Fun Photo Editing Program

Recently the weekends - my prime time to go out and take snapshots - have gotten away from me. Things to do before my trip back to Ohio the middle of October and house cleaning before the contractors come to fix the water damage to the living room wall from the roof leak upstairs (Jane over at Small but Charming, I feel your pain . . .).

But I read about a fun program that can be installed on PC's that allow you to fool with all sorts of cool filters like the ones that come with Instagram for your iPhone. It's called Camera Bag 2 and it's really, really inexpensive.

I've been having fun with it in between fits of clothes drawer purging, glass polishing, dusting and CD burning to my iTunes library before they get thrown in the garbage.

Here's an example using a snapshot I took at the meadow down the street from me:

Update: Here's a link to the original photo from last year so you can see the difference:

http://agoodsnapshot.blogspot.com/2011/11/sunset-sunday.html

Barn Quilts, Randolph County, North Carolina

 A look at some of the barn quilts in northeast Randolph County, just a half hour south of Greensboro. Not as large and elaborate as the ones up in the mountains, but wonderful to search out and see.

This is called Tobacco Leaf, although the surrounding fields were empty of tobacco plants.

I wanted to call this Compass Rose, but the creator of the quilt labels it Providence Grove Star. It was put up by the Future Farmers of America at Providence Grove High School where this barn belongs.

And this is called Four Dancing Tulips, which I can see in the quilt. This is on a newish log cabin that from the road appeared to be used as a studio for the house next door. There are tons of potters in the area, so perhaps they are using it for that.

Aurora, Spencer, Virginia

What I was looking for on our Sunday drive was a house called Aurora located just off US Highway 58 in Patrick County, Virginia. While looking for interesting houses up in Virginia (which is just an hour north of Greensboro), I found that Virginia's Department of Historic Sites had listed all the buildings that had acquired National Historic Register status along with photos and the nominating documents.

Aurora interested me as it was the home built by Thomas Jefferson Penn, who founded a tobacco manufacturing company that ultimately became American Tobacco (Lucky Strikes, anyone?). It was also a very rare example of the Italian Villa style as shown in Andrew Jackson Downing's style book The Architecture of Country Houses (1850). In fact, if you go to the article about Downing in Wikipedia, you will find Aurora under the heading of Architectural Influence, which may help explain why this is considered such a gem.

I didn't hold out much hope for the condition of the house. First, it is fairly distant from good sized towns and located in a county where unemployment has reached more than 15% due to the loss of textile and furniture manufacturing jobs. And the photo that was included in the nomination form in 1991 showed a house that was in terrible need of work with the front porch half-rotted away from the house. A real money pit if ever there was one.

Another photo from when Aurora was up for sale back a few years ago, also showed a house in disrepair with the bushes and landscaping in terrible need of a gardener's shears.

But I had read on the Internet, that an immigrant from El Salvador had bought Aurora and was in the process of fixing it up. So onward we drove on the back roads until we found this:

Oh, and Aurora has always been pink and that gave it it's nickname - The Pink House.

What a wonderful restoration job a Central American immigrant to the United States has done to a house that truly typifies American architecture of the mid-1800's.

Also, if you would like to read more about Aurora and it's history and that of the Penn family, click here to read the nominating document to the National Register of Historic Places.

Along the Back Roads of Virginia

I thought that I would be able to get out and about this summer and take tons of snapshots and write about the things I saw in my travels.

But first the weather conspired against me with record temperatures above 105F with humidity to match. Even in an air conditioned car you'll still get the effect of the sun through the windows and you hardly want to get out into the stifling heat to get the best snapshot. Then my friend, TB, whose car we use (as she has air conditioning and mine gave up the ghost last summer) came down with an illness that put her out of action for more than six weeks.

So, I was left to my own devices, trying to take pictures of the birds in the garden, roses that were struggling back to life and thinking what I could take that was sort of interesting here in Greensboro. Which came down to not much - some interesting storm clouds while standing in a church parking lot.

And, yes, I would like some cheese with this whine.

But, TB is back and raring to go and off we went this Sunday on back roads up in Virginia to hunt down an 1830's Gothic Revival house on the National Register of Historic Places.

I bought a GPS and we decided to try it out to find this house (Actually the house is very easy to find; right off a well-traveled highway, but that is not a very interesting way to go).  This snapshot is taken along Deshazo Mill Road where both sides of the road was full of tall yellow flowers. I first thought, Goldenrod, but stopped and took a closer look.

 Verbesina alternifolia

Definitely not goldenrod. Did a little research on the Internet and found that this is a member of the Aster family and is called Yellow Ironweed or Wingstem. Along with Tickseed, a member of the Coreopsis family, we saw this for miles along the sides of the roads in Virginia.

Gray Catbird

I lose a cat (Miss Mouse, RIP) and gain a catbird.

This gray catbird has not only built a nest and raised a brood in my Forest Pansy redbud in my small garden, but has decided to hang out and become a summer resident in the garden.

He allows me to get within arm's length before he takes off to a higher branch or the junipers next door. Not normally a visitor at the bird feeders, now that I have added a mixture that includes raisins, he will fly in and get a raisin and then perch contentedly in the redbud.

Soon he'll leave with the other gray catbirds and migrate down to Central America. But for now he joins the two other cats in the household.

Kim Rupert Rose

This summer hasn't been kind to my small garden. Despite the fact that we aren't in a drought according to NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), it really has been feast or famine with the rain. We would go a couple of weeks without rain and then we would have fearsome deluges; one that gave my part of the city nearly six inches within two hours. And the heat! There was a long period in July when the heat indices were over 105F.

The antique roses in containers on the patio have suffered despite my ministrations, particularly with black spots. So, I did what I thought would be the kindest thing to put them out of their misery; I pruned them down to the ground.

And yet, they've come back and have started to bloom again (the black spot has come back, too, unfortunately). The rose above is Kim Rupert, named for a famous Californian rosarian (who also has his own blog about roses and how to create your own hybrids - Pushing the Rose Envelope). This is not one of his hybrids; this was created by Paul Barden and named for Kim. It is a small rose, not growing much larger than 1 1/2 feet tall which makes it great for containers.

Storm Clouds, Greensboro, North Carolina

If you take a look at the US Drought Monitor, you'll see that North Carolina is one of the few states that, so far, has escaped the Great 2012 Drought. Out of 100 counties in the state, only two are experiencing abnormally dry conditions.

And this is one of the reasons we've avoided being one of the 43 states caught up in the drought. Nearly every week we've had storms, including one that dumped six inches of rain in two hours in my section of town.

This incoming storm was taken from the parking lot of First Baptist Church and was run through the Simply HDR app on my iPhone.

Whirlwind Flag Barn Quilt, Randolph County, North Carolina

In the past when I've gone to look for barn quilts, it has meant a two hour or longer drive up to the mountains. But thanks to a new blogger friend (shout out to Matt. Go check his blog over at The Photohiker.com), I found out that there has been a barn quilt trail in neighboring Randolph County of 29 barn quilts.

I made a plan to drive the northeast quadrant of Randolph County to take snapshots of five or six of these barn quilts. Unlike the large and professionally created quilts you find up in the mountains, these are much smaller and more handmade.

This barn quilt is called Whirlwind Flag and you'll find it on the dairy goat barn at Rising Meadow. You'll also find friendly Nubian goats, too.

You'll also notice these photos look different than my normal postings. Thanks again to Matt who put me onto the iPhone app called "Simply HDR". It's a fun app to add HDR to your snapshots. I'm not a big Instagram fan (even though I have it on my iPhone). I found that I can email the snapshots that I take with the Panasonic to my phone, run it through the app and then email it back again. Time consuming and I'll only do it occasionally and let you all know when they're rendered HDR.

August Moon, Greensboro, North Carolina

No, not the Super Moon. This was taken ten minutes ago - Wednesday night at 9 PM - standing on the patio with a fairly clear shot over the back privacy fence. It's the actual color tonight, too. Perhaps with the high level of ozone plus the heat (it is around 84F), I'm getting this orange color.

Some day I'm going to keel over in a dead faint from taking these hand-held shots as I try to hold my breath long enough to get a decent snapshot. Maybe then I'll buy a tripod.

Patio Chipmunk

Outside of the birds who come to the feeders in my small garden, this is what passes for wildlife at my house.

The fun fact is that you won't find chipmunks anywhere in the world except for North America. No European chipmunks, no African chipmunks, no Asian chipmunks. And as annoying as these tiny little creatures are - they devour all my safflower seeds that I fill my bird feeders with since squirrels will not touch it - they are really cute.

I have a family of five who have created a little den under the edge of the patio. They all look the same except for one who just has one eye (not this particular chipmunk). Perhaps due to a run-in with the cat I catch periodically hanging around my bird feeders?

A Different Field, The Same Storm

Same Saturday storm, but a different field. Same results with the Birkenstocks though as this field was also mowed.

Saturday Sunset, Greensboro, North Carolina

As ominous as this thunderhead looks, the storm that is producing it is actually to the south of Greensboro. No rain here at all.

The clouds caught the red from the setting sun and behind me, those clouds were a vivid purple.

And a lesson learned, too. Don't go into a freshly mowed field with just Birkenstocks on. I now have the scratches, scrapes and bug bites to go with the snapshot.

Glen Alpine, North Carolina

Some of you may be familiar with The Hunger Games; either through reading the trilogy of books or seeing the movie. I'll be the first to admit I've done neither as my reading tastes lean more towards non-fiction.

The entire movie was filmed here in North Carolina. The scenes for District 12 were filmed down the road from this house in the tiny village of Hildebran 25 miles to the east. This house  wasn't part of the movie, but it is part of the textile history of North Carolina's mountains.

As far as I can figure out this was either the mill owner's house or the mill superintendent's house in Glen Alpine. The mill was built in 1915 and produced socks for many years until most of the North Carolina textile industry collapsed due to the massive influx of foreign made fabrics and clothing. While this house has languished and become uninhabitable, some smart person bought the mill and converted it into a tasting room for a nearby vineyard.

Little Brown Mushrooms

While I can't grow daylilies this summer, I certainly can grow mushrooms in the small garden.

Like my sparrows that are fondly called LBJ's by birders (otherwise known as little brown jobs), these are called LBM's by mycologists or little brown mushrooms. I think this is the species called "Japanese Parasol" but if someone can really identify it, please let me know.

What a weird, wild summer we're having this year. We've had thunderstorms that have dropped six inches of rain in three hours and days where the heat index has gone over 107F. The garden is showing the effects - the daylilies are gone and the leaves have turned yellow despite soaking on the weekend. I am keeping a close eye on the hostas and heucheras that have been planted, but they seem to be weathering the situation well as they are protected from the height of the sun.

American Robin

When it gets too hot and humid to go outside to take a snapshot, I amuse myself by shooting through the sliding glass door at the various flora and fauna in my small garden.

A regular visitor to the bird bath (although not the bird feeders) is the American Robin. The early immigrants to America saw this bird's red breast and named it after the Robin that they knew in Europe although these two birds are not related at all. This is a large member of the Thrush family while the European Robin is a member of the Old World Flycatchers.

There are times in the winter that I will look out at the huge white oak in the common area behind the house and see the limbs full of robins who have decided to hang out here in Greensboro than migrate further south to Florida or Mexico.

The End of the Daylilies

A last look at the daylilies in my small garden. Next year these will be replaced with hostas and heuchera (coral bells) as the Forest Pansy redbud has gotten so big that it blocks the sun the daylilies need to produce nice blooms.

The names of these daylilies are unknown as I bought them as a bag labeled "Lost Tags".

Barn Quilts in Old Fort, North Carolina

And more barn quilts along the Marion County Barn Quilt trail. These are located in the tiny village of Old Fort, home of the Andrews Geyser.  It is named Old Fort for the Revolutionary War fort that was once located here.

This quilt block is called Arrowheads in honor of the 14 foot rose granite arrowhead located next to the train depot which was built as a symbol of peace between the Cherokee and Catawba Indian tribes.

On the Mountain Gateway Museum, you'll find the Log Cabin quilt block.

And on the side of the Old Fort Mountain Music building, this quilt block has the appropriate name of Bluegrass Star.

A video shot inside of the Old Fort Mountain Music Friday get-togethers.

For my friends who think this would be a great idea for their areas, but are concerned there aren't barns or outbuildings to put them on, Old Fort is a good example that barn quilts can be put on any type of building from town hall to museum to commercial building.

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Sometimes when you are up on the Blue Ridge Parkway you can catch a glimpse of why these mountains were named as such by the pioneers who settled here. Fog had settled in the valleys after a thunderstorm came through with rain and higher humidity. I took this snapshot after crossing the Linn Cove Viaduct which is considered one of the engineering marvels of the world.

Andrews Geyser, Old Fort, North Carolina

One of the advantages to staying off the interstate highways and driving the backroads is that you can discover hidden gems that aren't amusement parks or shopping malls. This little park centered around this fountain is one of those gems. It is called the Andrews Geyser.


This is a man-made fountain in Old Fort, North Carolina in McDowell County. The fountain is named for Colonel Alexander Boyd Andrews, a North Carolina native who was the Vice President of the Southern Railway Company and one of the men responsible for the construction of the railroad between Old Fort and Asheville, North Carolina, in the late 19th century. The fountain was constructed in 1885 with a dual purpose: it was a feature of the Round Knob Hotel, and a tribute to the approximately 120 men who died building the railroad through this particularly treacherous stretch of land, that culminates with the crossing of the Eastern Continental Divide through the Swannanoa Tunnel. The fountain was said to be eye-catching for railroad passengers ascending the 13 miles of track and seven tunnels that peaks at the top of Swannanoa Gap because it could be seen several times along the route.

The Round Knob Hotel burned to the ground in 1903, and the fountain fell into disrepair. In 1911, George Fisher Baker, a wealthy New York financier and philanthropist who had been friends with Colonel Andrews, funded its restoration. The Southern Railway Company did not grant continuation of the easement for the fountain at that time, so a new, five-sided basin was constructed about 70 yards across Mill Creek, and the piping and nozzle were moved to the fountain's current location. The town of Old Fort was given rights to the basin and the pipe that carries the water, and the fountain was formally named Andrews Geyser.

The town of Old Fort continues to use Andrews Geyser and the surrounding area as a public park. Andrews Geyser underwent extensive restoration again in the 1970s, and was rededicated on May 6, 1976. Signs at the park describe Mr. Fisher's role in the early 20th century and the role of Old Fort's private citizens in the 1970s in keeping the fountain running.

Andrews Geyser shoots water continuously to a height of about 80 feet. Its water supply is drawn from a pond located at the current site of the Inn on Mill Creek, a local bed and breakfast. The Inn's property contains the original dam constructed by the railroad in the late 19th century, and the pond formed by the dam with the water of the Long Branch of Mill Creek. A 6-inch-diameter (150 mm) cast iron pipe runs from the dam, through a hidden gate valve, then underground approximately two miles downhill to the fountain. The water comes out a half-inch nozzle pointed skyward, and the 500 feet of elevation difference creates the pressure that drives the fountain.

Mitchell County, NC Barn Quilts

And here are more barn quilts that can be found right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. These are a part of the Mitchell County Barn Quilt trail:

This is Dream Ship on the Little Switzerland Book Store.

On the other end of the book store you can find Books and Coffee Cups quilt block.

And from an overlook on the Parkway you'll see the Apple Tree barn quilt on the side of the Altapass Orchard store. In the fall you can go and pick your own apples from their trees or buy them in the store. The weekend that we were up in the mountains, they must have been having a clogging class as I could hear the music and the sound of tap shoes.

Way too hot to go out this past weekend to take snapshots. The heat was in the triple digits, breaking all sorts of records along with some severe thunderstorms. We were lucky not to have been hit by the derecho that swept just north of us from Illinois to Washington, DC.