Red Shouldered Hawk, Yadkin County, North Carolina

What do you do when you don't want to go Christmas shopping or get on any interstate highway full of crazed holiday travelers? You go wander the backroads of the North Carolina foothills even though the skies are overcast, the trees leafless and the vegetation brown. Nothing much to see, but at least you are out and about.

I saw this red-shouldered hawk on US Highway 21 just outside of Mocksville on an utility line. He posed for pictures until he decided he was tired of the whole deal and took off.

Barn Quilt, Hamptonville, North Carolina

This barn quilt probably has a name, but I can't find it on the Yadkin County barn quilt brochure. And yet it is one of the quilts featured prominently on their printed brochure.

I had parked the car on the shoulder of the road, emergency blinkers on, and walked down the road to get a good shot. An elderly lady, probably on her way back from church, stopped and asked if I needed any help. I showed her my camera and waved while saying I was fine and just taking photos. But how nice in this day and age of cell phones that someone would take the time to make sure that I was OK.

Stars in Flight Barn Quilt, Hamptonville, North Carolina

A new quilt trail to explore just 50 miles from Greensboro in Yadkin County which is where I went today, the first sunny weekend day in (it seemed) forever. The Yadkin Arts Council put out a brochure earlier this year showing 25 barn quilts, but the project has proved to be so popular that a Facebook page has been set up to highlight the new ones that didn't make it on to the brochure.

Here is their page for those who might be interested in seeing new quilts: Yadkin Quilt Trail.

And a great example of ingenuity at work - if you don't have a barn for your quilt, then use the next best thing - an abandoned tobacco shed! This particular pattern is called Stars in Flight.