Mountain Weekend

This weekend it was back to our mountain cabin.  Finally, there are leaves on the trees there!

I went on a walk looking for signs of spring, and found many!

I thought it was about time for the wild "flame" azalea to be in bloom.  I found some on the very top of the mountain.

The pink ladies' slipper orchids are somewhat elusive, but we have a nice crop growing along our driveway.

Before we left home, I started work on a watercolor painting  Here is a preview of the unfinished scene.  It does not have much left to do except add some detail.

A few weeks ago I gave my sister the Inspire journaling Bible.  She had seen what I was doing with my Bible art, and was interested, but not sure how to get going illustrating the pages.  The Inspire Bible has line drawings and text in the margins on many pages, but also has many blank margins to fill as desired.  She came over this afternoon and we painted together.  She was doing a page from Revelations, so I turned to the same page and chose to illustrate the Tree of Life from Revelations.

I tried out my new Derwent Inktense pencils.  They are a water-soluble colored pencil, but not watercolor.  The color is acrylic ink.  Once it dries, you can not reactivate the color by wetting it.  I love the vibrant, rich color and the ease of drawing with pencil rather than paintbrush.

Must stop...time for Game of Thrones!

Mountain Weekend

Here it is Saturday again, and I see that I have not posted since last weekend!  The weather turned out to be beautiful for Amanda and Natty's outside wedding.  We had a nice time visiting lots of friends and family.  

Baby Charlie turned out to be a good mountain baby!  She loved riding the Gator, enjoying the shade down by the creek, dressing up for the wedding, and meeting her baby cousin Lucas.

Here she is, kicking back in her wedding outfit.

We had a beautiful sunset ride to the top of the mountain, and saw the perfect triangle alignment of three planets.  (Not visible in this photo)

My sister and her husband have started a hobby farm.  They now have two pygmy goats

six piglets, some chickens, and they are planning to get some miniature cows!

Speaking of cows, I went to Jerry's Art-a-Rama in Raleigh a couple days ago, and there was this lovely painted bovine just inside the entrance to the store.  I think they must have bought it from the auction last year.

I will end with this shot of flame azalea, which grows wild on the mountain in varying shades of orange.  Beautiful way to light up the mountain!

Mountain Update

When I signed off on my last post, we were in the mountains looking forward to the arrival of Dave, Emily, and grand-dog Roo.   Friday night Emily and I were in the kitchen cooking tacos when our other son Bryson, his fiance Melissa, and their three kids walked in!  You could have knocked me over!  It was a wonderful surprise for Mother's Day weekend to have my whole family!

The kids love to be in the mountains and run around in the meadows.  My nephew Jason and his family also came up, so we got to play with their daughters Lacy

and baby Holly.  Here she was sporting my baseball cap from Hawaii.

We all did some fishing in the pond.  Here is Avery, pretty happy that he caught a trout!

Love, love, love the flame azalea in the mountains.

On the way home, we stopped at my sister's house near Greensboro and picked up my dad.  He is staying with us for a few days.  I feel so lucky to be near my loving family.

Mountain Beauty

We are in the North Carolina mountains, soaking up as much natural beauty as we can!  The native "flame" azalea is in full bloom, lighting up as the rays of the sun find it in the hidden mountain glades.

We actually arrived here Wednesday night, driving up through a thunderstorm.  No more rain is expected until Sunday.  The mornings have been chilly, and the afternoons warm and sunny.  We had a wonderful ride across the mountain on our Gator yesterday.

Of course, our little dog Kasey is full of joy as she runs freely on the mountain trails and through the Christmas tree farms. 

Charlie got her a North Carolina State bandanna.  I'm not so sure she likes wearing it, but isn't this a happy looking dog?

In addition to the flame azalea, the wild native orchids known as lady's slippers are in bloom. 

 I was elated to discover one growing on the mountain trail about five years ago.  I had not seen one since my childhood in New York and New Jersey.  Later I discovered several growing on "the point" of land where our driveway forms a switchback.  I about went crazy yesterday when we were coming up the driveway on the Gator, and I spotted this large "colony" of lady slippers!

Yesterday we met with Riverside Log Homes in Sparta, North Carolina.  They are the company that built our little garage apartment.  We are ready to add on and build an adjoining house.  I got so excited as we went over the plans.  Now all we have to do is sell our house in Wake Forest.  We have been working hard to get it ready to list on the market.  Any one want to buy a five-bedroom home with mature landscaping on a very private lot?

Later today, our son Dave, daughter-in-law Emily, and grand-dog Roo are coming up to join us.  We are greatly looking forward to spending the rest of the weekend with them.

Merlefest Fun

We got back yesterday from a fun-filled mountain weekend.  We went to Merlefest all four days and listened to lots of great music.  We got to see and hear blind guitarist and singer Doc Watson perform twice, and at age 89 he still sounds great.  In this picture he is performing with Sam Bush.

One of our favorite groups, The Kruger Brothers, performed on both the large stage and the auditorium.  They are fine musicians and singers.

The  crowds were large and diverse.  By Saturday and Sunday, there were long lines for food and bathrooms.  Everyone still had a good time.

On Sunday, we took my sister, my father, and my sister's two little granddaughters to Merlefest.  The little girls were crowd favorites as they danced to the lively music.

We had a good time on Sunday evening and stayed over until Monday.  We got to go up on the mountain for a sunset ride.

The flame azalea is just starting to bloom in the clearings on the mountain top.

Our little great-niece, Holly, is starting to laugh and coo, and was so fun to play with.

Back to normal life today.  Got some quilting to do!