Our Trip to See Fall:




Early yesterday morning we took off on a trip to the North Carolina mountains to catch some fall color. Normally we get on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Cherokee and get off at Asheville. This year (after checking the Foliage Network) we headed further north and got on the parkway at Linville Falls (mile marker 300) and got off at Asheville (mile marker 389). The weather wasn't the greatest as there was a cold front moving through the area and frequently we were riding in the rain and along the parkway in the clouds. The color was gorgeous!!

Here we are:










These are some tenacious trees:














In spite of the not so good weather there were a fair number of people on the parkway. We saw three bicyclers, two runners, a whole bunch of motorcycles and a couple of wild turkeys. The first three were moving quickly through a fence but we did get some pictures of this one:

This one was on our side of the road but before we could get the camera out it was in the middle of the road.







The turkey then perched on the branch of the tree.

We've only seen wild turkeys a few time.

Back in '83-'84 Charcoal and I saw one on the bike path in Meenam Shelby State Park in TN. We both stared in awe as it took off.

In '91 we were on the Skyline Drive in VA early in the morning and we saw a whole flock of them moving across the road but couldn't get the old SLR out quick quick enough. The digital camera made things a little easier!

It was a great trip - lots of fall color to ooh and ah at - even some of the orange colored leaves - something we just don't see down here in the Piedmont. Fall in these parts kind of eases in through November into December but there a plenty of trees and bushes that stay green year round.

Take care & enjoy,
Florence

Fall Has Made to the South

Down in these parts, fall doesn't really arrive until we can cut the air conditioner off. We cut our off Thursday and have enjoyed the cool air coming in through the windows. It looks like the a/c will have to be cut on again this week as some warmer weather moves in. We're still very, very dry. No tropical moisture this year to moderate the drought.

Several weeks ago I climbed into the attic to look for my autumn wreath - not remembering that it had fallen apart last year. So I found one on eBay - it's simple but yet evokes fall.

The warm weather that we had a couple of weeks ago along with a couple of good showers caused the weeping willow to put out some new growth...

It wasn't much but it it was still surprising to see this so late in the year.





When we first moved into our house over 12 years ago, we got ten seedlings from the Arbor Society. At first we thought we would have some maples and oaks but those didn't make it. After about four or five years a tree starting growing in the middle of the backyard. It wasn't hard to figure out what it was once the thorns started showing up. It's now grown up into a nice size tree and for the first time ever there are berries on the Washington Hawthorn. What's interesting is the berries are at the top of the tree and not all over. In any case, the birds will enjoy them.






I've been checking out the foliage report at http://www.foliagenetwork.com/reports/southeast_us/

I'm taking Friday off and we'll be heading into the North Carolina mountain to do some leaf peeping. We're not expecting exceptional color this year due to the drought but it will nice to get out of town!

Take care & enjoy,
Flonence