The Mountain Thymes

The fall/winter Farmers Almanac predictions certainly were off.  Our area's Christmas forecast was supposed to bring a snowstorm around December 24-26.  Like most of the eastern U.S., we've had unseasonably warm nights and days.  Thank goodness it's been warm because with all the rainy days we've had, we would have had snow accumulation like New England had last winter. Our little mountain waterfall.  One of the three sinkholes seen from the 4-lane heading to town.  This is the largest and is located in one of the bank parking lots.  Another is in the Wendy's drive thru and the smallest is near the entrance to Eller and Owens Furniture.  Christmas Day shared with Mike and Barb. Barb and I made the dinner while the "children" fooled around. We had apple and pumpkin pies for dessert.  These two had their dessert but evidently not enough whipped cream. So............... the week before Christmas, Mark called to tell us that he and Jen we...

I've sat down three or four times to post, typed a few sentences, but then got disrupted by the baking timer or something else that took me away from my thoughts.  So, it's 6:12 am, I have my coffee with me and I intend to finish a post this time. Our weather has been mild, as it has been in most of the east.  The temperature has been in the 50's in the morning and peaks around 68-71 by afternoon, which is another reason I don't complete a post.  With weather this mild, I'd rather be outside.  Starting Monday, we're due to have 5-6 days of rain with more mild temperatures.  The warm will keep us from getting seven feet of snow.  A few weeks ago we did have flash flooding from days of torrential rain. On the way to the gym, I pass acres and acres of cow pastures.  The flooding covered the corn field and drove the cows up to the fence. One of our local church ministry thrift stores.  Flash flooding went into their greenhouse and all the...

Mark and Jen arrived in Murphy ten minutes before our two o'clock Chop House Thanksgiving reservations.  They left Missouri Wednesday afternoon after work, caught some zzzz's in Marion, IL, and forgot about the hour time change here.  For the past five years we did the Brothers Thanksgiving buffet because, even though the vegetables are out of a can, the price was right at $21.99 a person.  Senior discount another 10%.  Everything else was real food, oven roasted turkey, a good variety of buffet choices, and restaurant baked desserts.  This year the priced jumped up to $29.99.  Chop House Thanksgiving dinner seemed more reasonable at $25.99.  It's not a buffet but portions are so ample, your leftovers make another meal at home.  AND it's all delicious real food.  Since Mark and Jen have become engaged, they are more settled and content, kind of like "old married" people.  Next year when they come for Thanksgiving, we've decided to let th...

I find the names for full moons fascinating.  The November full moon occurred at 5:44 pm (EST) on the 25th.  Native Americans named the November moon Beaver Moon believing it to be the best time to set beaver traps.  Beavers are busy this time of year preparing for winter and their fur was at its most perfect stage.  Soon the beavers would be sleeping and the swamps frozen over.  Their names for a moon were for the whole cycle of that moon. Their month was about 28.5 days and so they named thirteen moons. The Mourning Moon is a Celtic name and November is the Celtic New Year.  They mourn the descent into darkness as the seasons change.  Weather related names include Fog Moon or Snow moon according to where you reside.  Sometimes it's referred to as Frosty Moon because it's the time when we wake up to morning frost.  Today we woke to 39 degrees in town and about 33 here.  We'll see 63 this afternoon and a very pleasant 69 tomorrow. We'...

On the way home from my dermatologist appointment in Blairsville yesterday afternoon, we stopped at Cabin Coffee Company.   Blairsville's busy rotary area has many diverse stores and restaurants.  On Friday nights during the summer, there are outdoor concerts and classic cars shows.  I think this coffee house has been open for about a year or so.  We've just never stopped to see what's going on inside.  "Just Be Happy and Have Fun" is the motto and it has a relaxed happy atmosphere.  There are hot drinks, an espresso bar, cold espresso drinks, a breakfast and lunch  menu with signature and specialty sandwiches, soups and salads.  Cliff ordered a fruit smoothie and I went for a Mocha Frappe with two shots of espresso, topped with whipped cream and drizzled with dark chocolate.  Between the nearly full moon lighting up the entire woods last night and the two shots of espresso, sleep didn't happen easily.  But the drink was worth...

Birthdays are meant to be celebrated with family and friends and celebrated for as many days as one can squeeze out of them.  Thursday we spent the day in Kentucky with Matthew, Taelor, Alexandra, (1 yr) and Christopher (will turn 3 in Jan) celebrating Mathew's 26!!! birthday and my birthday.  We took the children to a nearby park so they could climb on the fort and slide down slides. Christopher talking to the ducks.  Taelor brought 2 bags of frozen peas to feed the ducks.  Alexandra with the ducks.  Papa with Matthew and Alexandra Alex is wearing her cupcake hat.  Christopher wearing Alex's cupcake hat.  They both love hats. Feeding the ducks peas.  In the background is the play area.  It's a huge wooden fort with four slides, towers and many climbing levels.  I worked up quiet a sweat climbing, bending to fit through the openings, and sliding with Christopher.  Temperature was 59-60 with full sun and brisk breez...

According to The Old Farmer's Almanac , on this day back in 1946, the low was 25 degrees with a high of 48.  A U.S. postage stamp was $0.03, one year tuition at Harvard ran a student $420, a loaf of bread cost $0.10, a gallon of gas was $0.21, and a gallon of milk was $0.67.  But Federal minimum hourly wage was only $0.40.  We bought our eggs fresh from the farm for $0.50 a dozen and the milk man from Suzuki's farm placed our milk bottles, with whole cream on top, in insulated containers at our back door.  Joe-the-Baker stopped by for friendly conversation and to see what breads the neighbors needed.  A lazy summer afternoon was spent laying on the grass, gazing at the sky to watch the ever changing shape of white clouds.  When the hollyhocks were in full bloom, my sister and I swirled the water in shallow pans to dance our hollyhock dolls. Me in the spring of 1947, sitting in a wash basin at Grandma Still's house.  We were living with my grandmoth...

As I've said before, I love mornings.  I love seeing the first hint of light in the eastern sky.  I love greeting the morning even when it's crisp.  Cardinals are the first to visit the feeders at this early hour.  They sit regally and with the first hint of morning light, their bright red feathers reveal who they are.  As the sky lightens I scan the front garden and road hoping to catch a glimpse of deer grazing or other animals passing.  Tuesday morning the front garden seemed unusually quiet, no birds coming to the feeder or to the suet when I realized there was no feeder or suet.  Upon inspection I found the suet basket bent and ripped wide open laying empty on the ground, the wire that held the squirrel-proof feeder broken and hanging and the feeder nowhere insight.  The feeders in the woods that I can see from my sewing room had been attacked also.  I found one feeder down in the woods but the other had been carried off.  The doubl...

Same ol' stuff, different day.  Not complaining.  I don't need drama.  Our weather has been so mild..... rainy, misty, drizzly too many days in a row but no A/C or heat needed.  Sun made an appearance between passing clouds pushing the temperature to 79 this afternoon.  I'm thrilled to still be sitting out on the porch most afternoons.  Ten-day forecast shows mostly mild temperatures and (ugh!) more rainy days.  The window box geraniums are still showing off eight large red flowers.  We've been getting our CSA (community supported agriculture) bag full of fresh farm produce every Tuesday.  As soon as I get home and lay the variety of foods out on the counter, I bring up images on the computer to identify some of the vegetables my farmer has included for the week.  Frances is about 5' 4", thin with signs of arthritis in her feet and hands.  She's probably about ten years younger than I am and runs Candy Mountain Farms.  Besid...

Nature painted a most vibrant sunrise around 7:45 this morning.  I wish my iphone could have captured the true explosion of colors that changed quickly within minutes. The sky burst into hot yellow "flames." Within minutes blue sky appeared through Persian pink clouds.  The temperature was about 45 degrees and the mountain was quiet.  The only sound I heard was my slippers crunching on the gravel as I walked up and down the road looking for the best place to capture the colors. We hit our peak color a few days ago. A few days ago we had 10 nice fat turkeys in the front garden filling up on dropped birdseed.  They read my lips (m-m-m-m, drumsticks) at the kitchen window and began their march up the road. 

The newest blog photo reveals where the fairies live.  I love this photo!  On one of our visits to Virginia, Olivia told me to take a picture of the fairies home. After researching the word faeries, I decided to use fairies instead.  Faery is a much older concept, a powerful mystical being who is usually quite dark, even when it means well. 

Last week my sister and brother-in-law headed to Nashville via Murphy.  We spent a wonderful weekend talking, laughing, and relaxing together.  We picked Vic's brain on how to tackle some of the projects that have been put off.  To me, the most urgent one was finishing the driveway with some sort of fence.  Clliff and I didn't know how or where to start.  I need an image in order to do anything.  The driveway is so packed we didn't think we'd be able to get through the crush-and-run to put in fence posts.  Vic started digging into the hard packed driveway and explained what to do. The break bar we bought did the trick.  I'll also use it when I put in the daffodil bulbs  today.  I leveled the posts while Cliff put Quikrete in the holes.  Next day we cut and fastened 2 x 6's to the posts. Excess posts cut off. Staining.  Notice that he's on the steep sloping side of the driveway. The rocks kept slipping and slid...

There is a site called Journey North that I have followed since moving here.  It's a free Internet-based program that explores the interrelated aspects of seasonal change.  In the six years or so that I've used it, the site has expanded for the citizen observer and for teachers.  Until recently, I accessed this site only in March to track the hummingbird migration from Central America to their arrival in the eastern United States.  Cliff and I often wondered if the migration south is just as exciting as the journey north is to observers.  Every April on my calendar, I record our first hummingbird sighting along with temperature and weather conditions.  Every October I do the same, noting the last hummingbird sighting.  Last year it was on Cliff's birthday, the 11th, that we saw the last hummer.  So this year when I spotted one on the 12th, it was a bonus.  I always keep the feeders supplied with fresh nectar for over a week after the last si...

HAPPY 71st BIRTHDAY, CLIFF Two and a half years ago holding his first great grandson, Christopher Clifton Bush. His mother's favorite picture of him after getting his haircut at Avalon. And his favorite pug, Toby. Best wishes for a wonderful day!

Cliff decided a few weeks ago that for his birthday he'd like to take a leisurely drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway and spend some nights in Blowing Rock until flooding rains from Hurricane Joaquin closed much of the Parkway.  On Sunday plan B kicked in.  He decided to celebrate his birthday with Hayden, Sofia, Grant, Olivia, Ben, Lauria and Jim, a pug and two cats.  I changed our reservations to a Holiday Inn Express in Warrenton,  packed our bags and headed to northern Virginia.  After the 10-hour drive, we stopped by to hug everyone, pat the pug, talk to the cats and told them we'd see them in the morning.  In our hotel room we started unpacking, placing shampoo, toothbrushes, etc. in the bathroom, hanging some of the clothes on hangers and looking forward to a soothing shower and settling our weary bodies.  The room temperature was 88 degrees but we couldn't get the thermostat to turn on.  The desk manager came right up but couldn't get the unit...