Posts Tagged ‘Glade’

My World: Last Roses of Summer?

November 9, 2010

Roses brought in before an anticipated frost, 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.

It’s that time of the year.  Last week we were warned about low temperatures and freezing over the weekend.  We still had roses blooming and we wanted to keep as many of the blossoms as we could.  So Betsy gathered all the vases she could, and I gathered all the blossoms and buds about to open that I could find.

I brought in 40 buds and blossoms, which we put in the vases as you can see above.  Betsy put the vases in various places around the house and not only did they look good, several were also fragrant.

We had three nights of temperatures in the 20s, but no frost.  All the rose bushes seem to be doing fine.  And the temperatures are supposed to stay above freezing for the rest of the week.  I may be able to bring in some more ‘last roses’ by the weekend.

My World: The Second Time Around

November 2, 2010

South Sea Daylily, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 2, 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’re being threatened with freezing temperatures over the weekend, but in the meantime we’re enjoying some of our flowers that are blooming for the second time this year.  We have daylilies and irises that bloom in both Spring and Autumn.

Our South Sea daylily (pictured above) started blooming again in early October.

Hemstitched Iris, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 23, 2010.

We currently  have two irises in bloom.  Hemstitched (I have no idea where that name came from) started blooming again about ten days ago.

Floor Show Iris, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 27, 2010.

The other blooming iris is Floor Show.  I’m guessing that it got that name because it is quite showy.

Most of our roses are continuing to bloom as well.  You are welcome to stop by and enjoy the flowers in our yard, but it looks as if you need to get here before the weekend.

Lake Glastowbury

October 18, 2010

Lake Glastowbury, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 14, 2010.

Last Thursday Betsy and I drove to the Foothills Parkway on the edge of the Smokies looking for autumn color.  But we found some pretty autumn color even before leaving the Glade.

We decided to take the back way from home to avoid some of the traffic and crossed the dam forming Lake Glastowbury, which is about two miles from our house.

Lake Glastowbury is one of eleven man-made lakes in Fairfield Glade.  While Glastowbury is not the largest, it is a pretty lake.  Most of the homes along the lake are on wooded lots, so it’s easy to imagine being out in the country.

The view as we crossed the dam was so pretty that we took advantage of a pullout and stopped to get some pictures.

Autumn colors on Lake Glastowbury, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 14, 2010.

It’s really nice to have such wonderful autumn color in our ‘hometown’.

 

Skywatch Friday: Autumn Sky, Autumn Color

October 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.

Although we had some clouds and a few drops of rain on Tuesday night and Wednesday, most of the week has given us more brilliant blue skies.  We are also getting some autumn color, so I thought I would share a couple of sky views from our yard with some trees showing their colors.

 

********************

Yesterday Betsy and I drove along the Foothills Parkway between Knoxville and  the Smokies.  It was a beautiful, clear day, and we took many pictures, as you can imagine.  We’ll be sharing some of those with you in the days ahead.

My World: Deer at Noon

October 12, 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 often see deer on the golf course behind our house in the late afternoon, but on Sunday we saw a mother and three fawns out at noon, which is very unusual.
Both Betsy and I went out to the deck to take some pictures.  Mama Deer kept an eye on us, as you can see from the picture above.

The two largest fawns were enjoying the grass not too far away.


The smallest fawn stayed close to Mama.  All we could see of it here was its legs and ears.


All three fawns decided they needed some liquid refreshment after their grass lunch.  Mama doesn’t look too thrilled at the prospect.


I got a final family portrait before all of the deer disappeared between two houses further up the course.

Skywatch Friday: Autumn Skies

October 8, 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.

Tuesday, while getting the pictures I used in yesterday’s post, I also experimented with using manual settings on the camera to get pictures of the white clouds in our beautiful blue sky.

We need rain, so I would have been delighted to see some dark rain clouds up there in the sky.  But since we had a bright beautiful day, I was happy with the way these pictures turned out.

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.

Watery Wednesday #108: Lake Canterbury

October 6, 2010

Lake Canterbury, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 18, 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.

Fairfield Glade has even more lakes (all man-made) than golf courses.  We’re just starting to get touches of autumn color this year.  This picture of Lake Canterbury was taken last year.

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.

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.