The Mountain Thymes

FOXFIRE Foxfire, a phosphorescent lichen, a tiny organism that glows in the dark and is frequently seen in the shaded coves of these Appalachian mountains. In 1966 Brooks Eliot Wigginton accepted a job in  Raburn County where he found teaching high school English students an educational and disciplinary challenge. Reflecting back on some of his own boring lecture classes in high school, he decided to engage them and hopefully increase their desire to learn by starting their own magazine.  It needed to be something relevant  that would sell so he assigned students to go home and begin interviewing their relatives about planting by the moon signs. These conversations led to superstitions, home remedies,weather signs, and other stories.  As they collected these stories, a name was needed for the magazine.  Each student submitted 3 titles which students then voted on and that's how "foxfire" began.  Thursday we headed to Mountain City in north Georgia to visit the Foxfi

When we lived in that other state down south , by mid-August the impatiens and other summer flowers showed signs of stress and fatigue.  This year after the extreme temperatures and dry spell we've had here, our plants are saying avoir and begging to be put out of their misery.  It's time for me to pull the sorry-looking coreopsis and phlox ........ and get ready for the fall asters and mums.  For awhile I did enjoy living far enough south where I never had to push my shopping cart through slush, yet we did scrape windshields off and on during some of winter's coldest weeks.  Florida was a welcomed change thirty years ago when I moved from Massachusetts where even as a little girl, I was never warm........ fingers and toes always cold and my spirit quietly depressed when the leaves gently left the trees by October not to be seen again until the new green appeared late April and early May.  I lived for May through August, waiting to shed soggy mittens and bulky layers for s

Fifty-three degrees when we got up at 6:30.......... A/C is off and windows are opened............. Last Wednesday Taelor and Matthew were in Chattanooga delivering her younger brother to a univeristy where he has a soccer scholarship.  Cliff and I drove to Chatt, treated them to lunch, and spent some time with them before they headed back to Kentucky.  Below is a picture of their 3 1/2 month fetus.  Look carefully and you can see the nose and face, little hands, and the curve of the back.  You know what that makes me, don't you?!   Blessed once again!!

Cliff no longer has Pillsbury Dough Boy legs and feet.  For many months now he hasn't been able to go for walks or move around without experiencing some pain.  His weight remained the same no matter how much he watched his sodium intake and food portions.  When I told him his feet and legs were hard-packed with fluid and he needed to see our doc, he denied that anything was wrong.  Finally, he must have gotten tired of hearing me (nagging) and made an appointment to see what he could do about his Pillsbury Dough Boy syndrome. With a change in some Rxs and an added diuretic, he's dropped 12+ pounds and now slowly dropping a pound here and there.  Husbands just need to listen to their wives because usually......most times.........we're right!  We got a couple more inches of rain in the past week.  Temperature was a soggy 63 degrees this morning.  Peas are up and trying to attach to their fence.  I have to cover them at night with thrift shop sheers so bunnies can't snac

Life on the mountain is dulcet.  August is humid and sweaty, but quiet and sweet.  The summer garden is just about done, with the exception of the peppers still ripening to their reds and yellows in the warmth of the August sun. The fall gardening has begun.  Radishes popped up in just a couple of days after planting.  Beets, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, new tomato plants, and a few fall seeds are set in the warm clay.  We've had afternoon showers most days.  This afternoon Cliff and I sat out on the back porch in the humid 76 degree air watching nuthatches and titmice come to the seed feeder and energetic hummingbirds chase each other from branch to nectar feeders using the porch as their flight pattern.  I brew up fresh nectar every other day filling the little feeders 2-3 times a day and the big ones every 3-4 days.  This is the first year we've had at least a half-dozen HBs constantly visiting the feeders.  They never cease to amaze us. Sunday I took another

Our faithful grey Nissan that brought us to Murphy got traded Monday afternoon.  We weren't really in the market to buy, thinking we would go a couple of years without any vehicle payments, but had walked around car lots off and on just browsing old and new.  Out of curiosity I drove an AWD 6-cylinder 2011 Kia Sorento and Cliff compared the feeling of a 4-cylinder on hills.  The 4-cylinder was out.  We sat with our Italian salesperson crunching numbers on the 2011, but when the CARFAX revealed it had been driven as a rental, Cliff said no and we started to walk out of the dealership.  After so many years of traveling with GenRad, he knew how rentals were treated.  So that was a deal breaker.  We were then told that Kia could put us in a new 2013 (with all the bells-and-whistles) for the same payments that we saw on the 2011 and I would have choice of vehicle color and interior.  Cliff showed no emotion, held a great poker-face, and told the salesman we'd go home and think about