Spring Color

April 12, 2010

Dad Adams Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 4, 2010.

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon was absolutely gorgeous here on the Plateau and both Betsy and I spent as much time outside as we could.  Fortunately there is always something that needs to be done around the yard, so we have plenty of excuses for being out.

We have alot of color in our yard now and it is not only daffodils.  I think the flower up above is a narcissus, but since my Dad gave them to us when we moved up here, we usually call them Dad Adams Daffodils.

Red Rocket Hyacinth, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 4, 2010.

We have not had a great deal of success with hyacinths.  They never seem to do as well after the first year.  However we did have a few pop up and bloom.  They may not look all that wonderful, but they still have a nice fragrance.

Life's a Cabernet Tulip, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 4, 2010.

We’ve been very fortunate with our tulips so far this year.  The bright tulip above is Life’s a Cabernet, which is new.  It is multi-colored, but red predominates.

Halley's Comet Tulip, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 7, 2010.

I think my favorite new tulip is Halley’s Comet.  I got this picture early one morning before the sun caused them to open completely.

With all this beauty around us I guess you can understand why we enjoy spending so much time out in the yard.

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Posted in Garden | 17 Comments »

Scenic Sunday #91: Dunes

April 11, 2010

Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. May 4, 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.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is a popular beach destination for people living in our part of Tennessee.  It has beautiful beaches and lots of attractions for tourists, so it also has many people on the beach just about any time of the year.

Betsy and I go to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, which is a few miles north of Myrtle Beach.  There aren’t as many people on the beach, but the beach is still beautiful and is backed by dunes that are very scenic in their own right.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 8 Comments »

Remembering South Carolina Waterfalls

April 10, 2010

Waterfalls visited on our way to the beach. May, 2009.

Since we got some rain on Thursday, I was able to get some work done on my pictures and worked with a folder of pictures taken last year on our way to the beach.  When Betsy and I travel we try to arrange our trip so that we can take a break by visiting some waterfalls along the way.  This is a great plan as long as we’re traveling through an area where there are waterfalls!.

Fortunately we have to travel through mountains to get from our house to the beach.  Last year we made a couple of stops near Westminster, South Carolina.  We had to do some bushwhacking to see Fall Creek Falls and Upper Fall Creek Falls.  The trail along Brasstown Creek was better defined and led to three waterfalls, although we did have to do some creek hopping to visit a fourth.

There’s something magical about seeing waterfalls one day and the ocean the next.  We’ll be doing it again in a few weeks.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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Posted in Waterfalls | 13 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: Smokies Sky

April 9, 2010

Cheoah Lake, Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina. October 13, 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.

I’ve been working in the yard this week and neglected to get any pictures of our beautiful skies.  But I found this picture in my archives that shows the sky and clouds very similar to what we’ve been enjoying.  This picture was taken this past October at an overlook above Cheoah Lake in the Smokies.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 13 Comments »

More Daffodils

April 8, 2010

Las Vegas Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 5, 2010.

We’ve been blessed with bright sunshine and warm temperatures for several days now.  It’s been great to be able to work out in the yard and to see things blooming again.

Our tulips are starting to bloom, but I haven’t gotten any of those pictures organized.    But we’re still enjoying our daffodils as well.  When I posted some daffodil pictures a few days ago, someone mentioned that they thought daffodils were always yellow.  So I thought I would share a couple more ‘different’ daffodils today.

The daffodil above is Las Vegas.  We’ve had it in our yard for a couple of years now.  Although the trumpet is yellow the petals are a beautiful white.

Pink Charm Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 4, 2010.

This second daffodil is new for us this year.  It’s called Pink Charm.  It also has white petals, but the end of the trumpet is supposed to be pink.  I say ‘supposed to be’ because in our soil these daffodils look as orange as they does pink.  But we like them anyway.

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Posted in Garden | 11 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #82: L’Eau d’Or Falls

April 7, 2010

L'Eau d'Or Falls, Tallulah Gorge State Park, Georgia. October 14, 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.

L’Eau d’Or (Water of Gold) Falls is another of the major waterfalls in Tallulah Gorge State Park in Georgia.  This waterfall can be viewed from the North Rim Trail.  I took this picture on a cloudy, rainy day, so there is not much ‘gold’ in the water.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 15 Comments »

My World: Spring Has Arrived

April 6, 2010

Breck's Colossal Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 31, 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.

First of all, I hope you all had as wonderful an Easter weekend as we did.  Easter services are a joyous celebration and family and beautiful weather just made everything special.

I’m happy to report that Spring has arrived on the Plateau.  In a few short days we’ve gone from practically no signs of Spring to green grass, beautiful white Bradford Pears, yellow forsythia, daffodils and even tulips in bloom.

In addition to working in the yard I’ve been experimenting with my new camera with the macro lens.  It’s certainly different from a point-and-shoot, but I’m enjoying learning how to use my new toy.  I hope you’ll enjoy my experiments.

Our first daffodil to bloom was the big yellow daffodil, Breck’s Colossal, shown in the picture above.    We’ve got them in several places in the yard.

Replete Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 2, 2010.

This double daffodil, Replete, is another blossom we’ve been enjoying.  I’m sure I’ll have more pictures to share in the future.

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Posted in My World | 15 Comments »

Happy Easter

April 3, 2010

Bob and Kelly on Easter Sunday, 1977. Black Mountain, North Carolina.

The picture above is not very good — it’s a copy of an old photograph that I came across recently.  It shows my son and daughter showing off their Easter eggs behind our home on Easter Sunday in 1977.  Bob was eight years old and Kelly was five.  We had come home from church and they were looking for the eggs the Easter bunny had hidden in the yard.

We were living in Black Mountain, North Carolina, at the time.  I was teaching mathematics at what was then Montreat-Anderson College in Montreat, North Carolina, only a couple of miles up the road.  Our house was small, but it had a big back  yard for the kids to play in.

Betsy and I are taking off a couple of days off to enjoy Easter with family.  I expect us to be out of pocket until Monday evening, so my next post will probably be Tuesday morning.  But I hope all of you have a blessed and joyous Easter.  I hope the weekend will bring all of you many happy memories.

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Posted in Family | 16 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: We Found Spring

April 2, 2010

Blue Sky and Bradford Pears, Hendersonville, Tennessee.

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.

Yesterday Betsy and I went to Hendersonville to see my parents.  They are about as good as can be expected and we had a nice visit with them.

But in addition to seeing my parents, we also found Spring!  We live on the Plateau here in Tennessee while Hendersonville is in the ‘Nashville Bowl’.  What that means is that our house is about 1500 feet higher than my parents house.

When we left yesterday morning there were no Bradford Pears blooming here in the Glade and the Forsythia was just starting to bud out.  By the time we got off the Plateau we were seeing Bradford Pear trees in bloom all over the place.  We were also seeing blue skies, as in the photo above.

Forsythia, Hendersonville, Tennessee.

We also found Forsythia in bloom.  What a difference 1500 feet can make!

Our Prius is not a large car, but we did our best to bring Spring back up the Plateau with us.  I can hardly wait to see what today brings!

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Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments »

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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Posted in Glade | 12 Comments »

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