingbird off of the wire, and climb down (that's the hard part while he's carrying the hummingbird).   He'd take the hummingbird outside and feed it sugar water from a potato peeler.  That sounds strange, but the curve of the potato peeler keeps a small line of sugar water which the hummingbird licks off.  It works better than an eye dropper.  Once the hummingbird felt better, it would fly off, and sometimes come back and dive bomb him (after all, he was a large predator holding it).

We weren't able to find one hummingbird, though.  Months later, we just found a pile of feathers behind a box.

As I said, we tucked the red cooler away in the shadows of the garage, took off the red ring that was hanging from the garage door opener string and replaced it with a washer, and moved every other red thing we could... except for the big red van, which really can't go anywhere.  What would be going through a hummingbird's tiny mind:  "Look at that humongous flower!"?  

After we cleaned up the garage of all but one of the red items visible from the door, we've gotten far fewer hummingbirds.  We had one this morning, however.  She was flying around frantically, and there wasn't anything we could do for her.  An hour later, we went out again, and she finally had come  to rest on a long pole with a blade for cutting branches.  The top of the branch-cutting tool is up near the ceiling, and it has a small ring for a rope near the top.  The hummingbird was clinging firmly to that ring.  It took a while to find her because she was facing the wall, and her dark back looked like part of the tool, but we were determined to find her so that she wouldn't become another pile of feathers!  We could tell she was still in there because of her peeps, which were getting fainter and father apart.

Older son doesn't have any classes on Thursdays so, the last few weeks, he's stayed home and worked those days.  We were so lucky he was home today!   After younger son got that corner of the garage cleared out, older son got the pole off the wall.  The hummingbird was actually so tired that she stayed on there while he carried it outside!  I was very worried that she'd just start flying around frantically again.

 It took three of us to take care of her:  I had the hummingbird food (sugar water), older son fed her, and younger son held the pole steady.  I don't have photos, of course, because we were too busy for that, but I think I will always have the memory etched on my brain.  At first, she barely noticed the food, but she slowly started eating.  They're so small when you see them still and up close.  Her eyes stayed shut for a long time.  She gradually started eating faster and faster, and we happily watched the bumps going down her little white throat.  At first, it was swallow, swallow, swallow, peep, but, as she grew stronger, she stopped talking while she ate.  She also fluffed out more as she felt better.  Eventually, just a bit before she took off, she opened her eyes.  It was wonderful to see her looking alert.  

When she felt better, she flew off into the Japanese Maple in the front yard.  It's a fairly dense tree so we couldn't see her.   A few minutes later, we saw her flying around the front flowerbed happily eating and peeping.  

[Hummingbird photo from Wikimedia Commons]

 

Where was my mistake?, or Basically whining, and Something's Got a Hold on Me, and also Robot and Frank

I overdid it this weekend, and I didn't even do that much.  Last week, I thought I was just having really bad allergies.  By Thursday, my throat really hurt, I felt like I was trying to swallow around a golf ball in my throat, and I couldn't stay warm, which is really strange since it was in the upper 80's.  I went upstairs at one point, late in the morning, to "lie down for a few minutes." I woke up two hours later.  

I'm not very good at resting when I'm sick.  In some cases, like last week, I'm not even really good at realizing that I'm sick.  I just mentally beat myself up for days for being a lazy person.  Look - the previous weekend we visited daughter in Asheville, did lots of things, and hiked at Max Patch (right).  Why was I so lazy last week?

Why can't I realize when I'm sick?

I didn't even think to take my temperature on Thursday.  On Friday, when I felt a bit better and my internal thermostat was back to normal, I realized that I probably was getting over being sick and that I might have had a fever.  However, I was not sick anymore so I should be back to normal - and not be SO LAZY! 

Saturday, I almost didn't have energy for the usual Farmers' Market trip and walk in Hillsborough with dear husband.  I took a nap when we got home and another nap after lunch.  I finally started feeling slightly normal so off I went to Broadway Dance.  Okay, there are so few people registered for it that it's probably going to be cancelled for the fall so it was possibly my only chance to take it in the near future.  I had lots of fun, and we danced to Something's Got a Hold on Me:

I really did think that I was back to normal yesterday evening, but it took me two naps to get through today, and I've been depressed for most of the day.   My asthma is still in high gear after whatever 24/48 hour virus I had.  My breathing squeaks when I lie down even after using my inhaler.  I need to get a new one.  I was already hoarse before I went to sing in choir at church this morning (in retrospect, probably not the wisest thing to do, but choir was so small at the rehearsal on Wednesday that I didn't want to wimp out). 

...

Well, I wrote that after dinner this evening.  You would think that I would have realized that I needed a nice quiet evening at home...

...Do you know that downtown Durham is really quiet at 10:30 at night?  We really wanted to see Robot and Frank in the theater.  It's only going to be at the Carolina Theater for two weeks, and there are very few nights that dear husband, older son, and I all will be free to watch it so we went tonight.  It's only an hour and a half long so, if you go to the 9 pm show, you'll be out by 10:30. 

I've been a fan of Frank Langella's since I saw him in Dracula when I was at MIT.  They showed movies in the lecture hall that the freshmen Physics lectures were held in.  All the freshmen pretty much took the same course unless they took Physics for Poets (which wasn't the real name, but I don't remember what it was really called) so it was a huge lecture hall.

Anyway, I've noticed that Frank Langella has so much screen presence that most actors seem two dimensional next to him.  That doesn't happen to Susan Sarandon in Robot and Frank.  They're both wonderful in it.  It's an excellent movie, with many more layers than the trailer leads you to believe:

 

Some bloggers have simple, good titles

This blogger, isn't one*

 

*Extra points to anyone who gets that reference.  I've been listening to it a lot this week.

"City of Frogs" - Paperhand Puppet Intervention: Part 1

We finally were able to go to the Paperhand Puppet Intervention show, City of Frogs, a week ago.  We went opening night, when daughter was here, but the show got rained out.  We had a few other nights open - all rainy.  

I was glad to finally get a chance to see it.  It's one of my favorite shows of theirs.  If you live in the Triangle and haven't had a chance to see it, it will still be at the Forest Theater in Chapel Hill the next weekend (Sept. 7/8/9) and at the outdoor theater at the NC Museum of Art the following weekend (Sept 14/15/16).  You can check the Paperhand calendar here.

I'll post one photo above the fold - it's from the first minute so I'm not giving much away.  I'll put the rest below the fold so that anyone who's going in the next few weeks can avoid them.

The story of a puppet...

[DON"T go further if you're going to go see it!!!!!]