The Mountain Thymes

Lots of farms along our drive to town. Barry, these are especially for you today........................ From our back porch, afternoon sun filtering through the trees. This stone building is in Lumpkin County, GA along the Appalachian Trail. It's a rest stop and store for weary travelers who have been hiking the trail or who want to just take in the view. Here's where I got my picture. Still Lumpkin County along the Trail. The Appalachian Trail This is a s close to a moose as I want to get! Downtown Murphy at an overpriced furniture store. We used to eat breakfast in town at the Hungry Moose but when the economy tanked, so did the moose. The drive on the way to the Nantahala National Forest. The drive that takes us to VA to visit the wiggling, talking, action-packed grandchildren. More from our porch. Summertime woods from our porch. Wild azaleas in our woods. Not from our porch........but I would like this to be part of my scenery someday. I don't want to own them ...

This place is "flea market" heaven! We went to the Tuesday flea market this morning and instead of paying $2 to park, decided to leave the car at the Chamber of Commerce Center and walk. Ever notice how close something seems when you drive.........good thing I didn't buy an antique oak hutch! I did find a neat barnwood bookcase, but couldn't locate the dealer to make an offer. So all I bought was some fresh "peaches & cream" corn and sweet potatoes for tonight's meal. On Saturdays, the local merchants set up in downtown Murphy in the common and sell their wares, pottery, fresh veggies, homemade jams, range free eggs, etc. Last week I bought a dozen ears of corn from a very disheveled man with his front teeth missing. I felt badly for him with his beaten up old truck and figured he needed the $$$$.............and it was the first time i let someone pack corn for me. I always pull open a husk to check for worms. Needless to say, the deer had c...

Barb and I talked this morning at 7 AM. This is preplan week for teachers in Volusia County and here in Murphy and I'm surprised by my feeling of missing preplan. I didn't expect to feel this. This is the time when we got back together and caught up on gossip, family activities, then got into the hustle/bustle of getting ready to tackle the new students coming in. I'd like to be in the welcome back breakfast and gossip excitement, but no work! Most children are ready to come back to school because they will be with their friends again and there is a daily routine. I do miss all of that....but I don't miss the fast pace, the stresses and directives from the state/county that take the creativity from teaching, constant workshops, papertrail, computers and technology that fail when we have deadlines to meet...... This week children are getting the last of their supplies, looking over their new school clothes, getting hair cuts, and feeling a little anxious about meet...

Esp. for Dot, Nana.......pictures of where we walk in Konehete Park. Many mornings we see two women doing thai chi (however you spell it) under the little pavillion over looking the river. In the spring there were dozens of baby geese and ducks waddling all over the park. He really does walk....what's with the back pocket???? AFLAC!!

Lauria, this is the corner where Michelle's house was. My parents' stone marker. The cemetary is located across the street from a restaurant. When my father died, the restaurant was Italian and we all thought how appropriate because he liked to eat there with my mother. On this recent trip back, we noticed it's now Chinese. He won't be sneaking over there in the night anymore. we recently had a two day drive to MA for a family funeral and stopped in to visit Lauria, Jim, and their gaggle of wiggling, moving little munchkins. such fun to read to them and laugh with them again. they have grown by leaps and bounds, and have such a great command of the english language. children renew the spirit and breath life into our busy weary days. we spent time with cliff's family, stayed at my sister's house(my brother-in-law is a great cook!), and got in a short visit with my brother's family. one morning we ate breakfast at our favorite downtown diner and ca...

Saturday morning at 9:38 AM the ground shook as if some mammoth construction equipment was trying to climb up our mountain road. The earth rumbled and vibrated for about 20 seconds with the sound becoming louder and louder. Then slowly it returned to normal. Cliff knew immediately that it was a quake because he was out in Northridge , CA during the aftershocks some years ago. Nothing in the house rattled, pictures didn't move, but the deep earth rumble certainly caught our attention. When i brought up the US geographical site, the map showed the epicenter about 10 miles from Murphy! and registered it as a 3.2 on the Richter scale. Awesome!