The View.....

I just had to do one more post on Autumn! In this part of the country, or anywhere with deciduous trees, it really is a time of absolute beauty. I've often thought of the famous quote ~"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower." ~Albert Camus
Right now our part of the World is in full bloom! I am not a great photographer and my camera is a simple point and shoot, with limitations of it's own. I'm smiling, but I did wish that I had Jayme's to do a better job....I have used it on occasion and oh, is it fun!

These were taken at the Scenic Overlook on Bon Air Mountain in White County. You can really see forever up there. Places like this are hard to find. The trees just get in your way and you have to get above them.
I have often thought of Conrad Richter's book The Trees since we've been here.

I can't imagine what it must have been like to pioneer this part of the country. Tim has made the remark before that if all the people moved out, the trees would grow up and cover it all. You'd hardly know there were ever humans here. It's all the rain we get....parts of the Southern Appalachians are considered a temperate rain forest, if they receive more than 100 inches of rain per year.  Highland Nature Center

Behind the parking area at the Scenic Overlook is a large  rock cliff....while I was busy taking pictures along with the others who were stopping Tim was thinking....."the view from up there would really be better..."

...and that is where we went. I never would have thought of going up there. It took a bit of effort to get there, but oh so worth it. Although most people don't climb up there to get the view, some do. We did. All the pictures here today were taken from there. It's all flat on top and some nice southern Pines are growing....and what a view!

You can really SEE up there. 

We soaked in the view for a long time but, eventually we had to climb back down. (It really isn't as bad, as it looks.)  Tim was there and he'd never suggest something he didn't think we could accomplish. He's just more adventurous than I am! Keeps life from getting boring.

Just look at all that color! 

A bit of Red

That is Winged Sumac pictured in the gourd. My field has quite a bit of it growing out there. Snoopy (Jayme's horse) moved to South Carolina with her and now my field is once again reverting back to forrest... or jungle....whichever you prefer to call it. I just love the fall color of it. It really is a weed around these parts although, it did manage to catch Tim's eye. He doesn't usually notice such things but, the other morning he commented on the color of our "field". It is a beautiful red isn't it? Lots of this color around right now, I'm really enjoying it while its here, soon enough the leaves will all fall and winter will have arrived. Winter is not my favorite time of year....but I am determined to enjoy it anyway this year. Somehow....

Today, I'll just enjoy the Reds of Autumn.

These were just turning. I took them a couple of weeks ago, there are so many reds around. They are my favorite leaf color. This year anyway.

and one more.

This lovely Red Cardinal deserves a place amongst the Reds of Autumn, don't you think? I took this at Jeff and Tash's the day they were moving. (our son and daughter in law) He was enjoying the left over bird seed Tash had in the back yard. He and his lady friend, whom I did not get a picture of.

My favorite Red of all!! Estella Cheri, our oldest grand daughter. Also taken the day they moved. We really miss that little "Missy Girl"!




What's your favorite color of autumn?

Outdoor Parents Outdoor Kids: a book review

A few weeks ago I was the recipient of a giveaway at Outdoor Blogger Network. This was the book. It is published by Fox Chapel Publishing. What a great publishing company! If you are a hobbyist or home craftsman type person you really should check out their wonderful line up of books. We are book people and we were both impressed with the catalog they sent us with the book. Great diverse selections, from wood working and carving,  arts and crafts, animal husbandry, even a few on tattoo design and yes plenty of outdoor books. Fishing, canoeing, kayaking, boat maintenance and camp cooking to name a few. Definitely worth taking a look.

Now, about the book itself. I have been enjoying this book. It makes me wish my children were young and I could do it all over again. If you have young children or even intend to, I recommend you get this book. It is informative and honest about what it takes to get yourselves and your children outdoors. To make it a way of life....an outdoor lifestyle. If that is what you want for your family, this is the book to have.

The chapters are each about a particular outdoor activity. Bicycling, snowsports, camping, hiking etc... It is written in a friendly, comedic style. With an honest look at the extra work it does take to do outdoor activities with small to teenage children. It's true it does take extra effort to get out with children. We believe you will not regret the effort and will establish lasting, quality family time.

I was talking with my youngest daughter about this one day and regretting that we had not done enough. She laughed and said "mom, we lived out of doors, we were way back in the country and had all the room to roam we wanted, we hiked, rode horses, bicycled and all of that! What are you worried about?!" When I thought of that I knew she was right. We may not have gotten to do the camping part as much as we wanted, but our children certainly did not lack for outdoor play!

The last chapter of the book is on the statistics of today's children and lack of adequate exercise. I'll list a few of them for you. Here's one that has an ironic twist to it. National Public Radio recently did a survey of orthopedic surgeons and found that they are treating far fewer broken bones among kids and more repetitive motion injuries! (video games) I'm not for broken bones or against video games.....but it does show a trend. This same trend would also be showing , that 22 million of the world's children under the age of 5 are overweight! It gets worse....60% of overweight children are already  at risk for heart disease and 25% show early signs of type 2 diabetes. This can be traced in a great part to the fact, that an average of 44 hours a week are spent watching TV, computers and video games by many of these same kids.

So, if ya love your kids, get them outside, doing something, anything!! It would be one of the best things you could do for them. Enjoyed this book and found it very informative and full of ideas! Worth getting!

 And of course, here is the link for the book. Outdoor Parents, Outdoor Kids

What we've been up to

I hope everyone is out enjoying this lovely fall weather. At least it is around here. I love the colors, the fresh cool air and oh, just everything about it. In case I haven't mentioned it, fall is my favorite time of year! Above is a photo of  uncleaned gourds Jayme brought me from South Carolina the other day. Don't they just look like Autumn? I thought they did anyway. They also sort of look like work.....they need to be cleaned, painted on, holes drilled in them and the inside cleaned out. Turning a gourd into something usable is not so easy.

The use of gourds for bird houses and cooking utensils has been around for literally thousands of years. Here is an interesting article on the history of hard shell gourds. They are fun and interesting to work with. I'm enjoying them and learning as I go along. 

This was my fall inspired gourd. Jayme swiped it from me when she was here. I'm just kidding it was her birthday gift. 

These are the four I've made so far. I really just want to use them, but the idea was to try and sell them to supplement our income just a bit. I'm not sure if birdhouses will sell or not but, we'll see....you can only try, right?!

In case you didn't notice, we now have an Etsy Shop widget in the right sidebar. We don't have much there yet but hope to add when we can. Tim also made some wooden birdhouses that I painted on. Also a very nice Red Cedar bird feeder that I really just want to fill with bird seed and put in my yard!

Indigo Bunting on Goldenrod and Chipping Sparrow on pine branches. Did you know that bird watching is good for your health?! Yep, sure is. You can read a blog post written by Taking a Walk on the Wild Side that will tell more about that.

Isn't that a lovely bird feeder? I think I should just put that right out in my front yard....Tim won't let me.....it's for sale too.....but.... it just goes with my yard. I have the spot picked out and everything! Oh well.....maybe next time.

Letters From Eden ~ book review

Every once in a while I read a book that is just so enjoyable from start to finish that I can't put it down. This is one of those! Delightful, enjoyable, relaxing and peaceful are just a few of the words I would use to describe it. Her writing style is so readable. It just flows from one page to the next. You are hardly aware that you are reading and not just listening to her tell it. It's like you've sat at her kitchen table and listened while she tells you about the happenings in her life.

Julie Zickefoose is a naturalist, writer and painter of nature. Her paintings throughout the book just captured my attention. So realistic and yet still have that wonderful blend and flow that only watercolor can do. At least that's the way I feel about watercolor paintings. One day, I was watching our two grandchildren while Tim, Jeff and Tash (our son and daughter in law) were loading up the moving truck. We sat on a mattress, in the empty living room and looked at all the lovely pictures in this book. They loved them! Especially Everitt, our 17 month old grandson.  He would laugh, point and say "birdie" at the bird pictures. I think it would make a great read aloud for most any age of readers.

It is full of information about nature, wildflowers, bird-eating bullfrogs, turtles, deer and a lot about birds. Even some about wildlife gardening and the use of native plants which has become a new interest of mine. I have had enough of mowing my acre plus of lawn and have goals of turning part of it back into a meadow. I gleaned a few tips about that from this book.  She is an avid birdwatcher and master naturalist, something that I wouldn't mind achieving myself....

So if you love good writing, beautiful painting, birds, nature, stories about family and country living, you will also love this book! My new favorite. I found her blog before the book. I ordered the book through Inter library loan. I told Tim, "the next gift giving holiday this is what I want!" You can purchase a signed copy here. I have also added it to our amazon store.

She  has a new book coming out soon which you can pre-order here. It looks just as wonderful. You can see her style of painting by the covers. Beautiful Watercolors!

Butterflies of our summer~2011

I was looking through my pictures of this summer and discovered I took a lot of butterfly pictures. I thought I'd share them with you. I just recently took a serious interest in them so I may identify them correctly and then again I may not. Feel free to comment and let me know of any mistakes I make. The above photo is of  Fritillary Butterflies on common milkweed. They are either  Regal or  Great Spangled.  I couldn't tell the difference.

The Next two are of The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on my butterfly bush out back. I think I may try painting this one. He's posing so pretty for me.

Isn't he beautiful?! I really don't know if it's a male or female.

I don't know who this fella is. I wonder if it's a skipper.(maybe Silver Spotted Skipper) I found him interesting because the center of his eye is white. You can click on any of our pictures and they will enlarge.

Fritillary on my Blanket Flower. This is what has brought them around this year.... all the new flowers Jayme and I planted last year. If you want to attract Birds and Butterflies. Plant flowers. Here is a link that lists the kind they particularly like. Gardening to attract birds and butterflies

These are of Hummingbird Moths. We have never had these around and were blessed with an abundance of them. Such interesting creatures!

And last but certainly not least.....a Male Monarch. He came through and hung out for a few days. I enjoyed him immensely and wished he had brought a friend or two. I don't know as time will permit but, if it does I  want to try raising some Monarch's next year. It isn't hard to do. And it doesn't need to cost much at all. You just need a steady supply of Milkweed. Here is a blog on how to do that. Raising Monarchs
Another one I follow has several blog posts with pictures of how she did it. Plus some great links at the bottom of this post. Rambling Woods

Spicebush Swallowtail on Purple Coneflower





Jayme took this one a couple of years ago, and it's just kind of special to me. I painted it on a bird house gourd even. Here is my attempt.....

I hope you have enjoyed my butterflies as much as I did this summer. I don't see as many any more, since fall is steadily creeping in. No worries, I love fall. My favorite time of year! Happy Autumn!