A Good Snapshot . . .

Back in a Week

2012-02-04T07:13:00.001-05:00

Between dealing with my Internet provider's customer service in India and the death of the modems, I need a vacation. So, I'm taking one.

Off to Arizona today to see family. Will be back next Saturday with hopefully a modem that works and lots and lots of snapshots.

Martha Denny Martin Douglas

2012-01-31T20:19:00.000-05:00

If you have been paying attention to the Republican primaries, you may have heard Newt Gingrich state that he would follow President Obama around challenging him to debates patterned after the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. For those who don't remember their American history and for my overseas blogger friends who weren't aware of these debates, Wikipedia has a good article about these seven debates and their raising of Lincoln's national profile, culminating in his election to the Presidency in 1860.

But there is a strong North Carolina connection to the Illinois senator they called the "Little Giant" that I just found out about recently. While looking through a digital copy of a 1936 Federal Writers Project guide book on North Carolina for ideas of places to visit, I came across a snippet about Stephen Douglas' wife, Martha Martin Douglas, dying in childbirth in Washington, DC in 1853 and the senator and his family bringing her back to Reidsville (which is just 25 miles north of here) to bury her in the family cemetery.

Wondering how a senator in Illinois would meet a woman from the Piedmont of North Carolina, I found out that Douglas had sat next to her cousin, David Settle Reid, in the US House of Representatives who then introduced Douglas to Martha. They married at her father's plantation on the Dan River in Rockingham County (where Reidsville is located) and she returned to Illinois with him. A year after they married, her father died and left her the largest plantation in Mississippi along with 150 slaves. Some historians feel that this event colored Douglas' attitude about slavery and his vote on the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

After Martha's death, Douglas went on to marry Adele Cutts, a great-niece of Dolley Payne Madison, James Madison's wife and another local connection as Dolley Madison was born here in Guilford County.

Anyway, I was fascinated by all these connections and decided to find the Settle family cemetery where Martha Douglas was buried. I figured that it would be really imposing with all sorts of expensive statuary and the like. After all, she was the daughter of one of the wealthiest plantation owners of the period, wife of a famous Illinois senator and the mother of a North Carolina State Supreme Court Justice, Robert Douglas and the great-granddaughter of Alexander Martin, one of the first governors of North Carolina after the Revolutionary War.

And this is what I found:

An abandoned cemetery. Martha Martin Douglas' tomb is that one to the immediate right of the picture. Doing a little more research, I found that the Settle family members (including the former ambassador to Peru in 1855) and been disinterred and removed to Greenview Cemetery in Reidsville years ago.

But here Martha remains, abandoned and forgotten even though her descendants live just 25 miles away here in Greensboro. Stephen Douglas, on the other hand, has a memorial city park and a ten-foot spire marking his tomb in Chicago.

Back Tomorrow

2012-01-30T20:36:00.000-05:00

The modem died, so I'm working on getting a new one. Hopefully (fingers crossed) I will be up and running tomorrow.

And I have an interesting tale to tell - God willing and the creeks don't rise.

A Short Interlude (Hopefully)

2012-01-26T20:17:00.000-05:00

I'm having some problems with my Internet provider . . . again. So while I'm ~~struggling~~ dealing with their customer service and my on again, off again connections, I'll leave you with one of my mourning doves taking a nap on a stepping stone in the small garden.

I think I will be ready for Xanax once this is over.

White-Breasted Nuthatch

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

While other blogs are showing woodpeckers (both here in the States and overseas) in birch trees, I had a white-breasted nuthatch in the river birch in front of my house.

I went out to put something in my car which is parked in front of my townhouse when I heard the call of a nuthatch in the birch tree. I stood under the tree and saw two nuthatches searching for bugs in the exfoliating bark of the tree. I decided to go in the house and get my camera and see if I could get a half decent shot before they flew off.

Much to my surprise, they continued to forage in the tree ignoring me as I circled around the base of the tree taking as many shots of them as I could. Generally any bird in the birch will fly off as soon as they spot me, so this was a real treat.

Eastern Bluebird at Lower Stone Church

2012-01-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

While we were at Lower Stone Church in Rowan County last week, taking pictures of the church and churchyard, I noticed a small bird fly into the single tree planted in the churchyard. I used the super-zoom to get in some snapshots because I knew as soon as I got close, he would fly off.

The pictures turned out well and as you've noticed, I'm using one of these snapshots as the new header. This is an Eastern Bluebird in his winter finery. Not quite a bright blue wings, back and tail along with a ruddy breast as in the summer, but still enough blue to bring a bit of color to the scenery. Unfortunately he is competing with a brilliant blue North Carolina sky that day and the sky has won out, just a bit.

Stunning Sunday Sunset

2012-01-22T09:46:00.003-05:00

Today is Stunning Sunday Sunsets that I do with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine.

Unfortunately the skies this week haven't cooperated for they have been either startlingly blue without a cloud in them or completely overcast and solid gray. So I went through my summer sunsets when the skies were full of amazing clouds and light and found this. I took this at my favorite meadow just down the road from my house. It certainly was a stunning sunset!

Organ Lutheran Church, Rockwell, North Carolina

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

And this is the sister church to Lower Stone Church, Zion Lutheran Church near Rockwell, North Carolina. It is known locally as Organ Lutheran Church as there was a large pipe organ hand-built by one of the parishioners, that once was in the original church building (above).

The plan is the same as Lower Stone Church although it doesn't have the inscription over the door. The steeple to the right was added to the church in 1901 along with an attached granite building with a castellated roof line - typical to the early 20th century church buildings. Unfortunately the addition adds nothing (and detracts to a large extent) to the beautiful old church and so I didn't take any pictures of it.

Organ Lutheran Church is the oldest Lutheran church in the Piedmont area of North Carolina and is the mother church to five other congregations in Rowan County.

Lower Stone Church, Rowan County, North Carolina

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

After visiting four churchyards in Davidson County to take pictures of the pierced gravestones, we continued south to Rowan County where two very rare stone churches stand.

The first church we went to was Grace Reformed and Evangelical Lutheran Church, known locally as Lower Stone Church because it sits lower on Second Creek than Organ (Zion) Church.

This church and its sister church, Zion Lutheran Church, were built by German settlers who came from Pennsylvania to Rowan County via the Great Trading Path. The land was acquired in 1775, but the church itself built in a style generally found in Pennsylvania and New Jersey wasn't built until 1795. The stone is granite, quarried nearby at the eponymously village of Granite Quarry.

The steeple was added in 1901 and the interior has been changed drastically since the church was originally built. I have to take that last one on faith as, like so many rural churches, the building is kept locked except when there are services being held.

Over the west door to the sanctuary is the following rhymed German inscription:

ST GEBAUT:

DIE KIRCH WELCHE IHR HIR AN SAUT

VON EINEM VOLCK SO GOTT ER KENDT:

UND SICH NACH IESUH CHRISTUM NENT:

DIE AUCH MIT IHM SIND EIN VERLEIBET:

UND SICH DIE REFORMRTEN SCHEIBET:

:1795:GNADEN:KIRCH:ENDE::

Translated to English:

“To the glory ofGod has been built, the Church which you behold, by a people who God confess,and name themselves after Jesus Christ, who are also incorporated with Him, andthey call themselves The Reformed, 1795, Grace Church.”

Memento Mori

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

Back on the road again this weekend after an aborted effort last weekend. This time instead of the mountains and barn quilts, I went in search of something a little more closer to home.

I was doing some research on historic churches in Rowan County, the same county where I visited Thyatira and Back Creek Presbyterian Churches. There were also some Lutheran, Baptist and German Reformed churches whose congregations had been established before the two Presbyterian ones; most of these churches were established in the mid to late 1700's.

While doing my Google searching, I came across an interesting article about the pierced tombstones of Davidson County, a county just north of Rowan and to the southeast of Guilford County where I live. These tombstones were carved by German cabinetmakers who had immigrated from Pennsylvania to the Piedmont of North Carolina in the late 1700's.

There are approximately 300 tombstones of this manner in Davidson County, scattered among seven churchyards. There are no other known tombstones created in this manner outside of Davidson County, either in the United States or Europe.

Historians who have studied these tombstones believe that a local cabinetmaker by the name of Swicegood and his assistants are responsible for carving these tombstones as the decorations are similar to touches that he added to his furniture.

Some of the epitaphs are written in Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) and some are written in English. This is hard to read as the sun was shining right on the inscription. You may be able to see at least that the script is in Fraktur.

Stunning Sunday Skies

2012-01-15T09:11:00.000-05:00

The weather forecasters promised snow flurries here in Greensboro on Saturday, but all we got were these gray clouds and no snow. Not even any rain, either.

Actually we were really fortunate and had beautiful blue skies without a cloud in them all day long right up to the point that I dropped TB off at her house. Then the clouds came in from the mountains where they were having snow and so I waited with anticipation to . . . nothing.

I'm doing this as an ongoing project with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. I hope she's not suffering from blogger's block the way I have all week.

Sunday Sunset

2012-01-08T08:43:00.000-05:00

Another parking lot snapshot. This time I took this at the Walmart parking lot this past summer right as the sun was setting.

I do this on Sundays with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine as an ongoing project.

Carolina Compass and Tree Variation Quilts, Ashe County, North Carolina

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

And then down a road that once was a railroad bed when the train used to run from Todd, North Carolina up to Abingdon, Virginia, then off on a side road to see this homemade barn quilt on a house. This is called Carolina Compass, a very detailed compass rose.

Back through Fleetwood, North Carolina to US Highway 221 to the very last barn quilt on the Yellow Loop. This is on a huge Christmas tree farm that stretches from the road to up the sides of the mountains that surround it. The name of this quilt is Tree Variation and this barn has been in magazines and books.

This weekend? I'm still thinking about where to go as I'll have to do it on my own with a wingman (TB) to read the map. It means I'll probably have to stay on the main roads and out of the back roads up in the mountains.

Delectable Mountain and Flying Kite Quilts, Ashe County, North Carolina

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

And if you don't have a barn or a barn-shaped garage, then the third option is a barn-shaped shed. This particular barn quilt is called Delectable Mountain and as you can see, is not quite as professional as the other quilts that we visited. Hmm, I looked at yesterday's post and it appears that this is very similar to Ohio Star. No wonder even long-time quilters get confused about the names.

No barn or barn-shaped building for this next quilt. This is Flying Kite quilt and what is unusual about this particuar pattern is that it sits on the edge of a Christmas tree farm and is not the usual Christmas Tree or Pine Tree pattern that you generally see on these farms.

Ohio Star and Crossed Canoes, Ashe County, North Carolina

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

I guess if you don't have a barn, then a barn-shaped garage is second-best. This is called Ohio Star. I felt a little funny parking at the top of the driveway and walking down to get a shot that wasn't blocked by the tree limbs as the homeowner was out in the yard. But I guess he must be used to people stopping and taking pictures otherwise he wouldn't have agreed to put the quilt up on the tour. I see a problem finding this in the summertime as the leaves would completely block the view from the road.

This next quilt required driving up a gravel road to the top of a hill and then looking back towards the paved road we came off in order to see these two versions of Crossed Canoe quilt. The owners must be big canoers as the name of the road that the property is on is called Canoe Gap Road (and not a river or lake in sight).

Barn Quilt Trail in Ashe County, North Carolina

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

And back to the mountains of North Carolina and more barn quilts this past Saturday. This time we went to Ashe County to do a quilt trail as there are now more than 150 barn quilts in this county alone. The Ashe County Arts Council has now uploaded six quilt trails with directions to their website which makes it very easy to tour the back roads in the mountains. You can check out the tours here: http://www.ashecountyarts.org/BarnQuilt.htm

The first on our tour was this quilt, Maggie's Wildflower.

And on down the road, this huge quilt called Robbing Peter to Pay Paul. As you an see it is made out of four 4' panels in order to make this large 8' x 8' quilt. Looking at the buckling concrete blocks above the door, however, I wonder how long this barn will remain upright.

Sunday Sunrise

2012-01-01T08:49:00.000-05:00

Instead of a sunset, today I'm posting a picture of the first sunrise of 2012 in order to celebrate New Year's Day. The day is promised to be sunny and warm (62F in January!), so I will try to make the most of it before Monday's blast of Canadian cold.

May 2012 bring peace, happiness and joy to all!

Sunday Sunset

2011-12-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

What a frustrating week this has been. I use an USB modem to connect to the Internet and for the entire week, it would connect and then drop after 30 seconds, connect and drop, and so forth, leaving me without a dependable Internet connection for four days. I had long discussions with the Internet provider (I hate dealing with call centers overseas . . .) with fixes that wouldn't resolve the problem and requiring more fruitless phone calls.

I don't know if one of the fixes that was pushed through from the provider's end finally solved it, but I have had a whole day of Internet connection without any drops. So back to blogging!

For today's Sunday Sunset photo, I stopped on the side of the road on my way home from work to take this shot. I didn't quite catch the pink and blues of the cloud overhead, but it certainly was a breathtaking sky that evening.

I'm doing this in conjunction with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. Go see what she saw on the other side of the continent.

Yuletide Camellia

2011-12-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

I took this shot of a camellia bush while we were at Thyatira Presbyterian Church. I knew it wasn't a spring blooming camellia that had unexpectedly bloomed like the one that Marie over at 66 Square Feet saw up in New York City, as winter blooming camellias are quite common here in North Carolina.

But imagine my surprise to find out the name of this particular camellia bush - Yuletide. How appropriate for a camellia that blooms this time of year. If you live in Growing Zones 7-9, you can plant this bush in your garden and expect blooms from September through December. You'll just need a fairly large space in your garden as it will spread 10 feet wide although you can cut it back and grow it in containers.

Hmm, wonder if I have a space in my small garden for this beauty?

Stunning Sunday Skies

2011-12-11T09:09:00.001-05:00

A snapshot of the sky after a thunderstorm. I took this in September down at my favorite meadow a couple of miles from my house. We've been lucky this week with brilliant blue skies with not a cloud in them. Unfortunately that makes for a bland snapshot when you want a stunning sky.

I'm doing this with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. Go see what stunning sky she saw.

Back Creek Presbyterian Church, Rowan County, NC

2011-12-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

The next stop was a church down the road from Thyatira Presbyterian Church and which was also on the Rowan County tour, Back Creek Presbyterian Church.

Back Creek was founded by a group of disaffected Thyatira members in 1805 during a period called The Second Great Awakening. Many church revivals were held throughout the United States with the idea of "restoring" Christianity to its most pure and primitive form before the Second Coming of Christ. This included displays of dancing, shouting and screaming during these religious revivals and meetings. Presbyterians were not pleased with the type of evangelical zeal that these revivals engendered (there is a reason they're called "The Frozen Chosen") and that some of the Thyatira members were displaying.

So, 20-30 family members split off from the Thyatira congregation and established this church in 1805. This is the third sanctuary at this site with the first two being wood-framed buildings. This Greek Revival style sanctuary was finished in 1857.

The interior of the sanctuary has not changed in those 164 years. Like Thyatira, the upstairs gallery surrounds the sanctuary on three sides and was originally built for the slaves owned by local plantation owners. The upstairs pews are original, too, as are the massive front doors. The pews downstairs were replaced in 1978 when the ones that had been there were taken away for restoration, but deemed too fragile to restore and return.

And after 206 years this congregation is still separate from Thyatira. Thyatira belongs to Presbyterian Church (USA), one of our mainstream Protestant denominations, while Back Creek belongs to Presbyterian Church in America, an evangelical denomination.

Thyatira Presbyterian Church, Rowan County, NC

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

It turned out to be a good thing that I had left my books and map to tour Rowan County the weekend before last, because this past Saturday the Salisbury Symphony Guild was having a holiday tour of historic places which included a couple of the churches that I wanted to take snapshots of.

The first church we went to was Thyatira Presbyterian Church outside of Salisbury. The church was founded in 1747 and is the oldest Presbyterian Church in North Carolina west of the Yadkin River. At the time that Thyatira was being established, more than a quarter of the population in North Carolina were Scotch-Irish Presbyterian immigrants.

This is the fourth building on this site, built in 1860 to replace a wood-framed meetinghouse. I'm sorry for the cropped picture, but there was a woman sitting right in front of the doors (right in the best place to take a picture) with a card table selling tickets to the tour. We'll go back later on and I'll get a better picture to show the wonderful cruciform windows there at the front of the sanctuary.

Inside a docent was getting ready to give a short speech about the history of the church and its congregation and there were other visitors milling around. He pointed out the gallery surrounding the main floor on three sides and told us that it was the slave gallery as the local plantation owners would bring trusted slaves with them to hear the minister preach on Sunday.

The cables stretched from both the walls and galley areas are to keep the walls from collapsing from the weight of the roof. The docent said that a few years after the 1860 construction of the sanctuary, the minister noticed large cracks in the walls and they added the iron cables to maintain the integrity of the building.

The Old Mill of Guilford County, Greensboro, NC

2011-12-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

And a contrast to Kerr Mill down in Rowan County . . .

This is the Old Mill of Guilford County, the county that I live in. This is just ten miles from my house and is four years older than Kerr Mill. The Old Mill was built in 1819 by Joel Saunders. It grinds (as it is still a working mill) corn and wheat daily.

When the road that runs in front of the mill was built in 1932, the original wooden flume which provided water from the dam pond to the overshot at the water wheel was replaced by this 26" steel pipe (which from the look of it is the original pipe).

An interesting side fact - Guilford County was created out of Rowan County in 1771. However, due to the large population of Quakers in the area who were strict abolitionists, there were no huge plantations or large slave holdings as there were south of the area down around Salisbury.

Kerr Mill, Millbridge, North Carolina

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

Last weekend our trip to Salisbury was called off because I had left my maps and book at my house. This time I remembered maps, my book of historic architecture and the GPS and so, off TB and I went to find some of these places.

First up was Kerr Mill in the Millbridge area of Rowan County. Now part of Sloan Park and open to the public, this grist mill was built in 1823 by Samuel Kerr, a physician and one of the county's largest slave owners, having 51 slaves at his plantation nearby. He was also one of the richest men in all of North Carolina having an estimated worth of $400,000 in 1860 which would be close to $10,800,000 today.

Kerr Mill was one of the ways that Dr. Kerr showed off his wealth. Of the 22 grist mills in Rowan County in the nineteenth century, this was the only one that was built from brick, an expensive proposition in its time. The mill produced flour at a monthly profit of $9,750 which added to his wealth.

The mill passed down through Dr. Kerr's family until the late 1800's when it was sold off to an outside investor. By the 1940's it was no longer operating as mill, but as storage space for its owner who then sold it to Rowan County in 1973 along with enough acreage to create Sloan Park.

The mill houses a tiny museum of Early American artifacts from families in the area and the water wheel has been restored (I saw a 1988 photo where the mill had no water wheel) and is working with water diverted from a nearby stream.

Stunning Sunday Skies

2011-12-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

This time of year the sky stays cloud-free all day long until late in the afternoon. Then it becomes cold enough that jet contrails from the airplanes arriving and leaving the local airport create clouds in the air.

Another quick dash out the side door at work to catch the sun before it disappears completely for the day (the sun now sets completely for the day at 5 pm, just as I'm gathering up all my stuff to go home). I wonder if my co-workers look out the windows just as I'm taking these snapshots and wonder what this crazy person is doing taking pictures at the retention pond.

I'm doing this in conjunction with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. Wonder what she saw at the end of the day there in Vancouver.

Upside Down Weather

2011-12-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

I thought with the hard freeze we had a couple of weeks back that that was the end of the growing season. Obviously not. The last week with its temperatures in the 70's coaxed one last bloom out of the Clotilde Soupert, the antique rose bush from Texas. I see over at 66 Square Feet, that the warm weather is doing the same to spring-blooming camellias up in Brooklyn.

Wonder what the spring will look like if this up-and-down weather continues . . .

Red House Presbyterian Church, Semora, North Carolina

2011-11-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

As TB and I are not fond of fighting the Christmas shopping crowds over the holiday weekend, we decided to go down to Salisbury to take pictures of the historic train depot, grist mill and other historic sites in the area since the day was absolutely perfect for snapshots.

I got to TB's house and realized that I had left my book on historic architecture and maps back at my house 45 minutes away. We agreed it wouldn't make much sense to backtrack north to my house when Salisbury was south of TB and so we decided to just drive the backroads and see what we could see.

We ended up in Semora, an unincorporated village of about 1200 near the Virginia border (so much for not going back to my house; Semora is north of Greensboro). We found this beautiful little Greek Revival church back in the woods and so drove up the driveway to take pictures.

This is Red House Presbyterian Church. According to information that I found on the Internet, this congregation has been in existence since 1755. This is the fourth church building on this site - a 1913 Classical Revival reconstruction of the second church building that was built in 1806. It was named Red House for the red painted inn that sat just down the road from the church.

It is a tiny jewel of a church building in the back country of North Carolina. The typical country church is generally a wood framed building. I can't think of any churches we've driven by that could compete with this beautiful structure.

Stunning Sunday Skies

2011-11-27T09:57:00.000-05:00

Although this reminds me of a sky that you might see up in the mountains, I actually took this snapshot out the side door of my office building. It actually is looking over the retention pond which wasn't included in the shot due to the fact that there is a huge galvanized pipe in the middle of the pond. It funnels all the rainwater off the parking lot so all the nasty stuff you find in the lot doesn't end up in our city reservoirs. Despite the fact that it is nicely landscaped, it doesn't attract any of my fellow coworkers to its banks. Wonder why.

I took this with the little camera that I keep in my purse for snapshots just like this. The only drawback to going out the side door is that I have to walk back around this huge building to go in the front door as the building is secured and you need a badge to get in the front lobby, and then get into your work area and even get into the restrooms.

I'm doing this in tandem with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. I bet she find a nicer place to take pictures than a retention pond.

Wild Turkey

2011-11-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

While I was walking around the flight cages where the Sun Conure, the Javan Pond Heron and other birds were kept, I was followed by this very large, somewhat familiar looking bird. He kept looking for food near my feet, but fortunately wasn't aggressive as the East African Crowned Crane since I had no food for him.

One of the keepers came by bearing food for some of the little birds and I asked her what type of bird that was (figuring it was some rare Eurasian exotic), she stopped and told me it was a male Wild Turkey. She explained that a couple of years ago, this male turkey and his mate showed up at the park as young poults and have stayed ever since. The female disappeared this past spring and the keeper thought that probably she was killed by coyotes who live in the area as these turkeys aren't kept caged or in enclosures as are the breeding waterfowl.

I'm sorry for the bad shot, but I could never catch him with his head up as he was too interested in finding food. So, I found this photo on the Internet:

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends both near and far! I will be back on Sunday with another stunning sky photo.

Parrots

2011-11-22T06:00:00.000-05:00

To be fair, not all the birds at the Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park are waterfowl.

For example, there is the Sun Conure, a small parrot native to South America.

Sylvan Heights breeds them as they have become very rare in their native habitat due to large numbers having been caught for the pet trade. However, they don't make very good pets due to the fact that require more time and attention than most pet owners are willing to give.

This is an African Gray Parrot which is also part of Sylvan Heights breeding program. The park is also trying to educate people that these also do not make good pets for most. In fact, they have become practically decimated in the wild due to trapping for the pet trade.

Sunset Sunday

2011-11-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

Today is Sunset Sunday which I do with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. I have to now time these photos for the weekend since with the end of daylight savings time, the sun now sets at 5 pm. So yesterday it was a fast race up the road to my favorite open field to catch the sunset and the clouds at just the right moment.

It looks as though we will have rain for Thanksgiving, but the hope is without the severe storms that came through last week. Unfortunately those storms spawned tornadoes just south of Greensboro which destroyed 65 houses. We will keep our fingers crossed that it will just be a typical November rain.

More Beautiful Birds

2011-11-19T10:02:00.001-05:00

These next three pictures were taken either through fencing or the bars of a cage, so they aren't quite as focused as the earlier ones were.

This is an Eurasian Eagle Owl which was hatched at the park in 2009 along with two of his nest mates. It is the second largest owl in the world and just slightly smaller than our golden eagle. Since they are nocturnal, I think they were slightly annoyed by our clambering outside their flight cage trying to get a good shot through the bars.

This is a Javan Pond Heron from Southeast Asia. Again a slightly difficult shot through the bars of its cage. These are not considered endangered in their local habitats, but Sylvan Heights breeds them for zoos and nature centers here in the US.

This is an East African Crowned Crane. It was by itself in a large pen with many warning signs about not getting to close as it would attack. It ran up and down the fencing, I guess trying to get to us to peck us to death or something. It is considered threatened in its native habitat of the African Savannah south of the Sahara.

More Ducks Today!

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

And some more beautiful waterfowl from Sylvan Heights:

Black-necked Stilt, a fairly common shorebird. It is found on the western coast of the United States all the way down to Central America.

Greater Scaup, a marine duck. It spends the summer in the Arctic and the winters in the coastal bays of Central Europe and the Great Lakes of the US. It can gather in groups or rafts as large as 50,000 to forage on the open waters of the ocean.

A Common Shelduck which is native to the UK and western Europe. Sometimes they are found nesting in rabbit burrows, tree holes or haystacks. There have been flocks as large as 100,000 spotted on the Wadden Sea area of the Netherlands.

And even more birds tomorrow!

The Sun Will Come Out . . . Tomorrow

2011-11-17T06:41:00.001-05:00

I couldn't write a post last night and upload photos. We were under a tornado watch all evening and some extremely severe thunderstorms did erupt around my house. I just unplugged everything and read.

The rain continues today, but it looks like just rain. Parts to the south of Greensboro were hit by tornadoes which fortunately never came through our area.

Photos of ducks and geese (oh my!) tomorrow.

Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park, Scotland Neck, NC

2011-11-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

Hawaiian Goose

But the real reason we came to eastern North Carolina was to visit Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park just outside of Scotland Neck. Here is the largest waterfowl breeding facility in the world and it is open to the public. There are more than 1,500 ducks, geese, cranes, and various other birds, most of whom are endangered or near endangered status.

The park is set up so that you can get close up to most of these birds within their enclosures. I had a terrific time taking tons of snapshots although I was extremely impressed by the dedicated photographer who came with his DSLR and $10,000 zoom lens (although the question was why did he need such an extreme zoom lens when you could get within inches of the ducks and geese).

Here are some of the birds we saw:

A Muscovy Duck which is native to Nicaragua. Along with the Mallard considered one of the wild ancestors of the domestic duck.

This little Scarlet Ibis strolled down the path in front of us, coming so near that I nearly stepped on it. Since all the chicks are hand raised at the park, they have no fear of the visitors who come through. I did find out that if you get too close to some of the geese and don't have any food for them, you are liable to get a strong nip (looking at you, Hawaiian Goose).

Above is the Great Curassow which is considered threatened in its native South America habitat. Again, since it was hand-raised here at the park, he would follow us around the enclosure and let us get up close as we wanted to without taking off.

More pictures tomorrow!

Cotton Press, Tarboro, North Carolina

2011-11-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

I didn't do a very good job photographing this very interesting structure in Tarboro. I read about it in Catherine Bishir's volume on Eastern North Carolina historic architecture and so set out to find it and take some snapshots. This is a cotton press and one of only three still remaining in the United States (the other two are in South Carolina and Louisiana).

However I was lucky enough to find photos that were taken by the National Park Service in the 1940's which shows the cotton press as it sat on The Commons in Tarboro without this shed sheltering it.

It was originally built in the late 18th century on a plantation outside of Tarboro to press fruit for wine and apples for cider, but by 1840 it was turned into a press for cotton after it was ginned so that it could be assembled into bales. Four mules or oxen were hitched to the two long booms to provide the turning power.

You can see clearly the two booms at the top of the press and the large screw in the middle that compacted the cotton into bales. The whole structure stands almost 25 feet tall.

This is also the time of year that cotton is picked in the fields in eastern North Carolina by huge harvesters. You won't see field labor picking cotton anymore. The sides of the roads we drove on this past weekend was full of cotton bolls that had fallen out of the trucks (known as boll buggies) that follow behind these harvesters. I should have had the presence of mind to photograph them but didn't think of it until too late.

Calvary Episcopal Church, Tarboro, North Carolina

2011-11-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

TB and I traveled to the eastern part of North Carolina this weekend to visit historic Tarboro, the ninth oldest incorporated city in the state. The town of 13,000 has more than 300 historic buildings with 45 city blocks.

We spent the most time in the churchyard of Calvary Episcopal Church, a two acre graveyard and arboretum. The parish itself was organized in 1749, but the current building was built over a period of a decade, 1859 to 1868 due to construction being interrupted for the Civil War.

The churchyard was designed by Dr. Joseph Cheshire who was the rector for the church from 1842 until 1889. Originally the churchyard held just a cedar tree and a rose bush, but Dr. Cheshire filled it in with plants he dug from road sides and seeds and plants that were sent to him by missionaries from all corners of the world. The result is a stunning arboretum of rare plants including a Cork Oak that Dr. Cheshire grew from an acorn that was sent to him from a friend in Spain.

Stunning Sunday Skies

2011-11-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the lack of photos and posts this week. I blame it on inertia and the fact we've gone back to standard time which means if I don't take photos on the weekend or at lunchtime during the week, then I don't take any photos.

But Sundays are sacrosanct since I do this in conjunction with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. Today's snapshot was taken down at Holden Beach this past February. TB and I went down for a long weekend and photo opportunities only to have three days of rain and fog. However the morning we left to come back to Greensboro, the rain finally stopped and I got this sunrise shot right on the beach.

I'm traveling this weekend, so I'm crossing my fingers that there will be lots of snapshots and things to blog about this coming week.

The Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens, Wilmington, NC

2011-11-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

"Minnie Evans was the gatekeeper of Wilmington’s historicAirlie Gardens from 1949 to 1974, and is considered one of America’s mostimportant visionary artists. Evans’s take on color, mysticism, and symmetrymade her garden-infused art unique. 'It was therefore an inspired decision,'Airlie Gardens Guild member Fred Wharton writes, 'to create the Minnie EvansMemorial Sculpture Garden—a garden within the garden, in the very place whereshe worked as a gatekeeper, where she experienced her visions, and where she createdher art.'

"Local Wilmington artists got together after Minnie’s deathto create this - a seventeen-foot-high, seven-sided chapel sculpted fromthousands of glass bottles, cement, and metal armature designed by artist VirginiaWright-Frierson. To create a fitting memorial inspired the symbolism andelaborate designs found in Evans’s work, Wright-Frierson assembled a team ofNorth Carolinians to interpret the artist’s themes in various media. The BottleChapel Artists were Virginia Wright-Frierson, Designer & Lead Artist; KarenCrouch, Dumay Gorham, Brooks Koff, Hiroshi Sueyoshi, Barbara Sullivan, TejuolaTurner, Michael van Hout."

-Fred Wharton, author of The Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens

I had not heard of Minnie Evans prior to our trip to Airlie Gardens, but this bottle chapel was breath-taking and the highlight of my visit to the garden.

Stunning Sunday Sunset

2011-11-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

I can always count on finding a super sunset down at the marina at Lake Brandt especially when the weather is changing and and there are interesting cloud formations over the water.

I'm doing these sunset photos in conjunction with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. Go and see what she saw for a sunset there in British Columbia, Canada. I have a feeling these types of days will be few and far between as we get closer and closer to winter. This week's gray weather certainly didn't lend itself to any good snapshots. I'll have to dig deeper in my archives to find something interesting I'm afraid.

Chilean Flamingo

2011-11-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

I'm rummaging through old photos to see what I have interesting to post as recent day trips have come up pretty dry. I mean, do you really want to see a pond full of water hyacinth and trees without any pretty leaves? The only good snapshot out of the entire day at the Pee Dee was that of the gravel road through the forest.

I took this last year at the North Carolina Zoo when I decided to go on a day trip during one of the coldest days of the winter. My thought was cold meant very few sightseers, not realizing cold meant few animals out on display. So over to the aviary which was inside, full of birds, and heated.

Except that the Chilean flamingo above thrives in this type of cold weather and so stays outside year round. They can survive at heights of over 14,000 feet in the wilds of the Bolivia Altiplano region as part of a group of flamingos, Chilean, Andean and James, known as the volcano flamingos.

In fact, I had no idea that flamingos existed anywhere outside of the hot climates of the Caribbean and Africa until I found this interesting article about the volcano flamingos at Cornell University's All About Birds website.

A Drive in the Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

A Sunday drive on a gravel road in the Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge about 90 miles south of Greensboro. Here, nearly ten thousand Canada geese overwinter along with various other waterfowl such as mallards, wood ducks, etc., along with the natives - white tailed deer, black bears, bobcats, foxes, and more.

We didn't see any of them. No geese on Beaver Pond, no white tailed deer alongside this gravel road. I did see a cardinal on a dead tree snag, but that was it. I think you have to be in the refuge really early in the morning, probably close to daybreak or stay a little after the sun goes down (the refuge is open an hour before dawn and closes an hour after sunset for those die hard naturalists).

But the trees are full of color this year, more so than the past couple of years. I was surprised as we have been in drought conditions all through the summer and generally that means less color in the leaves. Perhaps our late summer/early fall rains helped to counter that.

Stunning Sunday Skies

2011-10-30T06:00:00.000-04:00

I went down to Lake Brandt Thursday evening to catch the cold front as it came in from the Midwest. This is the leading edge of the front that brought us cold rain on Friday and then went up the Atlantic seaboard to turn into a nor'easter, one of the earliest ever and dumping large amounts of snow in the Mid-Atlantic states and New England.

No snow here in Greensboro (that would have been a record), but with wind gusts over 30 mph and temperatures in the low 40's, it sure felt like winter and not just a month into fall. Indicators of this winter to come?

I'm doing these sky shots with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. I know she doesn't have to worry about nor'easters there.

Song Sparrow on the Patio

2011-10-28T06:00:00.000-04:00

A shortpost as the weather is conspiring against my air card and my ability to uploadphotographs. We're getting that storm that dumped a foot of snow on Denver afew days ago; no snow, but rain and the temperature has dropped from 78F to themid-40's. Winter is coming.

Thefeeders are out in the small garden and this song sparrow showed up on thepatio to pick through the seeds spilled out of the feeder in the redbud tree.He is a ground feeder and because of his shading, sometimes the only way I knowthat I have sparrows in the garden is when the leaves start flying in the airas they scratch around.

This sparrow is the largest of all of our nativesparrows and has the largest number of subspecies - 52. I have no idea whichsubspecies this one is. Perhaps Melospiza melodia melodia or Melospiza melodia atlantica or even Melospizamelodia euphonia. Who knows?

Butterflies at Airlie Gardens

2011-10-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

Monarch Butterfly

A place to visit in Wilmington is Airlie Gardens, one of the sites of the annual Azalea Queen festival in the spring. However by the time I showed up the first week of October, pretty much everything had gone by and the workers were starting to put up Christmas decorations (That drives me crazy! Thanksgiving is first; in fact, Halloween is before both of those holidays).

But the Butterfly House was in full swing with lots of Monarchs and Gulf Fritillaries. It made it quite easy to take snapshots as I wasn't chasing them across poison ivy infested fields.

Gulf Fritillary

Barn Quilts in Sparta, NC

2011-10-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

And a look at the barn quilts that decorate some of the buildings in downtown Sparta -

This is called "Four Cubes and a Star" and it is on the side of the Alleghany Arts and Crafts Gallery. Quite psychedelic, isn't it?

And this is "Hawaiian Breadfruit" on the side of an antiques and pottery store. I'm told by Suzi Parron, who has written a book on barn quilts and has photographed many of these North Carolina barn quilts herself, that the owners of this shop had been to Hawaii for vacation and wanted something to remember their trip by. Hence this particuar pattern.

Sunset Sunday

2011-10-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

I had to dig deep in my stash of photos to find a good sunset. The skies this week have been beautiful, but cloudless and I think clouds add so much to a photo, especially a sunset photo.

I took this at Lake Townsend exactly one year ago using the old bridge super-zoom camera, the Panasonic FZ5. Lake Townsend is the largest of our city water reservoirs, but this year its water levels are down by many feet, leaving a huge swath of mud flats along the shore. However, the drop is not due to our summer drought (with 12 1/2 inches of rain over the past two months, we are finally out of that misery), but due to the city having to repair the dam at the eastern end of the lake and having to lower the lake levels in order to make that possible.

I'm doing this in conjunction with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. Go and take a look at what she saw.

Revoir à la Rose

2011-10-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

The very last roses of the year. The Clotilde Soupert has been a phenomenal bloomer this fall.

But as you can see from the bud to the left of the large bloom, we've had very cold mornings; not quite a freeze but there has been a little frost some mornings.

So, it tells me that I need to start putting out the bird feeders for my little boreal migrators and there will soon be bird pictures to come.

More Barn Quilts

2011-10-18T06:00:00.000-04:00

And some more barn quilts that I photographed this past Saturday up in the mountains. I'll identify them if I can.

This is called Dutchman's Puzzle. It is on the workshop of Dan Abernathy who is a renown bird sculptor. He provided a bird Christmas tree ornament for the 2002 White House Christmas tree (only one craftsperson from each state is chosen) and his sculptures are in museums and private collections all over the country. There was a gallery/studio tour in Alleghany County Saturday, so I got two for the price of one.

While there are two barn quilts listed on this particular country road, this isn't one of them. No idea what the pattern name is.

Even if this wasn't listed on the brochure, the pattern is instantly recognizable as Log Cabin. I had to take this from a distance as the barn was at the far end of a large pasture. You can see that they also are a Christmas tree farm (just behind the barn).

I did a quick mental calculation as to how many barn quilts there are in western North Carolina (foothills and mountains). There are probably close to 1000! I promise not to turn this into all barn quilts all the time, but will look for them on future trips.

Barn Quilt on Shatley Springs Road, Crumpler, NC

2011-10-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

The weather forecasters predicted a bright and sunny Saturday, so TB and I left early that morning to go up to the mountains and take pictures of the colorful leaves and any other interesting buildings and places we could find.

TB saw this barn quilt in her side view mirror as we were heading south on US Highway 221 towards West Jefferson. I would've never seen it unless I looked at the exact right moment in my rear view mirror. Since I was taking as many barn quilt pictures that I could find on this trip, I made an U-turn and back to Shatley Springs Road to take this picture.

I can't tell you the name of this pattern as this particular quilt is not noted on the Ashe County website which currently only lists 30 barn quilts. However the Ashe County Arts Council states in their latest newsletter that there are now more than 150 barn quilts in this county alone. Wish they and neighboring Alleghany County would get their act together and update their respective websites. It's delightful to come upon them accidentally, but I prefer mapping out my road trip beforehand.

Stunning Sunday Skies

2011-10-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

Another standing in the parking lot at work and shooting blindly up in the air with the small camera snapshot.

Our weather has changed rather dramatically from the heat of this past summer to the cool and crisp of fall. And with this change of weather, I watch all these storm fronts coming towards us from the Midwest with these stupendous clouds right before the sky turns grey and rains for days.

This weekend has been terrific, though, with bright blue skies and not a cloud in them, what we here refer to as "Carolina Blue" and what the University of North Carolina has co-opted for their school colors. But the Tuesday prior brought me all these glorious clouds and a stunning sky.

I'm doing this in conjunction with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. I bet her pictures are done a little more professionally. . .

Faison-William House, Faison, North Carolina

2011-10-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

Just north of Magnolia is Faison, another town that grew up around the Wilmington-Weldon Railroad (which now through many and various mergers is CSX Transportation). Although it was originally settled by land grant in 1776, Faison's heydays were during the years of 1830 to the end of the nineteenth century.

Prior to the Civil War, many planters built large mansions in the town, earning it the sobriquet "The Acropolis of Society of Duplin County". One of those mansions is the one pictured above, the Faison-Williams House.

Today the house is nearly hidden from sight behind these huge magnolia trees. I drove up the driveway to get a better look at the house which looked neglected and abandoned (I figured I could leave long before the sheriff's deputies showed up to arrest me for trespassing).

What an odd sight. The front stairs had been repaired but there was an abandoned secretary's chair and contractor's light on the porch. The old brick piers holding up the porch have been replaced in places with concrete blocks (ugly). When you look through the front door and windows, the inside has been gutted to the studs and drywall lies piled on the floor. If you click on this link, it will take you to the North Carolina State University Digital Library and photos of the interior which were taken in 2005. Six years later, it still looks the same.

A little digging around the Internet brought just one comment on a genealogy site from the guy who bought it in 1999. In 2001 he wrote that he and his wife were renovating it and planning on turning it into a bed and breakfast. It looks as though they gave up on the renovation shortly after posting that comment.

And doing a little more digging to find the owner's name, it turns out that he ran for town commissioner twice and state senate once and was roundly defeated for all three races. Think people were upset by how he's left this once proud mansion to fall into ruin?

Old Store, Magnolia, NC

2011-10-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

While I was trying to find another historic house in Magnolia, I ran across this boarded-up and abandoned store. It's not in my books, not on the Internet. I wonder what it's history is.

A close-up of its decorative embellishment in the gable of the roof.

Magnolia Academy, Magnolia, North Carolina

2011-10-10T06:00:00.000-04:00

I've stopped driving the interstate highways as much as possible during my weekend day trips. For one, it is mind numbing to drive and see nothing but four (or six lanes) of asphalt mile after mile. Secondly, it takes me away from the small towns and villages where there is always something new to see.

Magnolia, North Carolina is one of those tiny villages with something unusual to see. It sits along US Highway 117 which parallels Interstate 40. And since I-40 siphons off all the traffic, it made for a pleasurable drive to Duplin County and through the towns that sprang up along the Wilmington-Weldon Railroad back in the 1840's.

Magnolia was once the largest town in the county and the center of North Carolina bulb producers and exporters back before the Civil War. Today it has around 900 people living here.

Above is a picture of Magnolia Academy which was built as a private school in 1858. When I saw a picture of it on Built Heritage North Carolina, it looked as though a strong wind would blow it down completely (if you click on the link above, it will take you to the interior photos of the academy).

But when I finally found it, it appeared that someone had moved in (see the window with the air conditioner in the picture below) and had done a little, not a whole lot, of renovation to the building.

Sunset Sunday

2011-10-09T08:49:00.000-04:00

A last sunset on the Intercoastal Waterway at Holden Beach. This time I didn't hold up traffic to take it. There is a public dock under the ICW bridge where the locals gather to fish and trade tall fish tales. They were gracious enough to share the dock with me while I took sunset snapshots.

I was so fortunate to have a week where every single day was sunny and warm. Great weather for a vacation!

I'm doing this in conjunction with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. Go see her beautiful sunset.

Birdwatching on the Masonboro Sound

2011-10-07T06:00:00.000-04:00

This morning I drove up to Wrightsville Beach to take a birding tour of the intercoastal waters given by the Cape Fear Naturalist. The nice thing about going on vacation in October is that tour groups tend to be really small. In fact, this one was so small there was another tourist, the boat captain, the tour biologist and myself.

I wasn't sure that I could get anything decent in the way of a snapshot as the pontoon boat was rocking and rolling in the swells and wakes and I just have a bridge camera, not a DSLR with all the options and gadgets.

But a lot of the pictures turned out well. Here is a close up of the terns on the sandbar above:

The ones with the black heads are Caspian Terns and the ones with the wedge of gray are Royal Terns (along with a scattering of gulls).

And what happens when you get too close to a sandbar and set everyone off:

Brown Pelicans, Royal and Caspian Terns (in the air), Common Terns, Black Skimmers (the ones with black wings), and gulls of some type.

It was a terrific adventure and made me wish for Swarovski binoculars and a DSLR with a huge telephoto lens.

Commuting on the Southport Ferry

2011-10-06T06:00:00.000-04:00

One thing you can say about the North Carolina Ferry system is that they are strictly utilitarian and cheap. It only costs $5 per car to take this from Southport to Fort Fisher. I imagine during the summer and high season for tourists, that this is generally packed with cars, not the handful you see here.

But there are always freeloaders who sneak on after the ferry has set sail:

Common Grackle

First Summer Herring Gull Juvenile

Price's Creek Lighthouse

2011-10-05T08:36:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I decided to take the ferry from Southport to Fort Fisher and the beaches at the very south part of Wilmington.

As the ferry pulled out of the dock, I turned and looked back and saw this small abandoned lighthouse. I took some snapshots and then went on to the other beaches in search of interesting photos and shells.

When I got back to the beach house last night, I did a little research and found out that this small lighthouse is called Price's Creek Lighthouse and was built in 1849 as one of eight paired lighthouses to guide boats down the Cape Fear River. This is actually the smaller of the pair as a taller light was built behind it. According to what I read on the Internet, ship's captains positioned their vessels so that the taller light appeared directly behind the shorter one. By doing this, their ships would be safely in the middle of the Cape Fear River.

Their heyday lasted until the end of the Civil War when they were abandoned to the weather and scavengers. This is the only one left and now lies inaccessible on private property.

Looking Down the Intercoastal Waterway.

2011-10-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

Many years ago when my family first started coming to the North Carolina seashore (over 45 years now), the only bridges to the coastal islands over the Intercoastal Waterway where either drawbridges or swing bridges. I could remember many times during our summer excursions back to our cottage where we had to sit in idling traffic while the bridges had opened to allow boat traffic down the ICW. For some beaches like Sunset Beach, the only bridge connecting it to the mainland was not only a swing bridge, but a one-lane bridge meaning traffic had to wait for the other lane to clear.

Some years back, someone in state government finally got a clue that trying to evacuate these hugely populated islands for a hurricane was going to prove to be a nightmare situation with this little bridges and so they started building mammoth concrete bridges over the ICW to replace these now outmoded asphalt and wood ones.

This is the evening view from the bridge from the mainland to Holden Beach over the Intercoastal Waterway. It is not one of my better snapshots as I had to stop at the top of the bridge, roll down the car window and take a quick shot while I held up traffic behind me. But at least they were patient for that minute - no laying on of car horns and no sheriff involved.

Buckner Hill Plantation, Faison, NC

2011-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00

I know what you're thinking. I went to the beach for vacation, so where are the beach snapshots?

No beach for my Sunday travels - rather away from the beach in search of historic buildings that are too far from Greensboro for a day trip. In fact, I had this specific building on my list for quite a long time and now that I was within driving distance, off I went.

For those of you who saw The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood back in 2002, this house may look familiar. It portrayed Pecan Grove, the Walker family's home place in Louisiana. It is actually Buckner Hill Plantation outside of Faison, NC - many, many miles from Louisiana.

It is one of the largest plantation homes in North Carolina and was built by skilled slaves owned by Dr. Buckner Hill in the 1850's. The floor plan is that of a cruciform with twelve foot wide halls bisecting both floors. When the weather becomes too hot for the family, the doors and windows are opened and the interior halls become interior porches. The large intersection of the hallways was also used by the original family members as a ballroom.

I saw the owner trimming his hedge out back, stopped and asked if I could come onto the property to take pictures of the front of the house. He's probably quite used to sightseers coming by and was very gracious and allowed me to drive up the driveway and take all the pictures I wanted.

Stunning Sunday Sky

2011-10-02T08:23:00.002-04:00

I can't believe I have gone a whole week without posting, but sometimes life and work get in the way. I'll have lots and lots of posts this week as I am on vacation down at the beach. The weather forecast says every day will be sunny and warm, so lots of opportunities for snapshots.

Today's photo is of the sky after one of our thunderstorms from last week finally ended and the sun came out that morning.

I'm doing this with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. I may miss a week of blogging, but I won't miss a Sunday sky or sunset.

Storm Front

2011-09-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

After I finished taking sunset photos at my favorite meadow, I drove back to the Lunsford Richardson farm on Plainfield Road to catch the after-sunset clouds, plus the clouds from the storm coming from the south.

For those who think the only dramatic storm clouds can be found in the Midwest, I think our skies prove otherwise.

Sunset Sunday

2011-09-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

This week has brought us almost three inches of rain and according to the forecasters, it will continue to rain through the coming week. Great for our drought stricken county; not so great for my Internet connection which has a tendency to disappear when the rain and wind pick up. So this will be a short and quick post.

This was yesterday evening as one rainstorm was leaving and another was heading towards us from the south. I tried to capture, but couldn't, the rays of sunlight that had glimpses of green and purple in them. I shot this in 16:9 aspect ratio after reading that it was the best setting for landscapes. Gives it a bit of a panoramic feel.

As always on Sunday I am doing this in tandem with Anyes at Far Away in the Sunshine. Wonder what her evenings brought her?

Clotilde Soupert

2011-09-22T20:19:00.000-04:00

Our summer ended with Greensboro more than six inches of rainfall in the deficit column. My small garden took the brunt despite all the evenings spent hand watering the daylilies; perhaps they will return next year. The antique roses from Oregon and Texas fared little better between the extreme heat and the nonstop black spot.

And then this week it started to rain . . . and rain . . . and rain with more rain to come through the end of next week. Unfortunately our ground is rock hard dry. Most of the rain will run off and we are under a flood watch until late Friday evening.

It has also affected my ability to upload to Blogger as my internet connection has ground to a very slow walk (I have an air card which seems to be affected by all this rain and wind).

But the roses love this and the cooler weather and are blooming like crazy for a second go-round. This particular beauty is called Clotilde Soupert and is from Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas.

Stunning Sunday Skies

2011-09-18T06:00:00.000-04:00

Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine (and my partner on Sundays) posted photos earlier this week that she took out of a plane's window during a vacation trip she and her family took. This got me inspired and while I haven't taken any trips on a plane lately, the clouds coming in ahead of a strong cold front were the exact opposite of her beautiful blue skies and white fluffy clouds. Again, this is one of my standing in the parking lot shots on the small camera where I can't see the LCD screen while I'm taking the photo.

And this wasn't taken in black and white; the sky was exactly as you see it this past Thursday.

Go and see what Anyes saw this week up in the skies on the west coast of Canada. I bet it was really amazing.

Edwards-Franklin House, Lowgap, NC

2011-09-16T20:57:00.001-04:00

Our last stop before going home was the Edwards-Franklin House outside of Mount Airy. It was built in 1799 by state senator Gideon Edwards and then remodeled in 1820 by his son-in-law, Meshack Franklin, who was a US Representative prior to the Civil War.

While I didn't have before pictures of the Richmond Hill house, I was able to find a before picture of this house before it was restored by the Surry County Historical Society in 1973.

And how it looks today:

And while I read on their website that the house would be open that weekend, it wasn't to my great disappointment. Oh, well, we'll go back to the mountains and try again some other weekend.

Kapp's Mill, Dobson, NC

2011-09-15T06:00:00.000-04:00

I think of these Saturday day trips as the equivalent of a photographer's scavenger hunt, especially when we are doing specific trips, i.e., barn quilts, scenic byways, historic architecture.

After we left Rockford, the scenic byway took us towards the Surry county seat of Dobson. Taking this particular route took us right by Kapp's Mill, a former gristmill on the Mitchell River. The mill was established in the 1820's and was operated by the Kapp family until the mid-20th century. According to Catherine Bisher's book on North Carolina historic architecture, there was also a general store (now converted to a private family residence), post office and blacksmith shop next to the mill. This is still considered on the best-preserved rural industrial complexes in the state.

The person who owns this property is trying to sell it and the original farmhouse, so if you would like to see the interior of the mill and the beautifully restored house, check out the photographs on Flickr.

Sigh. If I only had $399,000 and was independently wealthy (the commute to my job in Greensboro would be a killer) . . .

Rockford Memorial Methodist Church, Rockford, NC

2011-09-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

After we finished at Richmond Hill Law School, back to the scenic byway and through the historic town of Rockford. We had visited the town back in the winter and I hadn't planned to stop.

But I glanced to my left and saw that the door to Rockford Memorial Methodist Church was wide open and being thwarted in last Saturday's attempt to go inside any of those churches, made an u-turn and pulled into the parking lot.

A glance through the door showed a surprise at the back of the sanctuary.

A life-size fresco of Jesus. This is titled "Come Unto Me" and was created by Tony Griffin in 1989. Tony is the brother-in-law of Ben Long, who is a world-renown fresco artist. For those who live here, Ben's most famous work is at the Episcopal Church in Glendale Springs.

The church was closed in 1967 by the North Carolina Methodist Conference as an active congregation. However, it is open for tourists who come to Rockford and couples who want to use it for their weddings.

Richmond Hill Law School, Yadkin County, NC

2011-09-12T06:00:00.000-04:00

Another Saturday and another day trip. This time we decided to travel on the newest North Carolina Scenic Byway, the Yadkin Valley Scenic Byway which would take us through the area that was designated an American Viticultural Area in 2003 - the first designation of its kind for the state.

I wasn't planning on stopping at any of the vineyards on Saturday; I was just out for a drive and some good snapshots.

But, as with last Saturday, we found some interesting NC historic sites with stories of people and events I had never heard of before (the fact that I went to school in Ohio and learned Ohio state history might have had something to do with that lack of knowledge).

This is Richmond Hill, the home of Richmond Pearson who was elected to the state supreme court in 1847 and later became the chief justice of the state supreme court. He established a private law school here at this site in 1848 which remained open until his death in 1878. Over the years, he taught more than a thousand students, some of whom went on to the state supreme court, three who became governors of North Carolina and three others who became United States Representatives.

The house is only open on the third Sunday of the month from April until October, so unless we can go in October we won't be able to tour it until next spring. From the pictures on the outdoor plaque, the house was a total ruin when it was bought by the Historic Richmond Hill Law School Commission. Little remained intact - the roof had caved in, the plaster had fallen off the lathes and the windows were all broken. It took the commission close to 30 years to buy and then completely restore the house. It now is the centerpiece of a 30 acre park and nature center.

And yet, despite all this history, beautiful setting, picnic shelters, walking trails, etc., we were the only people in the park.

Sunset Sunday

2011-09-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

Once again, it's Sunset Sunday and back to the meadow down the road from my house. I think these clouds may be the end of Tropical Storm Lee as it made its way very slowly from the Gulf of Mexico to the Northeast US. This storm added to the misery of those inhabitants in Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York who had already been pounded by the remnants of Hurricane Irene, but for us here in North Carolina, Lee just brought us some much needed rain and a gorgeous sunset.

Go and check out Anyes's sunset over at Far Away in the Sunshine. No hurricanes or tropical storms there, but she always finds beautiful skies to share.

St. James Episcopal Church, Kittrell, NC

2011-09-08T06:00:00.000-04:00

And in downtown Kittrell (Plank Chapel United Methodist was outside of town), we found this tiny little church called St. James Episcopal Church.

A little history about Kittrell and this tiny chapel from the NC Office of Archives and History (NCOAH):

Kittrell’s Springs, 34 miles north of Raleigh in VanceCounty, was the site of North Carolina’s first summer resort—a resort thatbecame a makeshift Confederate hospital during the Civil War. All that remainsof the site is a cemetery, the final resting place of 54 Confederatesoldiers buried between 1864 and 1865.

The springs, about a quarter of a mile west of Kittrell,were discovered in the 1840s. The mineral water quickly developed a reputationfor therapeutic healing powers and soon cabins and tents had grown up in thevicinity. “Some who drank it found their health improved,” said OscarBlacknall, son of springs co-owner, Charles C. Blacknall. “It grew gradually intoa rural summer retreat.”

Charles Blacknall, along with George Blacknall and ThomasBlacknall, purchased Kittrell’s Springs and the surrounding land in 1858. Thecabins were demolished and replaced with a three-story hotel that includedwell-ventilated rooms, a dining hall, a spacious ballroom, and longbuilding-length porches on every floor. Several adjacent buildings were erectedthat featured a bowling alley, billiard tables, and a barroom.

Kittrell Springs Hotel opened in 1860. Unlike the GlassHouse, the Blacknalls’s resort catered exclusively to a wealthy southernclientele. The Glass House was a haven for northerners looking for mild weatherand good hunting during the colder months. Most of Kittrell Springs Hotel’sbusiness derived from affluent neighbors in nearby counties making healthfulpilgrimages. Often rooms would be crowded with four to eight guests at a time.It is believed that the hotel housed 500 guests at a time in 1860.

With the onset of the war in 1861, Charles Blacknallreturned to Kittrell to organize troops and prepare for what he viewed as an“unholy war, in which we have been forced by our unnatural enemies of theNorth.” Blacknall trained his company, the Dixie Guards, who later became theGranville Rifles, in Kittrell’s Springs. After enlisting, Blacknall wasappointed captain of the Granville Rifles, which then became Company G of the23rd Regiment of North Carolina troops.

George Blacknall remained at homeand managed the resort, which continued to be a profitable business until 1864.However, as the war moved closer to North Carolina with the Petersburg campaignin southern Virginia, Confederate casualties continued to shift towards therear. Given that Kittrell’s Springs was on the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad line,the Confederate government pressured the Kittrell Springs Hotel into becoming ahospital.

The conversion of the resort toGeneral Hospital Number One was first announced in the Raleigh DailyConfederate on June 18, 1864: “This popular place of summer resort is nowopen for the reception of our sick and wounded soldiers—as we have turned itover to the government for their benefit.” The hospital began admittingpatients in June 1864. By the third week 223 soldiers had been admitted.Reverend Matthias M. Marshall, an Episcopal priest from the nearby St.James Episcopal Church, worked as the hospital chaplain and saw over religiousservices and the deaths of patients in the hospital.

Only 17 percent of patients at thehospital suffered from war wounds. The rest suffered from various fevers,diseases and illnesses. Estimates are that about 70 soldiers died there. Fromthe known causes of death of the 54 buried nearby, almost half died of typhoidfever and pneumonia. Only seven percent of the buried died by gunshot wounds.

The hotel burned to the ground in 1884 and the town was bypassed in the late 1890's by the railroad, all of which led to the near extinction of the town.

The church itself looked abandoned with its paint peeling off the sides in large pieces and the grass on the grounds nearly knee-high. But as I got out and walked around, I saw that the roof was new as was the central air-conditioning unit. Through the window in the back I could also see a cross on the altar, so the church must be used sometimes. But outside of the above information from NCOAH and a mention of it being listed on the National Register of Historic Places, that's it. As far as I can tell, no active congregation, no website, but someone is making sure that it doesn't fall to pieces as shown by the new roof and central air conditioning.

Plank Chapel United Methodist Church, Kittrell, NC

2011-09-07T06:00:00.001-04:00

Saturday turned into taking church snapshots day. As we drove through the back roads of eastern North Carolina we stumbled upon some beautiful churches along with the one church that I was specifically looking for.

This is Plank Chapel United Methodist Church in Kittrell outside of Henderson. According to the church's history, the first meeting house was founded by Roger Jones in the 1780's. That meeting house was replaced by several more churches until this current sanctuary was built in 1900. The church's website says this was the first church building with a steeple. The copper cross on the steeple comes from a former whiskey still!

Plank Chapel as it looked in 1909

St John's Episcopal Church, Williamsboro, NC

2011-09-06T06:00:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday I decided to find the oldest church in North Carolina which is fortunately within driving distance of Greensboro. Actually I was looking for the oldest frame church in North Carolina as the oldest stone church exists on the coast, St. Thomas's Episcopal Church in Bath, far out of range of a day trip.

The oldest frame church is St. John's Episcopal Church, located near Williamsboro in Vance County. It was built in 1771, refurbished in 1821 after falling into disrepair and then restored to its original condition in the 1950's. It is no longer used for regular church services, but is open on Sundays throughout the summer and for special occasions as warranted by the parish.

As I missed out on the summer Sunday openings, I just wandered around the property admiring the building and looking at the tombstones in the small graveyard. The earliest burials were in the 1790's (of the tombstones that were readable) and the last one was in the 1990's.

I also took a picture of the hand-blown glass in the windows (original or replication? I have no idea) from the north side of the church. You can see through the windows the flags of the colonial era, albeit backwards.

Stunning Sunday's Skies

2011-09-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

I feel as though I have been shirking my blogging duties - posting very little in the way of anything interesting in the past few weeks. Mostly it has been due to the fact that TB and I haven't been able to do a Saturday day trip in a long while and I'm not comfortable driving my poor old minivan to out of the way places that generally don't have cell phone reception and require a long walk back to civilization. But this week I will have some interesting places to post about as we did an extremely long day trip to the eastern part of the North Carolina Piedmont.

But today is Stunning Skies Sunday and with lots of different weather fronts coming through recently (and it looks like more predicted for this week with Tropical Storm Lee making a soggy trip in our direction and Hurricane Katia coming in the direction of the North Carolina Outer Banks), I had a lot of amazing skies to choose from. I think the owners of this field have gotten used to seeing me standing in the middle of it taking snapshots of the skies and so haven't (at least yet) called the sheriff on me.

I'm doing this with Anyes over at Faraway in the Sunshine. Go see what stunning skies she found for today.

No Such Thing as "Squirrel Proof"

2011-08-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

If you have fed birds for any length of time, you will soon realize that there is no such thing as a squirrel-proof feeder. I'm speaking from years of experience in that area; even the extremely expensive pagoda-shaped, squirrel-proof feeder that I bought from Wild Birds Unlimited was soon shredded to pieces by their tiny sharp teeth. From that point on, I've always made a point to buy inexpensive feeders for the winter and I then throw them out as soon as spring starts.

I don't begrudge the squirrels their food as long as they leave some for the birds. And I didn't have any hopes of a $10 "squirrel-proof" feeder even coming close to truth-in-advertising. But really, did the squirrel have to be quite so blatant?

Sunset Sunday

2011-08-28T09:06:00.000-04:00

Sunset on Friday down at the Lake Brandt Marina just a mile north of me. These were the first cloud bands from Hurricane Irene. It hit the North Carolina Outer Banks around 7 am Saturday morning which is over 280 miles away from Greensboro. The hurricane cloud coverage was more than 700 miles wide - wide enough to cover all of Europe.

It brought us nothing but some gusty winds and overcast skies. Not even one drop of rain which we desperately needed.

I'm doing these Sunday Sunsets in tandem with Anyes over at Faraway in the Sunshine. Bet she didn't have a hurricane to worry about.

Before the Hurricane

2011-08-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

The calm before the storm? I went down the road to my favorite open field to take pictures of the clouds as Hurricane Irene churns closer to the North Carolina coast.

Right now there are just high wispy clouds coming from the east, which may or may not be precursors of the hurricane. Unless it takes a greater turn to the west, we will be outside of the impact area by about 75 miles. It will probably hit the Outer Banks as it sticks out the farthest into the Atlantic. Greensboro is about 300 miles from Cape Hatteras and the hurricane spreads out 200 miles from its eye.

But it will probably do great damage farther up the coast in New Jersey and New York. They haven't had a Category 3 hurricane since the 1940's and millions of people in the succeeding years have moved to the coastal area. Let's hope that it isn't as devastating as the forecasters have predicted today.

Bethel Baptist Church, Ellerbe, NC

2011-08-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

After we left the Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge, we drove over the back roads for a while and came upon this small country church, Bethel Baptist Church.

The architecture is more along the lines of churches in New England rather than those here in the South, so I did a little searching on the Internet to see if I could find any historical information on it. Nothing came up except a runner's blog. It turns out that the parking lot is used as a starting point for ultra-marathoners who run 50-miles at a stretch - my mind boggles at the length. The post is interesting so here is the link to it: The Bethel Hill Moonlight Boogie.

Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge

2011-08-22T06:00:00.003-04:00

We started out Saturday to go to a state historic site, but halfway down to the site we changed our minds (hot, sticky weather and no inclination to walk around in it) and headed farther south to the Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge near Wadesboro. We had gone there two years ago in the fall when the colors were amazing and I thought a exploratory trip for fall snapshots was in order. We could stay in the car and mark out places to return in October.

Not as pretty as it is in the fall, but still an interesting drive

The Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge started out in the 1950's as an impoundment at the Gaddy Farm where endangered Canada Geese overwintered. The US government bought the farm and surrounding acreage in the 1960's to provide habitat for migratory waterfowl. In the wintertime the refuge can host more than 10,000 Canada Geese and other ducks and geese, migratory songbirds, quail, wild turkeys and the local whitetail deer and black bears.

It was kind of eerie as we were the only people driving through the back of the refuge. I was a little concerned as we were out of cell phone range and if something happened to the car it would be a long walk back to a paved country road.

We stopped several times to take pictures of wildflowers, the Pee Dee river, cornfields that are planted just for the migrating waterfowl which are now burnt and brown and this butterfly in the middle of the road.

It is called a Red Spotted Purple. Not only is it the name of the butterfly, but an apt description of how it looks. S/he posed for me on the gravel refuge road and allowed me to take quite a few snapshots before s/he flew off into the woods.

Stunning Sunday Skies

2011-08-21T09:47:00.000-04:00

Another Sunday's stunning skies found down the road from me at a field that offers great snapshot advantages since it is wide open, right next to the road and has absolutely no power lines to get in the way of the shot!

As always, you'll find another stunning sky over at my friend, Anyes' blog, Faraway in the Sunshine.

A Late Summer Evening at Lake Brandt

2011-08-18T06:00:00.004-04:00

I'm not trying to make this an extension of the Weather Channel, but with the changing weather and all these strong fronts coming through, it makes for some pretty dramatic snapshots.

This is down at the Lake Brandt Marina, just a mile or so north of my house. For those who are not at all familiar with Greensboro, this is the second of our public water reservoirs. The first is Lake Higgins to the west, then Lake Brandt and finally our largest, Lake Townsend. The water flows from reservoir to reservoir in a stair-step fashion using gravity.

The city has made all three into city parks with walking and mountain biking trails circling the perimeters. You can also fish at all three (they are kept stocked and Lake Higgins has a fish hatchery) or rent canoes or kayaks. At Lake Townsend you can also rent a Sunfish sail boat if you wish. The only thing you cannot do is swim at the three lakes since it provides Greensboro with its drinking water.

Windmill, Ennis, NC

2011-08-16T06:00:00.001-04:00

I have no idea why this snapshot seems crooked. I think it is because the shed sits at the back of a slope and so it seems off-kilter.

The last of the five barn quilts that we could find out of the 13 that we started out to find. This is called Windmill and again it is one of the smaller of the barn quilts. I should have zoomed out and shown the vegetable and flower garden in front of it. This is how I would love to live, up in the mountains with a large garden area.

Mammatus Clouds

2011-08-15T06:50:00.001-04:00

I took this one standing in a mown field about four miles from my house. This is one of the 162 snapshots that I took in two days of the clouds at sunset. There were just some fascinating formations caused by the very strong cold fronts coming from the Midwest.

This particular cloud formation is called mammatus which are associated with strong thunderstorms. For this particular evening we got the clouds but never got the storms.

Sunset Sunday

2011-08-14T10:26:00.000-04:00

Finally! We seem to be breaking out of our string of unbearably hot weather - temperatures in the high 90's and orange haze from ozone trapped at the surface by the heat.

All these strong fronts coming through from the Midwest have brought evenings with interesting cloud formations. I spent two days chasing the sunset for an hour; driving from Lake Brandt Marina to a mown field to an abandoned housing development that was supposed to be built around a landing field. I guess they expected all those rich people would want to move 15 miles north of Greensboro to have a house with a hanger next to it. They built the landing strip, but never sold a single lot and the whole thing went into foreclosure and is owned by the Florida bank that loaned the developers the money. I keep wondering what they all were thinking. Actually I probably know. They thought they would make a killing on real estate like every one else did.

This shot was taken at the back of the development where the platted housing lots lie fallow. It was worth a drive way out in the countryside to get a sunset snapshot like this.

I'm doing this in conjunction with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. She always finds the most interesting sunsets there in Vancouver and British Columbia, Canada.

Pine Tree Barn Quilt, Ennis, NC

2011-08-12T07:01:00.001-04:00

This barn quilt is appropriately called Pine Tree as it is on a shed on a Christmas tree farm.

For those of you who live outside of North Carolina and buy a Fraser fir at a local Christmas tree lot or a grocery store, it likely came from Alleghany County or its neighboring counties, Watauga and Ashe. There is even a website for North Carolina Christmas Tree farmers which says that there are 1,600 growers producing an estimated 50 million Fraser fir Christmas trees growing on over 25,000 acres. The North Carolina Christmas Tree Industry is ranked second in the nation in number of trees harvested.

Zach Galifianakis of The Hangover fame also has a farm somewhere there in the county. Actually I didn't know that until today when I was doing a quick look through Wikipedia, so we weren't even looking for Zach.

Dresden Flower Fan, Glade Valley, NC

2011-08-11T07:07:00.000-04:00

The Dresden Flower Fan (or Dresden Plate, as it is also known) is probably one of the most recognizable of quilt patterns. This is one of the smaller barn quilts, 4x4, and the first one that we found. I spent time fruitlessly trying to find the first two which were supposed to be right off US Highway 21 south of Sparta, but when I almost pulled out in front of a speeding car, I quit that hunt and moved on.

The birds on the power line are barn swallows and there must have been close to fifty near this shed, swooping around our heads and squeaking their calls as they chased bugs on the wing. I wish I could've gotten better snapshots, but, true to their nature they didn't stay still for long and I couldn't get the camera to focus quick enough.

Handy Andy, Off the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

2011-08-10T06:00:00.002-04:00

And you can have a barn quilt even if you don't have a barn. I found this quilt on a narrow gravel road off the Blue Ridge Parkway. The name of this particular pattern is Handy Andy.

Google Maps was able to locate this for me unlike eight others.

Carolina Lily, Ennice, North Carolina

2011-08-09T06:00:00.003-04:00

There is no particular order to these barn quilts. There are 78 spread throughout Alleghany County according to the brochure. This is called Carolina Lily and is the largest barn quilt I've seen to date. It must measure 12' x 12', so think of all the work that went into this one.

But there was another barn on the property that had a little surprise and the 79th barn quilt. It isn't listed on the brochure, but if I were to give it a name, it would "A Basket of Yarn". It is much smaller, only 4' x 4'.

Route 18 near Ennis, North Carolina

2011-08-08T06:57:00.002-04:00

We went back to Alleghany County to search for barn quilts. According to the brochure that a friend picked up for me on a past trip, there were 78 quilts to be found (Alleghany County doesn't have a website like neighboring Watauga County). We couldn't do all 78 in one day, so I used Google Maps to plot out 13.

It was like a scavenger hunt. Google Maps took us on wild goose chases in some of the quilts, so I had to rely on a North Carolina gazetteer that I had in the car. At the end of the trip, we only found five out of the 13. And then there are the 65 we didn't even look for. It will make for more interesting day trips and by the end we will know every nook and cranny of Alleghany County up in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The above picture is in front of one of the barn quilts (and one of the largest I've seen on any barn). And a close up of the abandoned one room school house and truck:

Tomorrow I'll start posting pictures of the barn quilts we found up in the mountains.

Stunning Sunday Skies

2011-08-07T08:25:00.001-04:00

So would someone explain to me why the only time I can get interesting sky snapshots is in some parking lot - either the one at work or, in this case, one over at an industrial park over near our airport?

I bought some inexpensive filters on eBay - polarizing, neutral density, one for UV - and was sitting in the car in the park trying to get some shots of the quarter moon in the clouds. Since it was close to sunset, you can see the red of the sun on the bottom of the clouds.

I'm doing these sky shots with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. Wonder what she saw in the skies of British Columbia?

How Baby Figs are Made

2011-08-05T06:00:00.003-04:00

As the second crop on the Brown Turkey fig ripens, it dawned on me that this tree produces fruits without any noticeable flowering like other plants, like peaches, apples, melons, etc.

I did a little searching and found out that figs are very different from other fruits in that, first, it is pollinated by a fig wasp which crawls in through this tiny opening in the base of the fruit and, secondly, the interior of the fig is actually where the flowers are, each bearing a single seed. If you cut the fig open, the flowers appear as fleshy threads. I downloaded a picture of this from Wikipedia as my figs aren't quite ripe enough to pick.

So now you've added some new trivia to use if you ever get on a game show and I will keep a lookout for those tiny little fig wasps.

House Finch

2011-08-03T06:00:00.002-04:00

And here's a better picture when I am using the camera correctly.

I decided to put up one bird feeder now that nesting season is over. For the moment all I'm seeing at the feeder are house finches and the occasional cardinal who just can't quite manage the cage. Cardinals do much better with platform feeders and the one I have will come out in the fall again.

This female house finch shows signs of having a long summer caring for her chicks. You can see a bald patch on her stomach area or a brood patch. It works like a hot water bottle while she is incubating her eggs (although during this summer she could have probably done without it).

At least something is thriving in the small garden. Well, the roses are doing well, but I spend everyday watering them.

Hairy Woodpecker

2011-08-02T06:00:00.009-04:00

This is what a snapshot looks like when you pretend that your bridge super-zoom camera is really a DSLR with a huge zoom lens attachment. Not so hot.

I was wrong about the tree. I now think it is a willow oak. Anyway, here's what it looks like while standing in the parking lot across the street. Way up, at the very tippy top of the tree, is where I saw the Hairy Woodpecker and got the above photo. Underneath is several nesting holes. I didn't see any fledglings, but I really wasn't looking.

Price Park is a terrific place to wander around (when it isn't so hot!) to see all sorts of birds, wildflowers, butterflies and it has terrific walking paths mown in the huge meadow.

If you click on the Location, you'll see the parking lot I was standing in and the trees right across the road. If you move the map around a little bit, you'll also see the mown path in the meadow.

Sunset Sunday

2011-07-31T11:13:00.000-04:00

I can't believe that nearly a whole week has gone by without a post. I put all the blame on the weather and the air quality here in Greensboro. It is difficult to work up any enthusiasm to go out to the parks or lakes or downtown or wherever when the heat index is over 105F and the ozone level so high that it creates an orange haze in the air. Saturday night brought some rain and along with it the promise of slightly cooler weather and clearer air.

I took this snapshot over at Price Park's Bird and Butterfly Meadow. No butterflies were seen, but I did get some dreadfully blurry pictures of a Hairy Woodpecker above its nesting hole in a half-dead pine tree. The flowers are gone by and the meadow is full of seed pods and dried grasses. It will be a great place to go back and take some more good snapshots.

I'm doing this with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine as an ongoing series of sunset posts.

Crepe Myrtle "Sioux"

2011-07-26T06:00:00.002-04:00

The only thing that is doing well in my small garden is the crepe myrtle. This particular variety is called Sioux, a tall narrow variety which works well in the corner of the garden.

The roses are doing alright, not terrific, but they are watered on a daily basis. I've given up on the daylilies for the summer. Even though they've been watered regularly, they've mostly given up the ghost. Maybe next year.

Even the Forest Pansy redbud is suffering. Probably a tenth of the leaves have turned red and fallen off and some of the branches are completely bare.

Will the heat ever end? Will fall ever come?

Stunning Sunday Skies

2011-07-24T06:00:00.002-04:00

Another standing in the parking lot and shooting blindly above my head since I'm using the little camera and I can't see anything on the digital display (which is why I like the big camera with the viewfinder).

We get these big puffy clouds at lunchtime, but by the afternoon they (and any promised rain) have completely dissipated, leaving us with an orange ozone haze and heavy, choking heat.

I was hoping for rain Saturday afternoon, but all we got was one clap of thunder and three drops of rain. Nothing on the horizon for next week either, just more heat.

I'm doing this in conjunction with Anyes over at Far Away in the Sunshine. Wonder what the skies look like in Vancouver?

Brown Turkey Fig

2011-07-21T06:00:00.004-04:00

I bought this Brown Turkey fig tree three years ago out at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market where you can get all sorts of good things - organic fruits and vegetables, baked goods, flower bouquets, plants from local nurseries, etc., etc.

The first year I planted it in the small garden where it did so-so, but not well. That fall I transplanted it into a large container and moved it to the patio.

The second year (last summer) it just absolutely went into collapse by July. No figs had appeared and the leaves had turned yellow and fallen off. Nosing around some of my other blogs, I saw that other gardeners were having the same problem and Jane over at Small But Charming agreed with me that perhaps it was the extreme heat.

Generally I am impatient with my plants and if it doesn't do well two years running, it is out of the garden (or in this case, off the patio). For some reason I decided to give it a third year and see if it would produce any figs. And, much to my surprise, it did.

Now, the yellow and larger of these figs is the crop called the Breva or First crop. I'm told they aren't as tasty as the second (which are the smaller, green figs) and so I'm throwing them in the small garden near the chipmunks' hole for them to eat instead of chewing on my rose bushes (They do! I've seen them do it).

I'll let you know how the second crop fares.

I may be off-line for the next couple of days. With last weekend's day trip being a bust and the next few days being the hottest of the year (and maybe record-breaking) with an ozone haze that makes it next to impossible to take a decent snapshot, I may put off blogging until after the heat wave breaks next week. We'll see. Don't hold me to this; I can always change my mind.

The Cat Who Went Out

2011-07-20T06:51:00.001-04:00

Joe

I've always been more of a cat person than a dog person. I love dogs, but cats have always fit better in my lifestyle and personality than dogs.

And since I realized that cats are better off living indoors only, for the past thirty years they've always stayed inside. Even Smokey (gone six years now) who came to me as a semi-feral 4-month old kitten, never again asked to go out or even tried to sneak out an open door the entire 12 years he lived with me.

I now have three elderly cats - Miss Mouse, a tuxedo, who is 16 1/2 and Joe and Zoey, solid black cats, who turned 14 years old this month. They have always been strictly indoors, never once asking or trying to go out . . . until the past month.

I went out to take the garbage to the can on the patio and to my great surprise, Joe came outside with me. He's never shown any interest before and the one time I tried to take them outside (the patio is surrounded by a six-foot high privacy fence, so no chance of anyone wandering off), the hysterics were so great I thought someone would call the cops and report me for torturing animals.

Now, he wants to go out all the time. But as with all cats, it's out, in, out, in until I get tired of being the cat's butler and make him stay inside.

I wonder what brought on the change of heart about going outside after all these years?

Geranium on the Front Step

2011-07-19T06:00:00.001-04:00

I bought the most unusual geranium from a local nursery. It is dark red with a nearly black center. I've not seen anything like it at any of our other nurseries here in Greensboro.

I've ignored it, forgotten to water it and yet it blooms and blooms despite our horrendous heat. This week we are looking at head indexes of close to 110F, high humidity and no rain in sight. Can you say "Climate Change?"

Giant Leopard Moth

2011-07-18T06:45:00.000-04:00

I was walking through the parking lot at work when I noticed something on the curb that I first thought was a piece of paper with lettering on it. When I moved in closer to take a look, I saw that it was a moth - an enormous moth. Since I always carry a camera with me (in this case, I had the small Panasonic FP8), I took some quick snapshots and went home to look up this behemoth.

It turns out that this is a Giant Leopard Moth (or some parts of the South call it an Eyed Tiger Moth) which has a wing span of over three inches. It is only found on the east coast of the US and its caterpillar is one of the "Woolly Worm" types. Old-timers here in North Carolina believe you can predict the upcoming winter's snowstorms and cold by the bands on the wooly worm. We even have a Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk near Boone every fall.

Considering how this summer has been so far with 25 days over 90F and several days recently with heat indexes above 105F, my hope is just for a cooler fall much less a snowy winter.