Books in the window, harvest home and come into my parlor

- Books residing peacefully in the window of a favorite shop.

- The welcoming food and drink table at a friend's home for book club.

- And not that this is a good thing, just kind of funny.  This spider has the most perseverance I've ever seen.  This was the second web in two days that it built on the pergola outside my front door.  I photographed it on Sunday morning before knocking it down again.  And there was one more across the front door yesterday morning - I think it likes me.

So long Summer! - Part 2

It's been such a busy week that summer departed on Wednesday with little fanfare.  See below for more photos that celebrate this past summer:

- I first posted about this garden belonging to my aunt's sister-in-law and brother in July.  There are so many photos of it that I could have posted about it 10 times.  The thing that is so interesting about the gardener - she had never gardened before or done any sort of artwork until later in life, when her talent just emerged.  Those fields you see in the distance belong to a working farmer - strawberries and such.

- I smiled at this sign, leaning against the wall in the potting shed - I don't think she'll ever need it.

- She also creates mosaic art pieces.  This was a vase on the kitchen counter and you can see the mosaic back splash there in the background (click to enlarge.)  She collects old china to make these pieces.

- I titled this photo "A good place to sit" - taken along the river walk trail in Murphy, North Carolina.  There were spots like this every now and then along the trail.

- Here was another good place to sit - from the same walk.  That's a stone that one can perch on.

- And ending with Lake Chatuge on Labor Day weekend - first of September.  I began the last post with a photo from here in May, taken just about a quarter mile to the right.  This one is more somber and serene.  I love the thought of this spot as it says goodbye to all the summer visitors, knowing we'll be back again in the spring.

Have a lovely weekend, my friends!

So long Summer! - Part 1

...aka, photos I haven't posted.  We seem to go straight to summer weather here in the spring, so I include a photo from May here, too.  I always resist hot weather, as much as I know that it's coming, whether I like it or not.  And now I'm missing it already, as it draws to a close.

- Summer always kicks off for me on Memorial Day weekend, when I visit the cabin in western North Carolina for the first time every year.  This is a favorite walking spot (which you've seen many times) - Chatuge Dam in nearby Hiawassee, Georgia, on a perfect morning.

-My glorious flowering plants on the front porch are getting leggy now, but sure were beautiful in June.

- A neighbor's display of patriotism at the condos in July, with an accompanying sunbeam, on a Sunday morning, at the end of my walk.

- My sister spotted the antique porcelain figures in the flower bed in front of a used book store we visited at the end of July.  Click to enlarge if you can.

- And make sure you read that frog sign in the front window of my aunt's foyer at her home in Franklin, North Carolina.  Click to enlarge.  It's cute.  :)

More July, August and September - Part II - on Friday!

Pretty drinks, clean plate club and dragonfly

- Friend Leisa and I went to Cafe Sunflower in Buckhead (Atlanta) to toast her birthday (which was September 12).  These are the most beautiful drinks, I think - mine is on the left: Cucumber Fizz (cucumber juice, organic Ginger beer and sake).  Leisa's was a mixture of something or other with beet juice and a shot of sake.  Favorite question of the evening - to the waiter:  "Is that drink very beety?" 

- This was a special of the evening - eggplant with a crushed walnut crust on an aioli sauce.  So good!  We both got that and joined the clean plate club.  :)  Did anyone else hear that growing up?

from Google images

- This fun little toy is "Miss Tanaka" - a dragonfly who flies into the air if you press her suction cup to a smooth service.  As the suction releases, she flies straight up.  We tried it at the dinner table last night and it worked!  :)  I spotted this while card shopping and knew my friend would like it and she did.  

It's Friday!  So glad for the weekend to be here.  Hope yours is stellar!

View from the couch, desk lunch and city life

 - I was home a lot this weekend and spent much of it having a marathon viewing of Law & Order, SVU - it was either delete 21 episodes from last season or view them.  (Only one more to go.)  The real story here is that I love the view from my couch.  If you click to enlarge, you might be able to see some goldfinches on the feeder and one on the Victorian hanging planter.  They were cute - they kept coming and going, chasing each other away - bumping each other off perches.  More entertaining than TV really. 

- Whole Foods had pints of small heirloom tomatoes on sale and they were beautiful in my desk lunch at work.  The yellow pear tomatoes remind me of my maternal grandfather, who always had those in his garden at home.  We used to "walk the garden" and he would pick some for me to eat right there.  I don't see those often for sale, so I had to buy them.

- From Mr Cs sign:  BIDEN JAM 2015.  I laughed out loud on Friday morning, September 4, when I saw this sign.  Thursday was a traffic day to remember in Atlanta - on the morning news, they warned us of afternoon traffic, involving a college football game at the Georgia dome, an Atlanta Braves game, the Atlanta black gay pride festival, Dragoncon, as well as Vice President Joe Biden coming to speak in the evening.  I should have gone to Mr C's to wait it out after work - it took about 1.5 hours to get home to the 'burbs.  :)

River Walk, the rock ledge and lost in Murphy

- I had already walked a little less than a mile on the Murphy (North Carolina) River Walk when I had reached this point last Saturday.  Oh my - it was so beautiful.  Shady, leafy and a little isolated.  I did encounter other walkers here and there and plan to take my sisters there next time we are at the mountain cottage.  Murphy is about 20 miles from there and the river (Hiwassee) is the same one that flows by it.

- If you enlarge the photo, you can see the natural rock ledge going across the river that native Americans used to walk across to get to the other side.

- The marker in the photo, tells the legend of The Great Leech of Tlanusi'yi and what might have happened when they walked across that ledge.  It's kind of terrifying actually!  I'm thinking I wouldn't try that.  :)  I love the Cherokee symbols there at the top. 

- I was on a path that was referred to, on signs along the way, as a "loop", so I thought the path would circle back to my car, which I left in Konehete Park where the trail begins.  However, to end up back there, I think I should have taken the railroad tie "steps" to walk across the path on this old Southern Railroad trestle.  I went left instead and ended up, after about three miles, beside an old train depot, where there was a farmers' market going on.  I had no idea of the direction my car might be!

A very nice man, wearing a panama style hat, sat beside the open tailgate of his pickup truck at the edge of the farmers' market.  He was selling green beans and such, probably among the last of the summer's bounty and was a little amused by my dilemma.  (Probably because I emerged from the woods looking so confused.)  :)  He said I had walked a long way and that I was going to have to walk another mile of so through the downtown area of Murphy to get back to where (he thought) my car might be.  This part of the walk was something I didn't envision at all.  :)  After a couple of wrong turns, I found my car - I wanted to hug it - and made my way back to the part of the river I know so well.

Have a lovely weekend, y'all!

Morning peace, sweet visitors and pastoral scene

- Morning peace at the house by the river in western North Carolina.  The back porch temperature was a very cool 60 degrees, so I watched the morning news and had some coffee in one of the mountain pottery mugs my sister's late mother-in-law filled this home with. 

- And there were some very sweet visitors the first morning.  What a treat!  The young deer in the foreground had antlers just coming in.  He was alone for several minutes, drinking water, until his sister wandered out cautiously.  A lovely few minutes, until something spooked them and they retreated back into the forest.

- The cows grazing on the hillside looked so peaceful, that I turned around to snap this photo as I was leaving town.  I cropped out the pesky power lines to capture this pastoral scene.

Click to enlarge, if you can.  Friday - photos from my walk at the river walk park in Murphy, NC., where I got lost, but then found my way back to my car.  :)

Smooth as glass, ripples and construction cake

- Just looking at this photo from that Sunday morning, one wouldn't think it would be nearly 100 degrees in Pensacola, Florida, but it was. The water was smooth as glass and there was peace in the air. 

- On Monday, it was just as hot, but a bit cloudy. Love the ripples in the water there. If you click to enlarge, you'll see some gorgeous waterfront homes across the bay, as well as sailing vessels.

- And two little boys had birthday parties that weekend - great nephews Monroe and Sawyer - one on Saturday and one on Sunday. I loved the awesome cake for Monroe's party, made by their next door neighbor. Monroe adores construction equipment and can name all of them.  Pretty good for a three-year old, I say!

Thanks for coming by - I am trying to catch up on blog reading. Hope you all are well!