ATQ Goes to the Mountains

After a stressful week at home wondering if we would ever have a floor, if Wachovia was failing, was becoming Citigroup, or was now Wells Fargo, Mr. Quilty and I headed for the hills for a little mountain therapy. Perfect weather, golden sunshine, crisp mornings, cloudless skies, and autumn color beginning to color the hillsides...yes, that did it for us!It was so beautiful that we took longer, scenic routes to go to town on Saturday morning for our errands. I spotted the quilted garage doors and barn art as we were on Rt. 16 after getting off the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway. Not sure about the white on the red barn wall. Surely not gang graffiti???
Here is Mr. Quilty stopping at our favorite produce store. I love the displays of mums, pumpkins, and bountiful vegetable harvests.


When we got back to our cabin, I planted a few dozen mixed daffodils. Charlie did a little hunting (again, no danger to the deer population from his efforts) and I stitched my two little quilt bindings down while sitting outside near the bird feeder. The chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, and a few little woodpeckers emptied the feeder in one day. Then I grabbed my camera and went off with Maggy to take pictures of the pond and creek area, where no one hunts. Perfect for restoring one's good mood, with the sun warm on my back and post-card beauty everywhere I looked.

In addition to the fall color, I loved seeing the reflections of the sky and trees in the water.
The pond below our cabin was looking very serene in the golden light.

On Saturday night, we rode in the Gator to the top of the mountain for an unobstructed view of the stars. It was a great night for shooting stars. The next afternoon we also enjoyed a ride through the Christmas tree farms and along the creek.
On the way home, we took the Blue Ridge Parkway again. Here is one Happy Little Cloud in the blue sky (RIP, Bob Ross!)

The clouds were starting to roll across the valley as we headed down the hill. What a beautiful weekend of R&R!