Archive for the ‘Glade’ Category

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Signs of Autumn

October 7, 2010

 

Dogwood berries, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 5, 2010.

 

I’ve been trying to learn more about my camera, and how to use the manual settings rather than using the automatic functions most of the time.  I would like to learn more about photographic techniques, although I’m not sure that it will help me get better pictures.

I did some reading on the relationship between shutter speed and aperture and, since Tuesday was a gorgeous day, went outside to do some experimenting.  I was trying to see if I could find manually settings that would produce a pleasing photo.

I first experimented with trying to capture the berries on the dogwood tree in our front yard.  The results of that experiment is the picture above.

 

Sumac leaves, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 5, 2010.

 

I then walked down the street to some sumac trees in the vacant lot below our house.  The leaves of the tree were a beautiful red, and the sun was shining directly on them.  Those conditions resulted in this picture.

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Why We Need to Sweep the Deck

August 23, 2010

Our friendly helper. August 19, 2010.

Betsy has become a very enthusiastic birder over the last few years.  It all started with a Bluebird family in the box in our back yard, but she now has several feeders on and over our deck.  Most of the feeders are located so that she can see them from her chair in our Great Room.

There are now a dozen or so variety of birds that visit our feeders on a regular basis.  And although Betsy has gotten very good at recognizing the birds by sight or by their call, the birds are not very good about cleaning up after themselves.  I hate to say it, but those birds are some of the messiest eaters I’ve ever seen (and that includes two kids!).

Betsy does a pretty good job of sweeping the deck, but one rainy day last week she got distracted doing other things and didn’t sweep as often as she usually does.  So this ‘friend’ decided to climb up on the deck and help with the clean-up effort.  Fortunately it went away without gracing the deck with its ‘fragrance’.

We really do need to keep the deck swept!

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Sempervivum

June 24, 2010

As you know, Betsy and I have many flowers in our yard — daffodils, tulips, iris, roses, lilies and daylilies.  But we also have some plants that don’t flower very much (no, I am not talking about the weeds in our flower beds!).

I grew up on a small farm in northern Indiana.  The topsoil was rich and about 18 inches (or more) deep.  Dad used to say that when we planted seed we had to jump back to keep from being knocked over the growing plant.

That certainly is not the situation here in Tennessee.  Don’t get me wrong — I like the mountains and our home.  But in some places there is solid rock about an inch below the surface.  We’ve worked around that by building some raised flower beds, but there are places in the yard where we have rock right under the surface and there’s not much we can do about it.

Except plant sempervivum (hen and chicks).  Sempervivum seem to thrive in the most impossible soil conditions, and they look good all year around.  We have several different varieties and various places around the yard.  Some are bicolor, like the picture above.  Others are a solid color.  The most common are green, but we also have several maroon or deep purple plants, as you can see in the picture below.

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Lilies and Roses

June 10, 2010

Lilies and roses in our new flower bed, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. May 30, 2010.

If you’ve been visiting this blog for any length of time, you’ve heard about the wall and new flower bed that we built along the road in front of the house.  Building the wall and filling in the bed took several weeks, and during the winter after a severe thunderstorm, part of it had to be rebuilt.

But this time of the year all the aggravations were worth it, as you can see from the picture above.  Most of the iris planted in the bed bloomed and hopefully they will do so again in the autumn.  We are now enjoying the lilies and roses and the daylilies (which are hard to spot in this picture) are starting to bloom.

Betsy and I definitely think the work was worth it.  We are definitely enjoying the new view in front of our house.  And we’ve noticed an added bonus to having that new flower bed out there.  Most of the cars going up or down the road in front of the house are going a little slower this year!

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I’m happy to report that Betsy is continue to mend.  She can now stand with out pain, although that knee still complains if she walks too much at one time.  But she is making progress and is able to sleep at night without pain.

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National Rose Month

June 3, 2010

Our front yard, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. May 26, 2010.

I found out yesterday (Wednesday) that June is National Rose Month.  So I decided I would mark the occasion by sharing this picture of our front yard.  I have to admit that this picture was taken last week when it was still May, but you can see our three rose beds as well as the containers along the driveway that contain roses.  You can’t see all of them, but we have 55 varieties of roses.  Betsy says that taking care of those roses helps keep me out of trouble.

Speaking of Betsy, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers again today.  She will be having orthoscopic surgery on her knee this afternoon.  Her doctor thinks that a frayed Medial Miniscus in her knee is causing her problems and this surgery should fix everything.  We certainly hope the doctor is right.

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Honey Bees at Work

April 15, 2010

Honey bee at work in our redbud tree, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 14, 2010.

Have you heard of CCD?  Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder?

In the past few weeks I have read or seen stories about the disappearing honey bees.  It’s a cause for concern because honey bees pollinate a sizable portion of our fruits and vegetables.  The causes of the collapse are not well understood, but bee keepers are having some success in rebuilding colonies.

I was working in the yard yesterday near our redbud tree when I heard buzzing.  Looking around I found a couple of bumble bees flitting about.  I went in to get my camera, but by the time I got back the bumble bees were gone.  I did, however, find a couple of honey bees hard at work.

I haven’t heard of any problems with the bigger bumble bees, so I imagine I can try to capture a picture of them just about any time.  Under the circumstances I’m glad I found these hard-working honey bees.

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The Days Are Getting Busier

April 1, 2010

Some of our roses from 2009

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in the Glade — the sky was blue and the temperatures were warm.  It was a great day for working out in the yard, which both Betsy and I did in the afternoon.  I’ve got about half of our roses uncovered and trimmed back and I’m happy to report that they all look pretty good so far.  Since I spent so much time working outside today on the roses, I’m sharing a few more from last year in the collage above.

Today (Thursday) Betsy and I are heading over to Hendersonville to help out my parents.  Although they  seem to be fine when we talk to them on the phone, each time we are with them it becomes more obvious that they are quickly reaching the point where they need more than long-distance help.  But it is one thing for us to see that and a completely different thing for them to agree.

We greatly admire their desire to remain independent, but both my sister and I wish we could get them to accept more help.  Until then we will continue to do the best we can to look after them.

We’ll be gone all day today, so I’m going to be even further behind visiting your sites.  But I promise I will get caught up — one of these days!

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After Our Snow Storm

February 1, 2010

Around our house after our snow storm. January 30 - 31, 2010.

Since it is now February 1, I guess it’s safe to say that we survived the January storm.  It turned out to be quite an experience for this part of Tennessee.

As best I can tell we got about five inches of snow, followed by about an inch of ice, followed by another inch or so of snow.  The snow started late Friday morning and continued through Saturday, although it was mostly flurries at the end.

As many of you know, we live on a hill, and although there is usually a fair amount of up and down traffic, except for a snow plow we had no traffic at all until yesterday (Sunday) afternoon when a single car went down the hill.  It was the quietest we’ve seen that road in the six-plus years we’ve lived here.

Yesterday was a beautiful day with blue skies and temperatures near 30°.  I was able to get about  2/3 of the driveway cleared.  That, and another pass by the snow plow, makes me feel we could get out if we had to, although I’m not sure we could get back in.  We need a couple more good days for me to feel comfortable about getting up the hill.

The two pictures on the left above were taken Saturday.  It was very cloudy, but Betsy and I got out to look around and take some pictures.  The other three pictures were taken yesterday when we had that beautiful bright blue sky.  The middle picture shows some of the ice-coated trees against that sky.

By the way, Betsy says she’s had enough snow for this winter — she’s ready for Spring!

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Blue Sky and Ice

January 16, 2010

Ice build-up behind our house, Fairfield Glade. January 15, 2010.

The picture above was taken behind our house yesterday and does a pretty good job of describing Tennessee weather over the past week or so.

First the good news — the sky is blue and the shadows in foreground mean that the sun is shining.  Both of those things have been in short supply this year.

The bad news is the ice build-up on the rocks.  This is a ‘natural area’ on the edge of the fairway.  It is normally bare rock, although there is often moisture on the rock from run-off further up the hill.  The ice is a reminder of how cold it has been so far this year.  We have never seen ice this thick on these rocks.

I can hardly wait to find what the coming week will bring.

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I’m grateful for all the seasons we enjoy here on the Cumberland Plateau.

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November Rose

November 5, 2009
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Apricot Nectar Rose, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. November 4, 2009.

Betsy and I spent most of the afternoon trying to get some of the leaves out of our yard.  I like our house in the woods most of the time, but there are disadvantages in the autumn since all of the trees around the house lose their leaves.  Why couldn’t we have found a house surrounded by pine trees?

Actually, I shouldn’t complain.  The back of our house is on the the rough of the golf course and the golf course maintenance crews remove the leaves from the rough.  They will also remove any leaves we get from our back yard onto golf course property.  So we busily raked and blew leaves from our yard to the rough.  Since the houses above us have already done this, I’m sure the maintenance crews will be delighted when they get to this part of the course!

Even though it’s November, we still have roses in bloom.  I brought in two blossoms for Betsy Wednesday and there are a few more out in the yard.  I didn’t bring in Apricot Nectar, the rose in the picture above, although I may do so today.  I’m surprised that we haven’t had a frost yet.  The valleys on both sides of us have had frost, but so far we’ve been lucky.  I’m not sure how much longer that will last.

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