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Autumn in the Mountains

 
 

It just wouldn't seem like autumn without a family trip to the mountains. I should say family, plus friends, as we typically allow the kids to bring a few extra buddies along as well. While we had to send the kids home on Sunday to attend Monday classes, the Mister and I stayed on for a few extra days. Wait, let me clarify that...college kids were sent back to college and high school kids to a home with surrogate parents in place!

While this largely tourist area of Western North Carolina is decked out to the nines in fall decor {manmade and nature made}, this was by far my favorite manmade display. How creative is this?!

 
 
We could not have ordered nicer weather. Beautiful sunshine and warm afternoons. But the mornings and evenings were chilly...even "frost on the pumpkins"--and flowers in the morning....

 
The Mister and I agreed that the fall colors weren't quite as vibrant as last years' offering, but still beautiful. The locals said we missed peak by about a week. Nevertheless, the natural beauty of this area never fails to delight. While I took a ga-jillion photos, I'll share a few today and maybe some more later... 
 
 
 

 
 
I spotted this nest about 25 feet off the ground on one of our walks. It was still an active nest. Returning with a zoom lens to keep my distance I still had a few inhabitants of this abode dive bomb me. But I brought my doggie along...as if that would offer any extra protection! Doesn't this look like an ugly halloween mask? [start in the lower right hand quarter of the hive and zero in on the dark spot for the eye and then the nose prodruding from the same area...] The kind I would never let my kids wear when they were trick-or-treaters much to their bitter dismay at that place in time...mean mother that I was!

 

...a view from our deck...so peaceful...

 

 Ahhhh...but the reality of two trips back to back has left a wake of disaster when it comes to my real life and normal responsibilities...not to mention the need to catch up in bloggieland as well. But I wouldn't trade these times and the memories we've been blessed to gather together for anything.

But as I think about that last statement, I realize that many of my fondest memories of times together with my family have even been as simple as taking a bag of bread to the park and feeding the ducks. The important part is doing something together...

Sea Island, Georgia

 
Just returned home from an enchanting trip to Sea Island, Georgia. A magical place. So full of beauty...breathtaking vistages...a place steeped in history...

 
It was truly another Cinderella experience for me. Being whisked from my real life of scooping up doggie doo-doo, cleaning bathrooms, and mostly wearing clothing suited to being slathered in doggie drool and collecting white fur...

 
...to finding myself in the middle of extreme extravagance...staying in a beautiful resort called The Cloisters...a place that was host to the G8 Summit back in 2004, the honeymoon location for George and Barbara Bush, a place where Winston Churchill's daughter was married...

...that kind of place...

 
We were actually there more on business to attend the PGA golf tournament but it sure didn't feel like work...elaborate buffets for every meal...daily gifts left in our room...people tending to your every want or need...

...meeting up with dear old friends who flew in from the Midwest...

 

 
...even though through the years because of hubby's line of work I've got to experience many wonderful adventures such as this, and meet many incredible people, I still pinch myself as I am very mindful of my humble roots...

 
...and for some reason those sentiments were even more pronounced on this particular trip...perhaps because more than once as I wandered the grounds of this Island tears slipped down my cheeks...long before this property became an opulent resort, it was a plantation...scattered throughout are the remains of what were once buildings, and even a graveyard for the slaves who worked on this plantation...

...very sombering...

 
I took way too many photos...and totally unlike me, my suitcase is still unpacked and we are about to leave again.........this time to the mountains....will I ever catch up in my real world? But hey....I'm taking my cues from Cinderella--when the opportunities to head to the dance present themselves, GO FOR IT!

Looking forward to catching up with all my sweet bloggie friends as well...

xo, Sue

Lessons learned at the Beach

her:  please don't make me go home...

him:

her: are you listening? don't make me go home...

narrator: "him" is laser-focused on computer screen.

 scanning through business emails appearing

as if holding his breath.

"her" is standing on balcony

gazing across the ocean

  with misty eyes

     and a look of desperation

   written across her face...

...him's heard this pleading before and has learned to tune it out...

...her does it every time they go to the beach...

WHAT I LEARNED ON THIS VACATION:

~begging doesn't always work

~begging can be irritating to some people

~the ocean is beautiful

~I could live by the ocean

~I want to live by the ocean

~I will miss the ocean

One more full day left in paradise and then it's back to reality. But I bought something here that has planted a small seed of inspiration as to how I might make reality a whole lot easier...at least in my household...maybe in yours too...

 
Smile.

Laugh a little.

And carry on...

xo, Sue

Ocean love...

If you're lucky enough

to be at the beach

YOU'RE LUCKY ENOUGH.......

 

 

Indeed, I am lucky enough...

Equally thrilling was to find the beaches free from any signs of a massive oil spill. Once in a great while you might see a small tar ball, typically the size of a grape, wash up on shore. But there are workers here and there still walking the beaches all day long scooping up anything that washes ashore.

Sadly enough, not all coastal areas have been this fortunate...but it's still comforting to know that some of the media reporting was a bit exaggerated, specifically as it relates to this area of the Florida Panhandle. Unfortunately, this type of misrepresentation  hurts these coastal communities whose economy is dependent upon tourism. 

Words matter, don't they? 
 

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.

~Jacques Cousteau

 

 

Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

 Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of heaven.

~John Lubbock
 
 

Ready or not, here we go!

 
There are lists, and more lists, piles gathering here and there of what to bring, the washing machine is going, last minute errands, and my head is spinning. Someone must be getting ready to go on vacation! 

But since one of my dreams in life would be to live on a beach, I'll put up with the spinning head..................... 

....because I love the white sugar sand, the skies that stretch to the heavens....

 
 ...the constant wind and roar of the sea that seem to carry away and drown out the cares of the world......................

....and some of my favorite antique stores just happen to be in this area! In January, here are a few of the goodies I snagged at my favorite haunts......

Some old books printed in the 19th century...

When my eyes spotted these adorable french pencils my heart rate hit the danger zone. Practically squealing, I showed them to Mr. Fun who said, "Why don't you get one?"

One? JUST ONE? Is he kidding?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole drive home I was kicking myself for not having bought them all. Maybe they'll still be there? And maybe a flying donkey will drive me back to the store.....

 
 
  The last two photos are of two adorable little linen rompers that cost $6 each.

 There were more great finds, but the clock is ticking and I best keep focused on the packing. Mr. Fun, who was traveling today to see a client called me as he was driving down a mountain somewhere in the state of West Virginia and his day was not going well. So if I hope to buy more than ONE PENCIL on this trip, Little Red Hen better be ready to travel. Smile.....

Fall in the Mountains

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. ~John Muir

 

 
  
John Muir, born in the mid 1800's once traveled through the mountains of Western North Carolina. In his writings, A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf, he described this area as follows:

"The scenery is far grander than any I ever before beheld....Such an ocean of wooded, waving swelling mountain beauty and grandeur is not to be described. Countless forest-clad hills, side by side in rows and groups, seemed to be enjoying the rich sunshine and remaining motionless only because they were so eagerly absorbing it. All were united by curves and slopes of inimitable softness and beauty. Oh, these forest gardens of our Father!"

John, I know what you mean. Try as I might, there is no way to capture on camera the beauty of this area. First, a lot of what you see on the windy, twisty, treacherous roads, cannot be captured on film as stopping on the road is not an option. At least not a safe option. There are no shoulders, save a two foot slice of dirt that sits next to the cliff-like dropoffs where I'm convinced many have spent their final moments on earth. But to keep tourism alive and healthy, it is a well kept secret. {Just kidding--but what if?!} 

The ample rainfall and haze that often envelopes these mountains are also formidable foes for this amateur photographer.

 
But everywhere you looked in the quaint little towns of Cashiers {pronouned Cashers} and Highlands, North Carolina life was happening. Festivals, art exhibits, flowers blooming, musicians playing, tourists by the droves roaming the streets, waterfalls spilling, and mountains bathed in shades of  yellow, red, and orange. 

We took in as much as we could in our four short days. Drove the countryside for hours and hours, shopped, ate at wonderful restaurants, and ate some more... shrimp with cheese grits, chocolate buttermilk pie, bleu cheese encrusted filets, green bean fries, sea bass...you name it, we probably ate it.

Reluctantly, I packed up the car gathering the teens who needed to get back for school and left Mr. Fun {a nickname I assigned to my husband} who is staying a few more days. "A business" meeting he says. I suppose they could draw charts and graphs in the sand traps with their putters if the need arose. Whatever it takes...

I went a little trigger happy with my camera during this trip. Lots of duds, but a few more worth sharing that I'll split into several posts.