Posts Tagged ‘Tennessee’

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My World: I Promised Her a Rose Garden

May 17, 2011

Roses in front of our house, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. May 13, 2011.

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.

I promised Betsy a rose garden about five years ago, when my job ended and I retired.  That first year we planted some roses in a flower bed we had built at the side of the house.  It quickly became apparent that that location was too shady for roses, and so we built new flower beds in front of the house, which is the sunniest part of our yard.

The picture above, which Betsy took on Friday, shows how well I’ve kept my promise.  You can see three rose beds (one near the road in the foreground, and one on each side of the driveway near the house.  In addition we have roses in containers along the sides of the driveway.

We have a total of 57 rose bushes — 55 different varieties.  All are hybrid teas or grandifloras.  We have roses of just about every color imaginable, and many of are also fragrant.  A beautiful rose that has a delightful fragrance is about as perfect as anything can be.

Crescendo Rose, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. May 14, 2011.

The rose above, Crescendo, is one of our new roses for this year.  The light wasn’t very good (it had been raining) when I took this picture on Saturday, but I couldn’t resist the temptation to snap away.

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Posted in My World | 17 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #137: Piney Falls

April 27, 2011

Piney Falls, Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee. April 21, 2011.

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.

Piney Falls is a beautiful waterfall in Fall Creek Falls State Park here in Tennessee.  Unfortunately the waterfall is practically inaccessible.  This photo was taken with my long lens from the overlook about half a mile away.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 13 Comments »

Scenic Sunday: Back to the Beginning

April 24, 2011

Fall Creek Falls, Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee. April 21, 2011.

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.

This past Thursday Betsy and I went to Fall Creek Falls State Park here in Tennessee.  Fall Creek Falls is one of our favorite places to visit.  We had our first ‘big’ date there on April 21, 2001, and we’ve gotten back there on the anniversary just about every year since.  The picture above shows Fall Creek Falls, one of six waterfalls in the park.

Betsy and George at Cane Creek Cascade, Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee. April 21, 2011.

It was this first date that got us started ‘collecting’ waterfalls.  We’ve visited over 430 different waterfalls in the past ten years.

I also got my first kiss on that day — a tradition that I’ve happily continued.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 16 Comments »

Dogwood Winter

April 14, 2011

Dogwood blossoms, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 12, 2011.

Last weekend we had near-record high temperatures.  The temperature Friday was over 80°, which is more like the highs in July rather than April.  Monday and Tuesday we had the heat on and a fire in the fireplace.

Such is Dogwood Winter.  Dogwood Winter is a cold spell following warm weather that occurs as the dogwood trees are blooming.  Our dogwood tree is in fact blooming as you can see from the photo above.  We can only hope that Dogwood  Winter is nice and short.

Dogwood blossom, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 21, 2011.

The blossoms of the dogwood tree are in fact very beautiful.  It’s a shame that the name of this pretty tree got associated with a stretch of cold weather.

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Posted in Glade | 17 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #135: Threads of Water

April 13, 2011

Cascade near Big Branch Falls, Erwin, Tennessee. December 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.

The lighting wasn’t the greatest, but I like the way the water flowed over and around rocks at Big Branch Falls near Erwin, Tennessee.  A slow shutter speed created threads of water flowing down the hill.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 22 Comments »

My World: Spring Blossoms

April 12, 2011

Pink Charm daffodils, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 23, 2011.

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 enjoyed some beautiful weather since we got back from Arkansas, and our yard has responded by putting on a show.  Most of the daffodils are now gone, but they were pretty while they lasted.  The daffodils above are Pink Charm.

Shrike Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 23, 2011.

We did have some new daffodils this year, including Shrike.  I have no idea how it got that name, but it sure is pretty.

Red Dynasty tulips, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 7, 2011.

The only good thing about the daffodils starting to fade away is that the tulips begin to take center stage.  These Red Dynasty tulips are in the new flower bed in front of the house.

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The doctor visit went about as well as can be expected.  The disc problems are pinching the nerves leading to my legs.  Surgery is the only ‘cure’, but it should be viewed as a last resort.  For now medication is controlling the pain, so I’m going to continue doing my ‘things’ as long as I can.  Thanks for those prayers and good thoughts.

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Posted in My World | 19 Comments »

SkyWatch Friday: Spring-Time Evening Sky

March 25, 2011

The evening sky in Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 18, 2011.

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.

Everything in Spring seems bright and beautiful.  Last Saturday evening we were walking on the golf course behind our house at sunset.  The sun was dropping below the Plateau, and the eastern sky was turning dark.  But the sun was still hitting some of the clouds in the western sky.  All in all it was a beautiful evening.

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Betsy and I will be taking a blog break for about a week.  I’ll be back about April 4, the yard willing.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 14 Comments »

It’s Beginning to Look Like Spring

March 24, 2011

Fortissimo Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 20, 2011.

It’s beginning to look more and more like Spring on the Cumberland Plateau.  We’ve enjoyed some beautiful weather over the past few days, and flowers are beginning to bloom profusely.

We’ve had some yellow daffodils blooming for several days, but now some of our other daffodils are blooming as well.  The daffodil above is Fortissimo.  The petals are yellow, but the trumpet is orange.  It’s a fairly large blossom.

Chromacolor Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 21, 2011.

Chromacolor also has an orange trumpet, but it is much shorter than the one on Fortissimo.  Chromacolor’s petals are a showy white.  Both of these daffodils happily proclaim that Spring has sprung!

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Posted in Garden | 19 Comments »

My World: Yard Work Keeping Me Busy

March 22, 2011

Our new rose bed. Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 19, 2011.

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.

Spring has come to  the Plateau, and that means that there is more work to be done in the yard.  I finished up one big project — rebuilding our biggest rose bed.  Hopefully the new bed will allow me provide a better growing environment for the roses this year.

Speaking of roses, the weather has been so nice that all of the bushes are showing new growth, so I have been uncovering them.  I should have them all uncovered in the next day or so.  The container roses were growing so much in the garage that I’ve already moved them outside.

Periwinkle Bed, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 19, 2011.

Fortunately not everything in the yard has involved hard work this Spring.  The periwinkle that we have growing in the rocky areas where grass won’t grow is putting on a beautiful display.  Later in the year I’ll have to worry about keeping it in its bed, but right now I can simply enjoy.

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Posted in My World | 19 Comments »

My World: Did I Say We Needed Rain?

March 1, 2011

Waterfall and river behind our house, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. February 28, 2011.

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.

I don’t need to tell most of you that this has been a very strange year as far as the weather is concerned.  We had snow and ice in December and January, followed by cold weather and some snow in February.  One thing that we haven’t gotten is rain.  We were almost three inches below the normal amount going into the last week of February.

All of that changed Sunday night and Monday.  It rained and it rained and it rained.  The picture above was taken from the deck in the back of our house and shows the fairway about noon on Monday.  I don’t think there were any golfers out.

This picture, also taken from the deck, shows the rough behind our house.  It looks like it was trying to become a lake.

The situation was about the same in front of the house.  I haven’t heard yet how much rain we actually got, but I’m confident that it went quite a way toward eliminating the deficit.

 

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Posted in My World | 19 Comments »

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