Posts Tagged ‘Glade’

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Tennessee Weather

February 19, 2009
Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. February 18, 2009.

Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. February 18, 2009.

Mother Nature put on quite a show here in the Glade yesterday.  We had rain when Betsy and I made our weekly run to the grocery stores in the morning.  The rain was steady, but not too hard.  However, shortly after we got home, the sky got darker and the tornado-warning sirens went off.  A few minutes later it started to rain and hail.  That’s when I took the picture above from our small front porch.

I stayed on the porch for a few minutes to watch the rain and hail and to see if the water was washing away parts of the rose beds (it wasn’t).   The hail seemed to come in waves — lots of hail for a minute, no hail at all, and then lots of hail again.  As is usually the case, the hail was mostly small pieces of ice — less than about a quarter-inch in size.

A large piece of hail. February 18, 2009.

A large piece of hail. February 18, 2009.

I was about to go back into the house when I heard a ‘thud’ above my head and this large chunk of ice (right) bounced off the roof and landed on the driveway.  I was quite surprised by the size and by the fact that I only saw one piece ice that large.

I was also very glad that I had a roof over my head at that moment!

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Posted in Weather | 26 Comments »

It’s Been Cold Here

February 7, 2009
Mirror Lake, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. February 6, 2009.

Mirror Lake, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. February 6, 2009.

Friday brought us something we haven’t seen in a while — blue skies and warm temperatures.  It actually got up to about 55° and it is supposed to be even warmer today.  Thursday was the first day in quite some time that we didn’t have a fire in the fireplace.

I did a little maintenance in the yard, but it was still fairly wet and muddy so I soon quit.  But since it was such a beautiful day I wasn’t ready to go in, so I took a walk on the other side of the golf course, something I haven’t done in several weeks.

When I got to Mirror Lake I was surprised to see that there was still a thin covering of ice at the end away from the fountain.  You can see the geese are also all down at that end (the picture above can be enlarged by clicking on it).  I’ve only seen the lake frozen a couple of times in the five years we’ve lived here.  I didn’t even imagine that there would still be ice, but there it is.

It dropped below freezing again when the sun went down, but since it’s supposed to be warm again tomorrow I doubt there will be any ice by the afternoon.  I’ll have to admit that the sheen of ice looked pretty in the late afternoon light, but I won’t be angry if that’s the last ice I see this winter!

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Posted in Weather | 26 Comments »

Thoughts of Spring

February 5, 2009
Rio Samba rose in our garden.

Rio Samba rose in our garden.

Betsy and I woke up Wednesday morning to snow and 13° temperatures.  As if that wasn’t bad enough I had to carry wood from the wood pile to the garage since we’ve been going through the wood so fast.

I’m happy to say that we both made it through the day, but I did get to thinking about Spring.  Warm weather . . . green grass . . . flowers!

When we think of flowers Betsy and I most often think of roses.  We’re both a little nuts when it comes to roses — we like them and are always looking for ways to fit just one more rose into our garden.

There are two main attributes of the roses we grow — fragrance and color.  Sometimes we can get both attributes in a single rose such as Double Delight.  At other times we have to settle for one attribute or the other.

Betsy tends to like red roses with large blossoms — Mister Lincoln and Veterans Honor are two of her favorites.  I tend to have many different ‘favorites’ — on any given day my favorite is the rose with the buds that just opened.

The rose above is Rio Samba.  It’s not very fragrant, but it does has some beautiful color.  We added this rose to our garden in 2006, and I can hardly wait to see it again in 2009.

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Posted in Garden | 39 Comments »

Watery Wednesday # 21

February 3, 2009
Pond along the fourth hole of the Druid Hills Golf Course.

Pond along the fourth hole of the Druid Hills Golf Course.

We had some snow here in the Glade on Monday.  It wasn’t a lot, but it was Betsy’s favorite type of snow — wet, big flakes that stick to everything except the roads.  The trees and bushes in our yard and along the street.

The picture above, which can be enlarged by clicking on it, gives a good idea of what things looked like around here.  This is another picture from the Druid Hills golf course, but this is on the front nine, which I don’t visit quite as often.

I don’t appreciate snow as much as Betsy does, but I have to admit that walking in a snow like this is a peaceful experience.  It’s a wonderful way to appreciate the beauty of our world.

To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to post your own pictures, click HERE for Watery Wednesday.

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Posted in Glade | 40 Comments »

My World # 16

February 2, 2009
A woodpecker buffet in the Glade. January 31, 2009.

A woodpecker buffet in the Glade. January 31, 2009.

I think there may be woodpeckers in my world — or at least very close to my world.

I took the above picture Saturday (the picture can be enlarged by clicking on it).  I was carrying wood from the woodpile to the garage when I noticed this tree on the property line between our house and the empty lot next door.  I just had to get a picture.  I apologize for the perspective, but I wanted to shoot at such an angle that you could see the hole that went all the way through the tree.

As you can see there has been quite a bit of damage done to this old tree.  I know we have quite a few different types of woodpeckers around the house — red-bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, northern flickers, red-headed woodpeckers and HUGE pileated woodpeckers.

We live in a wood frame house.  This is as close to my world as I want those woodpeckers to get!

To see more of our wonderful world, or to join in the fun and post your own pictures of your world, click HERE.

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Posted in Glade | 44 Comments »

Skywatch Friday # 29

January 29, 2009
A Glade Sunset. January 18, 2009.

A Glade Sunset. January 18, 2009.

The picture above, which can be enlarged by clicking on it, was taken from my favorite point  on the Druid Hills golf course for viewing the setting sun.

I got there a little later than I had planned, and the sun had already dropped below the ridge line.  I was a little disappointed, but stayed to get a few shots of the sky.  As it got darker , the light reflecting off the clouds got redder and redder until I got the rose color in the picture above.

I’m sorry that the picture is a little dark, but I didn’t want to try any editing.  What you see is what came out of the camera.

To see more beautiful sky pictures from around the world, or to join in the fun and post your own picture on Skywatch Friday, click HERE.

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Posted in Glade | 49 Comments »

Our Woodpile is Shrinking

January 22, 2009

woodpile01

Our woodpile is shrinking.

This cold snap, and an earlier one in November, have put a dent in our woodpile as you can see from the picture above.

We usually have a fire in the fireplace when the temperature drops below 40°.  We have a fire because a certain blonde in my life likes fireplace fires and also because it helps warm the house.  In the past we’ve had fires mostly in the evenings while watching TV, but it’s been so cold for the past week that we’ve tried to keep the fire going through the night.  I’m not sure if it will help us make up for TVA’s rate hikes, but the heat usually comes on only in the early morning about dawn.  When we get up we get the fire going good again and the heat usually goes off for the rest of the day.

We get our wood cut to length, but I usually split some of the bigger pieces.  That gives me something to do during the day.  I can get even more exercise by carrying the wood from the woodpile to the garage.

We try to maintain a two-year supply of wood so that it has plenty of time to age before we burn it.  So although this year’s pile is dwindling, we still have plenty of wood.  But in spite of that I sure would like things to warm up.

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Posted in Home | 25 Comments »

Watery Wednesday # 19

January 20, 2009
The 14th fairway of Druid Hills. February, 2006.

The 14th fairway of Druid Hills. February, 2006.

We finally got some snow here in the Glade — not much, but enough to give us a white coating.

The picture above (which can be enlarged by clicking on it) was taken in 2006, but it is representative of the way things looked yesterday and today.  The picture was taken on the 14th fairway of the Druid Hills golf course.  (I wonder how many golf balls are at the bottom of that pond?)

I like this picture because of the gray skies, the white coating of snow, the bare trees, the dark waters and the reflection in the water.  All in all it does a pretty good job of showing why we think the Glade is beautiful any time of the year.

To see more of our watery world, check out the Watery Wednesday meme by clicking HERE.

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Posted in Glade | 36 Comments »

My World # 14

January 19, 2009
Our roses in the snow. January 19, 2008.

Our roses in the snow. January 19, 2009.

This is my posting for the My World meme, which last week had 102 people sharing their worlds with us. To join in, click HERE.

As most of you know, my beautiful bride loves snow.  She has been disappointed by the lack of snow this winter.  But we finally got some during the day on Monday, as you can see from the picture above.  So Betsy is now feeling a little happier, although she’s hoping for an additional 3 or 4 inches!

I have to admit that I’m not as enthusiastic about the snow as Betsy is.  The picture also shows a part of one of our rose beds, and the roses sure do look cold.  I want to see them green and in bloom!

Snow on our jasmine bush. January 19, 2009.

Snow on our jasmine bush. January 19, 2009.

I know Betsy would like to have more snow, so I tried to make it look as if we had more snow than we actually did by taking this close up of snow on the jasmine bush.

My world this week was gray, cloudy and cold.  I’m hoping it will be brighter, sunnier and warmer next week!

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Posted in Home | 46 Comments »

A Glimpse of Spring on a Gloomy Winter Day

January 11, 2009

jacksonperkins

Yesterday was another gray, rainy day here in the Glade.  We had to go out to run a couple of errands, but mostly we stayed in and listened to the rain on the roof.

Fortunately we had a sure cure for a dreary winter day — the garden catalog.  When I was growing up in northern Indiana the winters were rougher than they are here in Tennessee and the garden catalogs were a welcome sign that Spring would eventually arrive.  I grew up on a small farm and we had a fairly large garden.  Mom and Dad would let my brother and me each pick out something to plant.  Oh, how we looked forward to those catalogs.

The garden catalog that brightened our day was the rose catalog from Jackson & Perkins.  J&P always has a beautiful catalog, not to mention beautiful roses.

Although I now get roses from a couple of different sources, I’ve grown Jackson & Perkins roses for over 30 years.  When I lived in North Carolina and Ohio I even grew test roses for J&P, which was a very interesting undertaking.  I would get roses to plant having no idea what they would look like.

I don’t do that any more, but I do still grow roses and wish that I had more room for them.  And I still look through the rose catalogs from cover to cover.

We learned about two new Jackson & Perkins roses last October and I convinced Betsy that we had room for both of them.  But in looking through the catalog yesterday I discovered FOUR new roses that I had never heard about before.

Betsy — we need a larger lot!!!

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Posted in Garden | 21 Comments »

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