I was working in a home today that sits on top of a mountain. This is the view from their porch. Although fall isn’t my favorite time of year (and I would never want to live on top of a mountain), I think the tree on the right with the falling leaves make the picture more interesting.
A little while ago, I went out to the store and while I was driving, I saw the moon rising and it was full and quite orange! I think this type of moon is called a “blood moon” or maybe a harvest moon.
The picture I took on my phone didn’t do it justice at all (and I could only zoom in a little), so I photo-manipulated it a little to try to recapture some of its allure. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to recapture the clearness of its “face” or edges. The background effect isn’t realistic of course, but I felt it made it a more interesting photo. I think this picture makes it look almost like the way the sun looks in space.
B-Cat’s (her “homegirl” name) is adjusting well and Cleo and Sheldon even remember her, and there don’t seem to be any problems so far. Here she is lounging around like a slugabed today.
“Time is always melting, but why should I give a damn about your human obsession with time and clocks even though there’s one of your infernal stress-tickers melting right over my head. I will not be micro-managed. Now give me my Fancy Feast, please.”
Coming right up, your Royal Majesty.
*****
Just need to vent here too about the terrible time I just had getting these photos to upload. I never had trouble doing that before. They just refused to load into my picture file, no matter what I did . I finally got so aggravated I gave up and went over to Paint where I just copied and pasted them there, and made copies which I filed with my documents. Pain in the butt, and time consuming, but it worked!
This is what the sunset looked like last night over Asheville, NC after the storms rolled through. The photo does NOT do it justice.
I needed to clear my head today. Sitting around the house does me no good at all and it’s easy to sink into negative emotions like depression and worry. I knew I had to get out for awhile. Fortunately I live very close to the Blue Ridge Parkway, so I decided to take a nice long Sunday drive. I decided to go up into the Black Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge just north and east of Asheville.
I drove about 60 miles, to Green Knob, which is about 15 miles past Mt. Mitchell (at 6,683 feet, it is the highest peak on the East Coast, even higher than Mt. Washington in New Hampshire). I was going to go up to Mt. Mitchell and take some pictures, but I took one look at the line of traffic on the off road going up there and said, “no way.” There are other spots just as nice.
The drive up there is always interesting. As you climb, you feel your ears pop, and the air gets noticeably cooler. I was able to turn off my A/C and roll down the windows and breathe in the fresh mountain air. After awhile, the deciduous trees get shorter and stumpier, until they are mere twisted shrubs. Craggy Gardens is filled with these stunted little trees and lots of wild rhododendrons, which are native to this area. When they’re in full bloom, they have beautiful, big lavender clusters of flowers. Right now they’re just dark green.
Climb a little higher, and the deciduous trees and shrubs are completely replaced by conifers. I’ve been told the climate up here is similar to southern Canada. There’s a lot of ice and snow here in the winter and this part of the Parkway is usually closed off during the cold months. Mt. Mitchell itself is covered with the skeletons of the Frasier firs, which were indigenous to this area but died off about 30 years ago due to an aphid infestation. But it isn’t all bare–there are other types of conifers that are surviving quite nicely.
On the drive home, it rained a little–some of the photos here show the building up of the storm clouds. I got home and felt much more at peace. Spending time with nature always has that affect on me. Here are the rest of the photos I took today.
These pictures were taken on a beach in the Maldives (no, I didn’t take them–I don’t know who the photographer is), where the plankton in the water makes the beaches there glow. These photos are not tampered with. I think this is probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I must find a way to go there someday!
The organisms responsible for the magical glow.
These photos appeared on the Twitter account @ThatBucketList
I’ve seen all kinds of strange animals this week. On Monday I saw the two mating black snakes at the lake. Today I had a surprise waiting for me at the nearby Ingles supermarket.
I was loading the groceries into my car, looked up for a minute, and there by a shady area near the service road were some animals I definitely didn’t expect. At first I wasn’t sure what they were, so I walked a little closer to get a better view. They were llamas, grazing on the grass under the trees! What were llamas doing here of all places? Then I saw two trailers parked nearby, and a man who appeared to be their owner. He said he was returning from an exotic animal show in Virginia and was letting his llamas out for air and exercise.
I started taking pictures. The llamas seemed friendly enough. They came in every color–tan, brown, russet, black, greyish. A couple of the llamas just ignored ignored me. A few of the others looked up curiously, then got back to munching the grass.
Never in a million years did I expect to see llamas at the grocery store. You just never know what kind of surprises life has in store for you.
Click on the photos to enlarge.
My daughter, her boyfriend, and me decided to spend today at Lake Powhatan, a nearby small lake where there are “rooms” (clearings) along the forested paths, each one containing a picnic table and a grill.
This year I made sure not to forget the tinfoil (last year we didn’t have any and most of the hamburger fell through the grill vents into the fire–we fished them out and ate them anyway) but we forgot the lemonade I made last night! So at the last minute we stopped in a convenience store and picked up a bottle of Sprite. Guess I’ll be having lemonade with my dinners this week.
We found a good “room” with a view of the lake that was shaded all around by trees, but the mosquitoes were having a field day and I have the red welts to prove it.
That’s the actual name of the lakefront we went to.
We had the usual Memorial day fare: burgers, baked beans and potato salad. Everything tasted wonderful. There’s nothing quite like meat cooked outside on a grill, and it wasn’t scorched this time from falling into the flames.
Come and get it!
It was really too cold to swim, although some people were (especially the kids) but we weren’t that courageous. My daughter and her boyfriend stayed safely on the sand. Me? I can technically tell people I “went in,” since I waded in up to my knees, and then waded back. The water hasn’t really warmed up yet. But it felt good just standing there in the shallows feeling the gentle breeze.
As we were walking back to where we parked (a good 3/4 of a mile walk because the parking area was full), we saw these two black snakes in an…intimate moment. Nature always has so many surprises, but I still felt a little guilty taking pictures of them. (You can click on the photos to get a closer view).
I’ve always liked to buy small gifts for myself when I can afford to (usually something natural like rocks or plants). Because I’m reparenting myself (with the help of my therapist and God), I decided to treat myself to a Mother’s Day gift. I bought some wind chimes, a few summer outfits from Goodwill (don’t knock it — you can’t beat the prices and I can always find something perfect), and this ridiculously adorable “string of pearls” plant (Senecio rowleyanus, a succulent vine that grows in Southwestern Africa) hanging from a tiny clay pot and surrounded by a copper wire in a heart shape:
Isn’t it cute?
My tuxedo cat, Sheldon, reminding me he wants to be the center of attention.
Fine, Sheldon. Are you happy now?
I can’t get enough of these. Here’s the second installment. If you need more, like I do, you can visit their website:
http://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com/
This property was previously used as Module 3 in an Aversion Therapy course to treat severe paranoia.
For a variety of reasons, this is one shower that should be checked thoroughly before use.
Some people like to read while on the toilet. Others prefer to be inundated by multiple confusing and contradictory reflections of themselves, repeating into infinity.
“Paint me like one of your French girls“
This bathroom features a small sink, a mirror, and a man with a beard who just sort of stands there.
That way you can still work on the garden even if it’s raining.
“Totally safe, I swear. They’re not due back til the afternoon”
“OK guys they’re coming back. Hold still and stay quiet.”
Garden Chairs of Solitude are notoriously easy to offend. It’ll take a sincere apology to bring this one back to the table.
The first Garden Chair of Solitude Olympics were not a success.
Terrible Real Estate Agent Photos #1:
Lucky Otters Haven 