The Mountain Thymes

More beautiful farmland as we rode through PA and NY. Interesting how the rolls of hay are encased in white tarps. Miles and miles of mountains in the background. Some of these may be in VA.............. Driving east into the sunrise. My sister's backyard.....the martin house is really a 5-star bird condo. There are no martins but a variety of other birds make their home here each spring. Retta and Vic are both retired now and are doing house projects that we all put aside when our kids are young and involved in school/sports and we're too tired to do when working full-time. It was good to spend time with family, even though it was a short visit. The years go by quickly and life holds many changes that we have to adapt to. We were also fortunate to have good friends take the time to drive up from FL to stay at our house in the mountains and care for Max. Having our windshield replaced this morning after a boulder got kicked up and smashed the right corner while traveling

Barb and Mike drove up from FL to care for Maxine while we were in MA. So last Tuesday, we hit the road at 4:30 AM. I was on Bambi watch as we headed to VA to see Lauria, Jim and the grandchildren. It was Grant's birthday so we got to celebrate with him. We bought at least one noise making toy that was annoying. Actually, I loved the toy. It has a long handle with a large claw on the end to pick up objects or grab your sister by the wrist/ankle and makes a grinding noise when you work it. We had pasta for dinner and a birthday cake. Weather was too hot and heavy to sit out on their porch. Next morning we were on the road again to MA to spend a few days with Cliff's mother. This portion of the trip is the most tiring, traveling through NY, large cities, and driving through the long construction zones. We stayed with Retta and Vic for the two days we were there. Weather was even humid and uncomfortable in NE. Friday night Vic, Retta, Chip, Maryellen, Cliff and I went

just a few shots of our trip to MA 4:30 AM.moon was beautiful Sunday close to home......our drive through the Nantahala Forest. Lots of people on the river kayaking. We were tired at this point and I was making frequent emergency stops at any available nasty restroom I could find so we didn't stop to take pictures. Many rafting companies, restaurants, campsites..... rafters overlooking the rapids We've been in MA for a week and on the way home I was sick with an intestinal thing so will be posting when I can. Here are a few shots of the ride....my brain can't think so I'll do more in the morning. I've been trying to stay hydrated, still don't have my old energy back yet.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the men in my life.......................... to Cliff, Michael, John, Jim, Vic, Chip

I don't usually do griping or complaining on my blog because my nature is one of peace and harmony. With maturity, I've tried to become a better person in society. Learning from mistakes of my past, I try to make my words and my actions connect. So I keep in mind Ghandhi's quote, "Keep my words positive, my words become my behavior." I am gullible and an easy target because I believe people are inherently good. So I have to be aware and work on developing positive friendships and try to avoid toxic people because they drain me of my energy and break my spirit. My energy is greatest in the morning and with each day I greet the world with renewal and reverence. So when we retired and moved to this serene place in the mountains, I felt we were on the right track. The people I've blogged about and talked about "appeared" to be sincere new friends. We let our guard down and fell right into their web. Over the past, maybe 9 months to a year, we

On our way to the transfer station where we unload trash and recyclables and then into town, this is what we see. Miles and miles of day lilies waving at us each and every time we drive by them. Don't know what kind of flowers these are. Just found them fascinating. While traveling through Murphy, over into Tennessee, and driving through other communities, we've come across some really interesting and unique names of roads, rivers, and areas. We have Old Poor House Rd, Box Turtle Rd, roads named after family members who have lived here forever like Glen Stalcup, Floyd Stalcup, Tobe Stalcup . There's Martins Creek, New Martins Creek, Old Martins Creek, Martins Creek Ridge. We driven up Joe Brown Hwy into the community of Hanging Dog and Unaka and driven by communities called Granny Squirrel, Buzzard Roost, and Rattlesnake Knob. Junaluska was named after the Cherokee Indian chief. Tennessee has Turtle Town and the Little Potato River. We've been so intrigued by

Unusually warm days....more like August weather than June. Temp was 67 when we got up at 6 AM and will be 91 by noon. When we walk, we have to get out by 8:30 or it's too uncomfortable. Lilies only last a short time in this heat and other plants look tired. Yesterday it rained all around us but all we got was a passing shower. Today there's a better chance for afternoon storms. Max spotted 3 deer when she went out on the back porch at 6. When she focuses her attention through the trees and gets a giraffe neck, I can carefully scan the woods to find whatever she's spotted. We've only had two hummingbirds at the feeders daily. It's a different summer.

emptied the camera and playing with my colors and settings Just some shots of the day lilies opening in the woods garden. appreciating how the light falls on objects most of my cooking herbs were grown from seed and did very well, did better than the poor veggie garden. my cooking herbs a friend of Cliff's who is a volunteer firefighter with him at stations 17 and 25, works at the NC Extension Service, gave us these olive or pickle barrels to use for my gardening. Cliff cut them in half with the trusty sawzall (sp???). barely thriving watermelon and pumpkin plants compost heap....thriving quite well...... Maxine watched this friendly garden snake slither off into the woods. "what the heck's up with the garden?" remains of the garden....pepper plants and tomatillo plants died, tomatoes sadly gotten beaten in the hail Cliff practicing his knots for the ladders course.