SkyWatch Friday: A Wispy Cloud

June 10, 2011

A wispy cloud in the sky above Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 17, 2010.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

If you watch the skies often enough, you will see all kinds of fascinating things.  I captured this wispy cloud in a brilliant October sky last year.  It wasn’t a part of a larger cloud formation, but just seemed to be suspended in the sky.  I thought it was both interesting and pretty.

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I would like to thank each and every one of you for your kind words and prayers on the passing of my mother.  The funeral was hard for my Dad (he’ll be 99 in August) but he was doing pretty well on Thursday.  The entire family felt surrounded and uplifted by your thoughts and prayers.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Betsy and I are once again taking a blog break.  We’ll be traveling for the rest of the month.  I’m not sure what kind of skies we’ll encounter, but I expect we’ll both come back with plenty of pictures to share.

I’ll see you in July.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 11 Comments »

In Honor and Memory

June 6, 2011

Kay Adams. May 2, 1920 - June 6, 2011.

My mother died this morning at my sister’s home.  She  had been in declining health, but apparently had a massive heart attack and died quickly.  Betsy and I had seen her (and Dad) on Thursday and I talked with her on the phone Saturday.  She sounded very chipper and in good spirits.  She had just had some ice cream before I called, which was her favorite snack.

The feature of Mom that most people commented on was her smile.  When my parents moved to Tennessee, the children in their new neighborhood called her the “Smile Lady”.

Now she’s smiling in heaven — it must be a brighter place today.

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Posted in Family | 32 Comments »

Scenic Sunday: Arkansas Sunrise

June 5, 2011

Sunrise from Sunrise Point, Mount Nebo, Arkansas. December 4, 2008.

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 yard has been keeping me very busy, so I went to the archives for this week’s post.

When we’re on vacation I like to sleep in (in truth I like to sleep in any morning, but that’s another story), but sometimes getting up in the early morning hours is worth the effort.

One such time was when we were at Mount Nebo in Arkansas in  December, 2008.  We got up before sunrise and drove to Sunrise Point to watch the sun come up.  Shortly after we got there we were treated to the scene in the picture above.  The horizon turned a gorgeous orange-gold with the sun beginning to peep above the mountains on the other side of the valley.

Sunrise Point, Mount Nebo, Arkansas. December 4, 2008.

A few minutes later the star-burst and fiery clouds announced the arrival of the sun.

Sunrise Point, Mount Nebo, Arkansas. December 4, 2008.

In another few moments the sun cleared the mountain tops and began its climb into the sky.  That was definitely worth getting up to see.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 13 Comments »

SkyWatch Friday: Cades Cove Sky

June 3, 2011

Cades Cove landscape, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. May 23, 2011.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

Whenever we go to Cades Cove in the Smokies, I have trouble deciding which is most impressive — the mountains or the skies.  When we were there last week I decided that both were magnificent.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 8 Comments »

Cades Cove: The Henry Whitehead Place

June 2, 2011

The Henry Whitehead Place in Cades Cove, Tennessee, showing the original cabin in the back. May 23, 2011.

A visit to Cades Cove can be scenic, interesting and educational all at the same time.  Getting off the beaten path can be fascinating.

Betsy and I came across the Henry Whitehead Place after leaving the Cade Cove Loop Road on our way to Parson Branch Road.  The Henry Whitehead Place is really two structures in one.  The original cabin (on the right in the picture above) was built by the brothers of Matilda Shields Gregory after her husband deserted her and her young son.  Because the brothers needed to get shelter for their sister in a hurry, the cabin they built is one of the roughest in Cades Cove.  The logs were rough-hewn with a felling axe and the stone chimney was made of rubble.

In 1898 Matilda married Henry Whitehead, a widower.  Henry built one of the nicest log homes in the cove.  The home had a brick chimney, which was unheard of at the time because bricks had to be made by hand.  The cabin itself was made of square-sawed logs finished inside to be smooth and attractive.  It was also warm by Cades Cove standards since the square log construction was naturally well insulated by walls approximately four inches thick with practically no space between the logs.

The interior of the Henry Whitehead Place, Cades Cove. May 23, 2011.

Betsy took this interior shot of the new cabin, showing the square-sawed logs forming the wall.

The Henry Whitehead Place, Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. May 23, 2011.

The Henry and Matilda Whitehead place is the only square-sawed log home remaining in Cades Cove.  It is, in fact, the only one left in the entire Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

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Posted in Travels | 17 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #142: West Prong Falls

June 1, 2011

West Prong Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. May 23, 2011.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

West Prong Falls is a small (10 feet) waterfall on the West Prong of Little River in the Smokies.  It is right along the road on the way to Cades Cove, just past the Tremont turnoff.  Betsy and I stop there each time we pass to enjoy the water rushing over the bedrock.  The moss on some of the rocks gives the water a green sheen, and provides a very refreshing stop on a drive through the Smokies.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 11 Comments »

My World: Adventures With Mrs. P

May 31, 2011

Parson Branch Road, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. May 23, 2011.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Last Tuesday Betsy and I took a ride in the Smokies in our Prius, Mrs. P.  One of the seasonal back roads, Parson Branch Road, had recently been opened for the season.  Mrs. P sometimes thinks she is an off-road vehicle and was up to the challenge.

We had to drive through part of Cades Cove to get to Parson Branch Road, but that is always a gorgeous drive.  When we got to the road, we saw a big sign announcing that Parson Branch Road was a ‘primitive’ one-way road and that it would take at least an hour to make the eight miles to US 129.  (I wish I had thought to take a picture of that sign.)  The picture above shows one of the better sections.

We enjoy taking these back roads whenever possible, because they often lead to waterfalls that aren’t listed in any of the books we have.  We did find several waterfalls along Parson Branch Road which I’ll talk about in future posts.  At one point along that eight mile stretch of road I thought Mrs. P might let us down, but she managed to get up a pothole-filled stretch of road (slowly) and had no problems the rest of the way.

Image from the internet.

But our adventure wasn’t over when we reached the paved highway US 129.  We came onto the road along a stretch known as The Tail of the Dragon.  As the poster above states, there are 318 curves in 11 miles of road.  Obviously traffic doesn’t move at interstate speeds along this stretch of road.  It’s a favorite of motorcyclists, however, and people come from all over the country to ride The Tail.

All in all we had a very interesting, adventurous and scenic day in the Smokies.

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Posted in My World | 17 Comments »

Memorial Day

May 30, 2011

The flag in our front yard, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. June 13, 2010.

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 about the beginnings of Memorial Day and it is hard to say where it actually began.  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 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

The first state to officially recognize Memorial Day was New York in 1873.  By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states.  The South refused to acknowledge the holiday until after World War I (when the holiday was changed from honoring just those who died fighting the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).  In 1971 the official date of Memorial Day was set by act of Congress as the last Monday in May.

For most Americans Memorial Day is celebrated as the unofficial start of summer.  The original meaning of the day has almost been forgotten.  But please, as you enjoy the holiday, take a moment to remember those who made it possible for us to enjoy it.

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Posted in American Life | 13 Comments »

SkyWatch Friday: Approaching Storm

May 27, 2011

A storm approaching the island of Bali. June, 1987.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

I went to my archives to get this picture of an afternoon storm approaching the island of Bali.  You can see some sail boats at the extreme right of the photo — they were hurrying to the beach before the storm hit.

The picture above was scanned from a slide.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 17 Comments »

Down Memory Lane: The Blue Ridge Parkway

May 26, 2011

In October, 2009, Betsy and I took the scenic route home from Maggie Valley, North Carolina, by taking the Blue Ridge Parkway from Maggie Valley to its southern terminus in the Smokies.  Although we were a little late to see the best of the autumn colors, the mountains were still a glorious sight, which we thoroughly enjoyed, stopping at just about every overlook on our way.

To see larger versions of these pictures and others, click HERE.

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Posted in Travels | 22 Comments »

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