Posts Tagged ‘Tennessee’

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Watery Wednesday # 64: Millstone Creek Falls

December 2, 2009

Millstone Creek Falls, Erwin, Tennessee. November 27, 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.

Betsy and I spent most of Thanksgiving weekend visiting waterfalls in Northeast Tennessee.  Most of them were fairly small, but pretty nonetheless.

Millstone Creek Falls is on undeveloped private property, but the owners allow visitors to the falls.  The owners’ home is on the adjacent lot and the house has a beautiful view of the falls.  But we enjoyed our short hike through the woods to this view of the falls.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 7 Comments »

A Reason To Be Thankful

November 30, 2009

Wild turkeys on Bays Mountain, Kingsport, Tennessee. November 26, 2009.

After a delicious Thanksgiving dinner of turkey and all the trimmings, Betsy and I took our friend Reida for a drive to visit a waterfall and to see some of the other sights in the Kingsport, Tennessee area.

One of the places we visited was the Eastman Recreation Area on Bays Mountain.  We saw these critters near the lodge, walking around as if they didn’t have a care in the world.  Since it was the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day, and they were able to enjoy an afternoon stroll, I guess they really had a reason to be thankful!

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Posted in American Life | 18 Comments »

Memories of Centennial Park

November 23, 2009

My very first picture of Betsy. Centennial Park, Nashville, Tennessee. April 7, 2001.

I’m really beginning to like rainy days.  On rainy days I can work on pictures at my computer without feeling guilty.

Betsy and I had our first date on March 29, 2001.  It was a dinner date to discuss the Bible classes that I missed when my work took me out of town.  (That topic never came up).

I thought the dinner date went well, but Betsy was ‘busy’ when I asked her out again.  In spite of that rejection I wanted to see her again, so I took a picture of the spring flowers in bloom in Centennial Park, Nashville, (I worked near the park) and e-mailed it to her with an invitation to go there with me on Saturday morning.  The tulips must have been irresistible because she said ‘yes’.

Centennial Park has beautiful gardens as well a unique feature — a full-sized replica of the Parthenon.  The exterior was being refurbished while we were there, but the main hall with the statue of Athena and an art gallery in the lower level were both open.  We enjoyed our visit to both levels of the Parthenon.

I didn’t have my camera on our first date, but I had it when we were at Centennial Park.  The picture above is the very first picture I took of Betsy (I’ve taken a few more since then).  If you would like to see more of our morning at Centennial Park click HERE.

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Posted in Betsy | 8 Comments »

My World: We Can Still Smell the Roses

November 17, 2009

Sonia Rose, Fairfield Glade. November 16, 2009.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

The rose above isn’t much to look at, but it is a rose, it is fragrant and the picture was taken Monday afternoon.  I’m not sure, but I think this is the latest in the year that we’ve had roses in bloom.

We obviously haven’t had a killing frost this autumn.  Yesterday we had to go to Knoxville fairly early in the morning.  The temperature when we left the house was 39° here at the house, but dropped to 32° before we got off the Plateau.

I’m not sure how much longer this weather will last, but I checked yesterday afternoon and we have three more reblooming iris and 19 rose buds ready to open.  I wonder how much longer we’ll be able to smell the roses?

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Posted in My World | 15 Comments »

Memories of Fall Creek Falls

November 16, 2009
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Fall Creek Falls and Coon Creek Falls. January 8, 2009.

One advantage of the weekend is that I make myself take some time to get things done in the house rather than work outside.  I have a list of indoor projects that’s even longer than the list of outdoor projects!  If I live to see the end of both of those lists, I’m guaranteed to attain a ripe old age.

I managed to work through a folder of pictures taken this past January when Betsy and I visited Fall Creek Falls State Park here in Tennessee.  As you probably know, that is a very special place for the two of us.  Since it is only about an hour away, we do get there fairly often, although we’ve rarely been there in the winter.

One advantage of going in the winter is that the view of some of the falls is not as obstructed as it is when there are leaves on the trees.  And the water flow is usually better than it is in late summer or autumn.  We even got a bonus by visiting a small waterfall, Wildcat Falls, on the way to the park.  It is usually only a trickle but there was a pretty good flow when we stopped by, so of course we took some pictures there as well.

The picture above is of Fall Creek Falls and its smaller companion, Coon Creek  Falls.  To see more of our visit to Fall Creek Falls click HERE.

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Posted in Waterfalls | 16 Comments »

Memories of a Smokies Autumn

November 9, 2009
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Betsy along Little River in the Smokies. October, 2002.

Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees around our house, so in many ways the pretty part of autumn is just about over for us.  But I’m not sure which season is going to follow — the temperatures were in the mid-70s Sunday.  That’s entirely too warm to be raking leaves!  Some of our blogger friends have been complaining about the temperatures in Florida.  I think they must have sent that warm weather our way.  I’m going to try to send it back!

Although most of our leaves are gone, we still have many memories of of beautiful autumn colors from years past.  In October of 2002 Betsy and I spent a long weekend in the Smokies.  Of course we checked out some waterfalls, but we also enjoyed some wonderful autumn colors.

In the picture above my favorite tree hugger is making a tree along Little River very happy.  To see more of autumn in the Smokies click HERE.

 

 

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Posted in Autumn | 13 Comments »

Scenic Sunday # 69: Cheoah Lake

November 8, 2009
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Cheoah Lake and Dam, Graham County, North Carolina. October 13, 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.

Last month Betsy and I drove The Tail of the Dragon on our way to Georgia.  The Tail of the Dragon is an 11-mile stretch of U. S. 129 which is considered by many to be one of the world’s best motorcycling and sports car roads.  The Tail of the Dragon gets its name from the 318 tight curves on the 11-mile stretch.

The Tail of the Dragon takes drivers through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  After crossing into North Carolina we turned onto North Carolina 28, which continued to offer some beautiful scenery, even if it did have fewer curves.

The picture above was taken at a turnout overlooking Cheoah Lake in North Carolina.  Near the center of the picture is Cheoah Dam, which forms the lake on the Little Tennessee River.  The Cheoah Dam was featured in the Harrison Ford movie The Fugitive.  This is the dam that Ford jumped off to escape near the beginning of the movie.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 13 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: Blue Skies

November 6, 2009
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Blue skies over Fairfield Glade. November 2, 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.

When we are under the influence of a high pressure system, we’re treated to beautiful blue skies.  We have had clear blue skies for most of this week, as you can see from the picture above.

You will also see that many of the branches of the trees around our house are now bear.  That explains all the leaves that we’ve been contending with on the ground.

There wasn’t much of a breeze when I took this picture, but I still think that Old Glory against a blue sky is a beautiful sight.

 

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 13 Comments »

My World: Ready for Winter

November 3, 2009
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Ready for winter -- our woodpile. Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. November 2, 2009.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

I finally finished stacking the wood that came while Betsy was in Maggie Valley.  The picture above shows our wood pile.  The wood on the right is what I’ve stacked this year.  We’ll burn that wood next year.  The pile on the left has been aging for a year and that is what we will burn this winter.  If you look at the foreground of the picture you will see lots of leaves.  Guess what we’ll be doing this week?

 

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Full moon in the eastern sky. November 2, 2009.

Now that we’re back on standard time it gets dark early.  Monday we were coming home from Cookeville and had to stop at a grocery store to pick up a few things.  When we came out of the store we saw this full moon in the eastern sky.

 

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Sunset afterglow. Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. November 2, 2009.

As we headed home we came up over a hill and had this view of the western sky.  What a great way to end the day!

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Posted in My World | 23 Comments »

Memories of Burgess Falls

November 2, 2009
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Betsy at the base of Burgess Falls, Cookeville, Tennessee. May 26, 2001.

Rainy days have certain advantages.  One advantage is the ability to work on old pictures without feeling guilty about not being out in the yard.

We had a couple of rainy days last week, and I was able to get some work done on my computer.  One set of pictures that I worked with was a set taken back in 2001 when Betsy and I were dating.

I’ve mentioned that we realized we were falling in love on a date to Fall Creek Falls State Park here in Tennessee on April 21, 2001.  That date was the start of our waterfall collection, among other things.

On May 26, 2001, we were an engaged couple on a date to Burgess Falls State Natural Area near Cookeville, Tennessee.  This area is within the Falling Water River Gorge and a one mile hike allowed us to view a cascade and three waterfalls.

When we visited Burgess Falls back in 2001 we had no idea that we would eventually be living in the Glade, which is fairly close to Burgess Falls.  We’ve been back several times since.

If you look closely at the picture above you’ll see that Betsy is posing so that her engagement ring is on display.  I think she rather liked it!

To see more of that first visit to Burgess Falls click HERE.

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Posted in Waterfalls | 10 Comments »

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