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Old Man Winter returned to our part of Tennessee last week with more snow than we’ve had in several years. We also had freezing fog and ice which left the trees and bushes with glazed with ice.
We unfortunately did have much sunshine and blue skies during the week. This photo was taken a few years ago when the trees were similarly bejeweled
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It’s been a while since My Beautiful Bride and I forced ourselves to get up before dawn to walk the back nine of the Druid Hills golf course, but we’ve talked about getting started again. Not only is the exercise good for us (and allows us to be socially distanced when out of the house) but the scenery is often absolutely gorgeous. This picture was taken on a January morning a few years ago. What a magnificent way to start the day!
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I know the song title is “Tip-Toe Through the Tulips”, but we have many more daffodils than tulips since the critters around here like to munch on our tulip bulbs.
We got most of our daffodils through collections, so we don’t know the names of them,
but we do enjoy the variety of colors and shapes.
Some of the daffodils have trumpets with different colors.
We got these daffodils from my dad when we first moved to the Glade. i don’t know the proper name for these, but we call them Dad Adams daffodils.
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I’m not sure day lilies are the biblical lilies of the field, but they certainly are beautiful and worthy of consideration. We have several varieties in our yard, most of them rebloomers that we can enjoy twice a year. Day lilies are way to grow and don’t require much maintenance, which is a nice bonus.
Carolyn Criswell (the photo above) is a bright, beautiful day lily that always looks cheerful.
I dearly love Betsy, but I must admit that I enjoy seeing Lady Lucille whenever she puts in an appearance in our yard.
I seriously doubt that Christmas Wishes would bloom in our yard in December, but it certainly looks festive this time of the year.
Pure and Simple may not be ‘fancy’, but it is definitely pretty. The large blossoms of this day lily are always a welcome sight.
I almost feel that I cheated when I got this picture of our Bright Sunset day lily. I actually took this photo in the morning light. I’m not aware of a ‘Bright Sunrise’ day lily.
We have other beautiful day lilies in our yard, but I hope you enjoyed this sample. It’s been a beautiful Spring in the Glade.
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Betsy and I are making a conscientious effort to stay healthy. Our plan involves watching what we eat and trying to get in at least one long walk six days pr week.
Neither of us particular enjoys walking along the roads (there are no sidewalks in our area), so we much prefer walking the golf course. That usually means getting up early so we can get our walk in before the golfers arrive.
On a cold, winter morning that is not always something to look forward to. It’s hard to get up while it’s still dark and start trudging up those hills. But on some mornings — this past Tuesday, for example — we are struck by the peaceful beauty of the place we are fortunate enough to call home.
Our house in the snow. February 18, 2015.
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We had quite a week here in the Glade last week — three storms in a single week is just a bit much.
The ice in the first storm missed us, but we did get snow as you can see in the photo above.
My Beautiful Bride enjoying the snow. February 18, 2015.
Of course, my Beautiful Bride was delighted.
Icy branches on one of our red bud trees. February 19, 2015.
The second storm brought us some ice with ice covered twigs on the trees …
A giant icicle near our front porch. February 19, 2015.
… and giant icicles.
Icy branches of trees in our yard against a blue sky. February 19, 2015.
The icy tree branches shone against a pretty blue sky on Thursday.
A tree with a broken top in our side yard. February 22, 2015.
Unfortunately the third storm brought a couple of inches of ice with broken tree tops and branches. Our neighborhood looked like a war zone, and we were without power for a couple of days.
I hope it’s a long time before we have another week like this.
Lake Canterbury, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 30, 2013.
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Fairfield Glade has several lakes, all of which are man-made. One of the larger lakes is Lake Canterbury. There are homes all along the shoreline, but it is still a pretty autumn scene, especially with a blue sky above the lake.
Lake Canterbury, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 30, 2013.
I got these pictures from a boat ramp used by fishermen.
Our back yard in the snowstorm, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. January 21, 2014.
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My Beautiful Bride can be impatient at times, and she has been waiting for snow ever since Thanksgiving. But she wasn’t waiting for just any snow — it had to be a perfect snowstorm: The snowflakes had to be big and fluffy, they had to fall during daylight, and the snow had to cling to trees and branches.
I’m happy to say that Betsy was a happy camper on Tuesday. It started snowing in the morning and snowed off and on during most of the day. It didn’t take long for the deck and the golf course to have a cover of white.
The Stars and Stripes in our front yard. January 21, 2014.
The flag in front of the house provided a little color on what was a fairly gray day. The wind came up and caused the flag to stand out from the pole.
The view in front of our house, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. January 21, 2014.
But the best part was that the trees and bushes all wore a coat of white.
Google Earth image of our home. September, 2010.
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When Betsy and I travel, I use a geo-tracker to record the GPS coordinates of the pictures I take. I can then use Google Earth to map the location and get satellite or terrain views of the area.
Shortly after starting to use Google Earth, I entered our address and got the image above. I was able to find our house, but I wasn’t all that impressed.
When we got back from a trip to North Carolina a few weeks ago, I took some pictures in the yard before turning off the geo-tracker. While looking at the track of our trip on Google Earth, I zoomed in at the end of the track and found a new image of our house. I’ll have to admit I was impressed — and a little shocked.
Google Earth image of our house. April 2013.
This new image makes it possible to see the house and the deck, including the table on the deck. The rose beds on each side of the driveway can be clearly seen, including the terracing we put in for the roses. I can see the round flowerbed around the yard lamppost, as well as the flower bed along the road.
The black dots on each side of the driveway are our container roses. There’s a black blob in the driveway near the road (indicated by ‘??’). I can’t be sure, but I think that might be me.
So who’s watching you?
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I won’t claim that Betsy and I have a grand master plan for our yard, but we do try to have color in the yard in each season. Irises provide color between the Spring bulbs (daffodils and tulips) and our roses.
We have several different varieties in our yard — the collage above shows five of them. In the top row I have Clarence iris on the left and Waltz Across Texas on the right.
The bottom row shows (from left to right) Cantina, Blatant and Tennessee Vol. It should be no surprise that Tennessee Vol is Betsy’s favorite — she’s one of the most dedicated University of Tennessee Volunteers fans you will ever meet.
