Happy Thanksgiving

November 24, 2010

At this time of Thanksgiving, Betsy and I have so very much for which to be thankful.  I’ve pictured just a few of them in the collage above.

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Let us give thanks to God our Father for all his gifts so freely bestowed upon us.

For the beauty and wonder of your creation, in earth and sky and sea,
We thank you, Lord.

For all that is gracious in the lives of men and women, revealing the image of Christ,
We thank you, Lord.

For our daily food and drink, our homes and families, and our friends,
We thank you, Lord.

For minds to think, and hearts to love, and hands to serve,
We thank you, Lord.

For health and strength to work, and leisure to rest and play,
We thank you, Lord.

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Betsy and I hope all of you have a happy, blessed and safe Thanksgiving.

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Posted in American Life | 22 Comments »

My World: The End of Autumn Color

November 23, 2010

Our front yard, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. November 20, 2010.

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.

The autumn colors are just about gone here on the Plateau.  As the picture above shows, the trees around our house are mostly bare.  Betsy and I worked hard on picking up leaves Friday and Saturday, so the yard looks pretty good right now.  Of course, if the wind blows from the wrong direction, the leaves in the vacant lots will be in our yard.  Oh, well, we’ll just enjoy how good it looks as long as we can.

 

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Posted in My World | 17 Comments »

Is This a Blue Moon?

November 22, 2010

Full Moon over Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. November 21, 2010.

Sunday evening’s full moon is the first in November, so most people would say that it is not a blue moon.  A full moon is considered to be a blue moon when it is the second full moon of the month.

BUT . . .  This definition of a blue moon came about in 1943 in an article written for Sky & Telescope magazine.  Prior to that, according to an article written in 1937 for Maine Farmers’ Almanac, a blue moon was the third of four full moons in a season.

Names were assigned to each moon in a season:  For example, the first moon of summer was called the early summer moon, the second was the midsummer moon, and the last was called the late summer moon.

Seven times in 19 years there are 13 full moons in a calendar year, which means that one season that year has four full moons.  When a particular season has four full moons, the third was called a blue moon so that the fourth and final one could continue to be called the late moon.

The full moon on November 21 was the third of the autumn season this year — the first two were September 23 and October 22.  The fourth full moon of autumn in 2010 will occur 2:13 a.m. CST on December 21, 15 hours and 25 minutes before the solstice and the arrival of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.  So according to the Maine Almanac rule, the third full moon of the 2010 fall season on November 21 was a blue moon.

I don’t know if this should be called a blue moon or not.  All I know is that it was beautiful.

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Posted in American Life | 17 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: November Sunrise

November 19, 2010

Early morning in the Glade. November 12, 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.

Last week we had to get up earlier than usual so Betsy could keep an appointment to get her hair cut.  When I went to the car with her to see her off, I noticed this beautiful sky.  Of course I had to grab my camera and take a picture.

The picture above was taken from the street in front of our house, as you could probably guess from the power lines.  But the color was so nice that I’m posting it anyway.

Morning sky from the golf course behind our house, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. November 12, 2010.

I then went out onto the golf course in back of the house, where I didn’t have to worry about power lines.  The color of the sky was a little different, but the contrails (or clouds) were still very pretty.

Fairfield Glade sky. November 12, 2010.

I took this final picture a few moments later, just before the sun popped over the ridge to the east of our house.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 24 Comments »

Down Memory Lane: Two Room Schools

November 18, 2010

Beech Grove School, Cataloochee Valley, North Carolina. October 20, 2010.

When Betsy and I visited Cataloochee Valley with our friends Patti and Neal, we stopped by Beech Grove School.  Beech Grove School is a two room school built in 1901.  It is the only one of three schools in the valley that still remains.

Visiting this school brought back memories for me.  I attended two-room schools for the first eight grade.  Washington School was for grades 1 through 4, and Riley School was for grades 5 through 8.

In both schools had two teachers, each with her own room.  Each room had two classes.  One class worked while the teacher taught the other class, and then the classes switched roles.

As a child I liked that system.  I was always an avid reader, so when I was in the lower grade, I got to read with the class ahead of me.  When in the higher grade, I got to do free reading while the rest of my class studied reading.

The same situation applied to arithmetic.  I got to study arithmetic with the upper class when I was in the lower class and I tutored students in the lower class when I was in the upper class.

Desks in Beech Grove School, Cataloochee Valley, North Carolina. October 20, 2010.

The desks at Washington School were very similar to these in Beech Grove School shown in the picture above.  Riley School has been demolished, and Washington School has been converted into a private residence.  But I do have happy memories of both of those schools.

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Posted in American Life | 12 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #114: Our Cascade

November 17, 2010

Water flowing down the ditch in front of our front yard wall. Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. November 17, 2010.

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.

This little cascade doesn’t seem like much, but it was a very welcome sight for us.  We’ve had a very dry summer here on the Plateau, but it finally started to rain Monday.  We never had a real hard downpour, but it did rain fairly steadily through Tuesday afternoon.  When I went out Tuesday morning I saw water coming down this little drainage ditch in front of the wall we built last year.

This was the first time since early Spring that we had water going down ‘our’ cascade.  That’s why the sight is so welcome to us.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 15 Comments »

My World: Red Maples

November 16, 2010

Leaves of a Red Maple in our front yard, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. November 4, 2010.

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.

We’ve had a couple of days of cool, rainy days, and most of the leaves are off the trees in our yard.  Of course, that means there are a lot of leaves on the ground, but that’s a job for a drier day.

A maple tree in our front yard was among the last trees to hold onto its leaves.  The utility company did a pretty good job of mutilating the tree a couple of years ago, but the surviving branches still held some pretty autumn color.

These pictures were taken about a week ago.

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Posted in My World | 15 Comments »

Family Day

November 15, 2010

My daughter and her husband, Hendersonville, Tennessee. November 11, 2010.

This past Thursday Betsy and I went to Hendersonville to see and help out  my parents.  Mom and Dad are doing about as well as can be expected.  We were able to help them with some odd jobs around the house and with their grocery shopping.  They were in pretty good spirits, which is always encouraging.

An added bonus for the day was that we were able to have lunch with my daughter and her husband.  They were in Nashville on business and made time to have lunch with us in Hendersonville.  We had a delicious lunch of seafood and lots of nice conversation.  So in spite of the long drive to Hendersonville and back it was a wonderful day.

 

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Posted in Family | 19 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: Morning Clouds over the Atlantic

November 12, 2010

Morning clouds over the Atlantic, Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

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.

On Wednesday I posted a picture taken looking out to sea from Ormond Beach, Florida (that picture can be seen by clicking HERE). I posted that picture because of the golden pink color of the water as the sun came up.

Turning to my right while on the balcony and looking down the beach, I got this picture.  I like the color of the clouds in this view.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 17 Comments »

Down Memory Lane: A Cabin in the Mountains

November 11, 2010

In May of last year our friends Judy and Charlie invited us to spend a couple of days with them at their cabin near Otto, North Carolina.  We’ve known Judy and Charlie for several years and enjoy their company.

Their cabin is a vacation hideaway in the mountains of western North Carolina.  The deck of the cabin is a perfect place for sitting and talking or just sitting and enjoying the mountain views.

One advantage of a May visit was that the mountain laurel was in bloom.  The cabin is one of only a few on the side of the mountain, so there are many mountain laurels along the road.  Walking along the road was a visual delight for more than the mountain views.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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Posted in Travels | 13 Comments »

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