My World: Hints of Autumn

September 21, 2010

Berries on our dogwood tree, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. September 15, 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.

This has been an exceptionally hot summer here on the Plateau.  The record number of summer days with temperatures over 90° is 78, and we stand at 77 with two more days of summer left and highs around 90 predicted for both days.

But there is hope.  The dogwood tree in our front yard is now sporting berries, a sure sign the autumn is on the way.  The berries are a bright red, and although the leaves are trying to turn, there is now only a hint of color.

Leaves starting to show some color. September 20, 2010.

But hopefully they will turn and give us more color.  And hopefully we will also get some cooler weather in our part of the world.

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Scenic Sunday #114: The Mountains

September 20, 2010

The mountains of western North Carolina, Burnsville, North Carolina. July 11, 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.

Although Betsy and I go to the beach each year, we really like the mountains.  I guess that’s a good thing since we live in eastern Tennessee.  The mountains in the picture above are in western North Carolina.  This picture was taken in July near Burnsville, North Carolina.

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Skywatch Friday: Blue Skies Over the Plateau

September 17, 2010

Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. September 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.

This past Sunday was absolutely beautiful here on the Plateau.  The temperatures were fairly cool, we had gotten some rain on Saturday, and the sky was a gorgeous blue.

When I lived in North Carolina we said this color of sky was Carolina Blue, but I’m not sure if I should use that description here in Tennessee.  On the other hand orange is the color of the University of Tennessee, so perhaps there wouldn’t be a problem.

Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. September 12, 2010.

Every once in a while a small cloud will sail across Sunday’s blue sky.

Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. September 12, 2001.

But most of the time we just enjoyed that brilliant blue above the trees.

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It’s That Time of Year

September 16, 2010

Wood delivered to our house. September 15, 2010.

In her blog Wednesday, Betsy told about the chimney sweep who came to give our chimney its annual cleaning.

Yesterday the reason for needing our chimney cleaned was delivered.  A dump truck dumped a load of firewood in our side yard.  It seems strange that firewood was delivered on the hottest day we’ve had all week, but that’s the way it worked out.  Now I’ll get to keep warm by stacking it.

This is actually wood that we will burn next year.  We purchase our wood a year in an advance so that we can season it and it will burn well.  We do go through quite a bit of firewood each year.  Our fireplace is in the Great Room and puts out enough heat to keep that room nice and toasty even on the coldest nights.

Wood that has been stacked and ready for use this year. September 15, 2010.

The picture above shows our wood pile with the wood we will burn this year.  I’ll have to split some of the thicker pieces so they will burn to the satisfaction of my Beautiful Bride, so this wood will warm me twice — once when I split it and once when I burn it.

Oh, well, Betsy is happy that this wood will keep me out of trouble for a few days at least.

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Watery Wednesday #105: High Falls

September 15, 2010

High Falls, DuPont State Forest, Brevard, North Carolina. May 10, 2009.

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.

DuPont State Forest between Hendersonville and Brevard, North Carolina, is a area of more than 10,000 acres of forest, trails and waterfalls.  Betsy and I have visited DuPont twice and have enjoyed visiting the waterfalls.  There are six major waterfalls in the forest and we have hiked to  four of them.

The picture above was taken in May, 2009, on our way back home from the beach.  High Falls is a steep cascade of about 100 feet.  The structure that can be seen above the falls is a covered bridge over the river.

We’ve enjoyed both of our visits to DuPont State Forest and, since there are still two waterfalls we haven’t seen, the chances are pretty good that we will be going back there.

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My World: Rich Mountain Road

September 14, 2010

The sign at Rich Mountain Road in Cades Cove, Grreat Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. September 9, 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.

As I mentioned yesterday, last week Betsy and I went to the Smokies to drive the Rich Mountain Road.  We enjoy exploring new parts of the Smokies, and this seemed like a great time to go.  The entrance to Rich Mountain Road is in Cades Cove, and we’re always happy to find an excuse to visit that pretty place.

Rich Mountain Road, Smoky Mountains. September 9, 2010.

The road is gravel and closed during the winter, but we had no trouble getting through, other than having to dodge some pot holes.  And although there were no particularly steep grades, we did have quite a few switchbacks, as you can see from the picture above.

Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. September 9, 2010.

One reason for taking this road is that we were told that there were some nice overlooks from which Cades Cove could be seen.  We found one at roadside and stopped to get some pictures.  If you look carefully in the lower left of the picture above, you can almost make out the Methodist Church in Cades Cove, which Betsy blogged about yesterday.

We saw several trail heads along the road, so we’ll get some trail maps before we go back.  Perhaps we’ll find another overlook along one of the trails.  We’ll definitely go back to Rich Mountain Road.

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Our Smokies Adventure

September 13, 2010

The track of our trip to the Smokies. September 9, 2010.

I’ve mentioned our GPS unit several times and have talked about how much we like it.  This past Thursday we got a lesson in how much we rely on it.

Our GPS got recalled by Garmin, and we sent it in to be repaired a couple of weeks ago.  So when we went to the Smokies on Thursday we didn’t have it.  We were going to drive Rich Mountain Road, a road we had never taken before.  But we knew it was a primitive, one-way road out of Cades Cove, a place we’ve visited several times.  The sign at the entrance to the road said it went to Townsend, a place we’ve been to many times, so off we went.  I did have my geotagger with us, but that only showed (after the fact) where we had been, not where we were going.

We had no problems in the park.  After leaving the park the road became paved and two-way.  When we came to a four-way stop, we knew we were back to civilization.

That’s when the fun began.  We came to a ‘T’ intersection with no signs.  We figured we were west of Townsend, so we turned right.  A little later we came to a ‘Y’.  The right branch looked like the main road, so we took it.  We drove along enjoying the scenery — and eventually we arrived back at the four-way stop.

Trying to find our way home. September 9, 2010.

We tried again.  This time we took the left branch at the ‘Y’.  That led to more beautiful scenery — and a dead-end!  We turned around and followed the road in the other direction.  Eventually it led to the highway that got us on our way back home.

After all of this ‘fun’, we were delighted to get home and find a package on our doorstep.  Inside the package was our GPS!  We wasted no time getting it put back into our car.

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Skywatch Friday: A Hint of Rain

September 10, 2010

The skies above Rich Mountain, Townsend, Tennessee. September 9, 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.

The skies in this picture may not look pretty to you, but they look absolutely beautiful to us.

If you’ve followed my posts for any length of time you know that we’ve had a very dry summer here in eastern Tennessee.  We got some rain in the Glade on Wednesday, which was very welcome.  The weather service says that more rain is coming on Friday and Saturday, and we’re looking forward to it.  For once we’re hoping the forecast for rain on the weekend is correct.

The picture above was taken near Townsend, Tennessee near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Betsy and I had taken a drive to the Smokies to visit some areas we hadn’t visited before.  I’ll tell you more about our trip next week.

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Down Memory Lane: Ledford Mill

September 9, 2010

Betsy and I did some waterfalling on Valentine’s Day back in 2009.  We didn’t stray out of our part of Tennessee, but we still saw several new waterfalls.  Two of those waterfalls were at Ledford Mill, in Wartrace (near Tullahoma), Tennessee.

Ledford Mill is a historic  gristmill at the head of Shipman’s Creek.  It was built in 1884 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Several years ago it was converted into a 3-room bread and breakfast.

One of the rooms, the Falls Room, opens to a garden that contains two waterfalls, Ledford Mill Falls and Pond Falls.  While neither waterfall is especially large, the garden is very pleasant.  Although we didn’t spend the night at the mill, the owners graciously allowed us to visit the garden and the waterfalls.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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Watery Wednesday #104: Genesee River

September 8, 2010

Genesee River, Letchworth State Park, New York. August 31, 2002.

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.

I went to my archives to get this picture from Letchworth State Park in New York.  It shows two waterfalls on the Genesee River below the railroad trestle in the background.  Middle Falls is in the foreground, while Upper Falls is partially hidden further upstream.  There is a third waterfall, Lower Falls, which is further downstream behind me as I took this picture.

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