Winter Wonderland

We are home today after a wonderful Christmas with our family in South Carolina.  What a blessing to all be together and so happy on this joyous holiday.  When we arrived on Friday at about 2:00 PM, it was very warm and sunny.  We sat outside with no jacket heavier than a sweatshirt required, and watched the kids play.  The next morning was a different story:  cold and brisk, about 32 degrees.  That's okay, the excitement was high although the temps were low!  Avery delivered all the presents since it is the first year he knows how to read!

Lily was not quite awake at first, but it was so cute to watch her with all the new surprises. She finally retreated under the dining table to play with her Strawberry Shortcake toys.

Here is the reveal of my last-minute quilting project:  a Christmas wreath for Dave and Emily.

It is the same size as the Thanksgiving turkey quilt.  Eventually they will have something for each season to hang in that spot.  The fabrics for the wreath range from homespun to hand-dyes.  I even put in a little bit of Vicki Walsh's sun-printed fabric with pine needles, and some Wear Warm Mittens commercial print fabric.

I quilted with a dark green cotton thread appropriately called "Pine" for the wreath, and a Linen color thread for the background areas.  I did some freehand pine branches that extended into the background.

That afternoon the kids went to visit their mother's family.  We made a fire outside and burned all the wrappings, boxes, and lots of oak leaves in Bryson's back yard.

The younger adults stayed up until past midnight, because there was a chance of snow in the forecast.  They finally gave up and went to bed.  And, sometime during the night, the snow began to fall.

In fact, the entire east coast had a day after Christmas snowfall that was one for the books.  For the first time in our married life, we did not make it to the Western part of the state to visit Charlie's relatives.  They were all snowed in, and we decided to just go home.  But it was hard to say goodbye!

It was like driving through a Christmas card!  We traveled along I-95, the "snowbird route" between New York and Florida,  instead of our usual route through smaller towns on Highway 15.  I have never seen I-95 looking so beautiful.

There were so many gorgeous landscapes.  I shot pictures all the way.  Here is a little church.

I loved seeing the farms and barns in the snow.

But mainly, the white pines stole the show, blanketed in heavy drifts of fluffy snow.

We stopped in Smithfield, NC for a bite to eat, and were lucky enough to get inside a Golden Corral just before they closed the doors for the day.  The roads were getting bad, and there was a multi-vehicle wreck in the Southbound lanes of I-95 just before our exit.

Traffic was tied up for miles in that direction.

Trees were starting to get bent over and break from the weight of the ice and snow.

But truly, the roads were in good shape.  The first road we encountered that was not plowed was Rogers Road, on the way to our own neighborhood.  But it sure was pretty!

Our own street was lovely with all the snow-covered trees.

And our own house was looking beautiful in the pristine snow.  We had seven or eight inches.

Glad to get safely home.  Glad to pick up our doggy from the kennel, which fortunately is only about a mile away.  They were closed, but allowed us to pick up Kasey since we were there (and I think they were a little short-handed due to the snow.)

I hope that you and yours are safe and warm and happy, where ever you are today.

Snow Day at Home

Poor old Maggy...she must be wondering, what is up with all this snow? It has not snowed enough to stick here in five years!

The cardinals and other birds were lined up at the bird feeder for the good groceries. They look so pretty in the snow.

This is our little creek in the back yard. It is small enough to jump over.

Remember the camellia bush in bloom? Wonder if these will make it.

Here is another iconic Southern shrub or tree- a crepe myrtle. This one sports a bird nest among its dried seed heads.

Our front yard, a former farm field, had no trees when we moved in. Every tree and shrub represents a hole dug and lots of 5-gallon buckets of water hauled to the ones beyond hose reach.

But in the back, we have lots of natural cedar, pine, dogwood, oak, and sweet gum trees leading to the woods. Our woods connect to many acres of forest and natural ponds out back.

Can you spot the red cardinal on the limb?

Anyway, yesterday, we were very inspired by watching the transition of government, and the joy on the faces of the crowd who thronged to Washington to see President Obama's inauguration. They just showed a montage of photographs as Good Morning America went off the air, to the soaring music of Aretha Franklin singing America. I don't know about that hat, but Aretha sure can belt out a tune.

A joyous day that America can be proud of!

Touches of Color

Yesterday I finished up another gift project. Great feeling to get this one done. I had put it aside when I got to a difficult part of the project that was not working out. But, with persistence, (and a severe session with a rotary cutter to eliminate the problem area,) it is done and looks good!

We have been having cold mornings lately. Yesterday on our walk, I noticed the little lake at the end of the street was partially frozen. That does not happen here too often.

When everything is wintry gray, I like to look for little spots of color here and there. Here is one colorful little tree or shrub next to the orange plastic fencing that marks the "tree protection zone" in the new neighborhood being built.

And across the street in the woods, another little touch or orange!

I used to see this Persian in the wooded lot almost every day last winter, but he must stay inside to enjoy air conditioning in the summer.

Speaking of kitties, here was a little domestic excitement last Friday. I was talking to my son on the phone in the kitchen about 8:30 AM when I noticed an animal on the branch of a tall pine tree in the back yard at the edge of the woods. I thought it must be a raccoon, but closer inspection proved it to be a big fluffy kittycat. I thought it might come down when I left with the dog for our walk and then to take her to the vet for her shots. No, cat was still there. I mentioned to my husband when he called from work that we had a cat about thirty feet up a tree. He said just to keep the dog in the house or in the front yard, and it would come down when it got hungry enough. Sure enough, he was gone by 5:00 PM. I thought I might capture the descent in video when he started moving around on his limb, but he was just changing position. Sorry for the jumpy zoom video. My husband must spend a lot of time "networking" at work. Everyone at the office party that night wanted to know if the cat got down!

Beautiful sights

While we were in the mountains last weekend, we visited friends from Raleigh who were staying in a borrowed cabin. Below is their awesome view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The cabin itself was so tucked away that we could not find it, so we met at an intersection and followed our host. Not only was the cabin and view a delightful hidden surprise, but the furniture and decor of the cabin was a lovely cache of art treasures from all over the world. This guest room has two twin beds with pillows and bedspreads made from molas from Panama. Aren't they scrumptious! I actually own three mola squares which I purchased at a Latin American festival in Chapel Hill one year. They are made by using reverse applique, cutting away layers of different colored fabrics.


One of my favorite things to do at our mountain place is to walk along the creek and take pictures. This is the dam that used to power a mine at the top of the mountain. The structure for the turbine is still in place. We used to camp next to the dam, just behind that big tree on the left. It was wonderful to hear the sound of the waterfall. Along the creek and all up the mountain are huge laurel thickets. Actually, rhododendron, but known as laurel up there in Laurel Springs. They should know! The laurel leaves are a weather indicator. Flat when it is warm, they curl up to the size of pencils when it is freezing! The first afternoon it was quite warm and sunny.
After that, it got down to the single digits every day. It was only 2 degrees F when we woke Monday morning.

Friday night a group of us rode to the top of the mountain on Gators and four-wheelers. What a memorable night! the moon was almost full, the sky was clear, and the snow crystals sparkled like diamonds in our headlights.

Christmas tree farms in the snow.
We had no trouble with power outage or frozen pipes up there in the frigid cold. However, when we got home, our water pipes had frozen at the connection at the street. Poor DSH dragged a generator up our long driveway to the curb and used it to place a light in the connection box until they thawed. It was not nearly as cold here. Made me glad for our snug little home in the hills.