The mountains of western North Carolina. May 29, 2009.
This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world. To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.
We got home from North Carolina last night. We had a very relaxing couple of days with our friends Judy and Charlie. They have a very beautiful cabin in the mountains south of Franklin. The picture above is a view of the mountains from their deck.
Big Rose Bed, Fairfield Glade. May 23, 2009.
The picture above shows some of the roses in our large rose bed. That bed contains 22 roses, but not all of them have bloomed yet. But I can say that scenes like this make all the work very worthwhile.
Betsy and I are going to be visiting friends for a couple of days. Judy and Charlie have a cabin in the western North Carolina and we’re going over there later today. We met Judy and Charlie when Betsy and I lived in Hendersonville. They still live there, but we have remained close.
This visit is for relaxation and to give Betsy and Judy an opportunity to ‘talk’. Whether the talking will leave time for eating and sleeping remains to be seen.
I don’t think this trip will include any waterfall visits, although there are several in the area. I’m taking some reading and may even get in a nap or two.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Betsy on a bridge over the Little Pigeon River. March 28, 2009.
This is my post for Watery Wednesday, a weekly meme created and hosted by 2sweeetnsaxy of Eyes, Mind, Heart. To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.
The picture above is of my favorite hiking partner on a bridge over the Little Pigeon River in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The picture was taken in March, while we were staying in a cabin at Serenity Falls. We had gone to the area of Greenbrier Campground to drive and hike along the river. There had been several days of rain prior to our visit, so the water was rushing over the rocks and boulders. The sight and sound of that rushing river in the forest/mountain setting is an experience that everyone should have at least once.
My boyhood home on Court Street. July, 2000.
This is my post for the My World meme. It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy. Last week there were 100 people sharing their worlds. To see more of our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.
The house in the picture above is the first house I remember from my childhood. It’s on Court Street in Crown Point, Indiana. This picture is a scan from a slide made in 2000, but we moved from that house when I was six. I was amazed to find that it was still standing.
When we lived in the house there were two large trees in front between the sidewalk and the street. Mom, Dad, my little brother and I lived on the second floor. Another couple with two children the ages of my brother and me lived on the first floor. During good weather we would all play together in front of the house and on the porch.
The kindergarten that I attended was on Court Street and my grandmother also lived on that same street. So Court Street was a major part of my world for a few years.
The Tomb of the Unknown, Arlington. July, 1992.
The picture above is a scan from a photograph of the Tomb of the Unknowns I took in 1992. The original photograph is now very washed out, so I converted it to sepia. It’s not a very good picture, but I wanted to include it in this post for Memorial Day.
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to the actual beginnings of Decoration Day, but Waterloo, N. Y., was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson. There is also evidence that organized women’s groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War.
Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868, by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was first observed on May 30th of that same year. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states, although the South refused to acknowledge the day until after World War I, when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war.
The holiday has changed in many ways over the years. In 1971 Congress changed the date to the last Monday in May to ensure a three day weekend. As such, Memorial Day is now celebrated as much for the unofficial beginning of summer as it is for a day of remembrance.
So I hope you will enjoy any special activities that you have planned for the day. But I also hope you will take a moment to remember those who sacrificed so much to give us the freedom that we enjoy.
The Smoky Mountains on Newfound Gap Road. May 10, 2009.
This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world. To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.
The picture above was taken at an overlook on Newfound Gap Road in the Smokies. Newfound Gap Road (US 441) is one of the most popular drives in the Smokies and runs between Cherokee, North Carolina and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. There are several overlooks along the road, this is an unnamed overlook on the Gatlinburg side of the mountains.
The most popular Smokies views along Newfound Gap Road are autumn scenes and sunrise/sunset views. This picture features neither, but still gives an indication of the beauty of “America’s Most Popular Park”.
It’s so nice to wake up in the morning to blue skies, warm temperatures, birds singing and roses blooming. That was our situation yesterday (Friday) morning. Our roses are doing very nicely and we find new blossoms each morning. The collage above shows the roses that bloomed for the first time Friday. If you are interested in the names you can enlarge the collage and see most of them.
Moon over the ocean at Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. May 6, 2009.
This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world. Last week a couple hundred people shared their view of the sky. To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.
Last week I posted a picture of a moonrise over the ocean at the beach while we were on vacation. We were treated to a beautiful show for three nights, and of course I took more than one picture. I couldn’t resist posting another picture of the moon over the ocean. We were enthralled by the reflection on the water, which you can better see by enlarging the photo above.
Rose New Day, Fairfield Glade. May 20, 2009.
Wednesday was an absolutely beautiful day up here on the Plateau — the sky was blue and the sun was shining. It was almost too warm in the afternoon to work in the yard, but that didn’t stop me. I thoroughly enjoy working in the yard even if that includes mowing, which I finished up early in the afternoon.
The most enjoyable chore I had to do was plant our last new rose. I had to replace one that we lost during the winter. So now our rose garden is complete — we have 48 rose bushes. That’s about all that we can handle without getting a larger yard!
The picture above is another of new roses this year — New Day. It is slightly fragrant as well as being very pretty. I have more trouble with yellow roses than any other color — they seem to be a favorite of just about every bug that likes to chew of rose bushes! However, we’re hoping that I can keep this one healthy.
Greenbrier Cascade, Great Smoky Mountains. March 28, 2009.
This is my post for Watery Wednesday, a weekly meme created and hosted by 2sweeetnsaxy of Eyes, Mind, Heart. To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.
As you know, Betsy and I love and collect waterfalls. But we also like cascades and fast-flowing rivers. After two years of drought rain has finally returned to east Tennessee, and the rivers are close to normal for the first time in that period.
The picture above was taken along the Little Pigeon River in the Great Smoky Mountains near Greenbrier, Tennessee. We had been at the same spot in November, but then there had been more boulders than waters in the stream. But when this picture was taken, March, 2009, the water was rushing over the boulders. The sight and the sound of all the white water was a beautiful part of our watery world.
Senior Moments 