Mountain Weekend Wrap-Up-and a little art

These two dogs have made many runs up the mountain this weekend.  I don't anticipate any trouble out of them on the way home.

It has been a really fun weekend.  Yesterday, we all went for a ride up the mountain, and Charlie took a group picture with the self-timer feature on his camera. Charlie and I are on the very left side.

Here is the little mountain view watercolor I did on Saturday.

It is tiny, only about 3" across.  It was inspired by the view from Art and Mary Bethel's porch in Jefferson.

Unfortunately, I painted it within a frame of a background that is way too busy for this painting.  I copied the background from the Journal Fodder Junkies book by Eric M. Scott and David R. Modler.

I think I will do a little surgery with a craft knife, and insert something else in the frame.  The authors had a black and white abstract drawing that popped really well in the space.

And here is a spread in my Moleskine journal that I finished after Hurricane Irene spared my town last weekend.

It is raining this morning, so we will probably pack up and go home shortly.  I hope you all had a nice weekend!

We Finally Gave in to the Urge for Internet

Charlie and I headed into West Jefferson Friday morning and signed up for Internet service here in our mountain cabin.  We resisted for a long time, but now we can bring our laptops and keep up with the world.

While we were in town, we stopped by the Ashe County Cheese Factory.  They have painted the milk tanks in front to look like Holstein cows! 

                    

                     

We went up the mountain on the Gators Friday afternoon, and the perpetual mud puddle on the dirt road at the top has turned into a sinkhole of mud.  Which did not stop the dogs from jumping in and cooling off in the skanky water.

                        

In fact, Roo was positively giddy about his mud bath!

                       

We have a big group up here between our three houses on the family compound.  Here is the youngest, precious little Shelby, with her Mamaw Mary and my sister Katy.

                           

And here is the oldest, my father Pete Turner.  He decided he wanted to paint, so I set up a table in the shade of our garage looking out onto the woods.  He made a small 4" x 6" abstract mountain scene in watercolor.  He makes color copies of these and mounts them on greeting cards.

                     

I painted along side him, and will post my painting later when it is dry.

My nephew, Donnie, and his family are also up for the weekend.  Here is his basset hound, Rooster!

                      

He actually has two basset hounds, Rooster and Dixie, who are supposed to make little Basset puppies one day.

My brother Chris came over from Banner Elk after doing a little fishing.  His hip waders looked a little suspicious in the back of his car.

                                 

It has been a nice day with family, dogs, sunshine, and beautiful scenery.

Labor Day Weekend

Family

My father, my sister's family, and my family, all in the North Carolina mountains for the Labor Day weekend.

Fun

Here's my granddaughter Lily and grand-dog Roo playing at the creek.

Food

Fatherhood

Great-grandfatherhood

(These are just nine of his twelve, soon-to-be-thirteen GGC's)

Friendship

Football

The East Carolina Pirates had a thrilling win over Tulsa, 51-49.  We brought the TV down to the garage to enjoy the sunny afternoon.

Flora

Fauna

More Fauna

(Jason and Robin's sweet lab, Brandy)

Favorite Sister

(My only sister, although I have five brothers!)

Fishing

Fond memories of a beautiful weekend!