Clingmans Dome sunrise

It's that time of year - the leaves are changing, the nights are turning cold, and the Smokies are as beautiful as ever.  Today we drove out before dawn (it was about 30 degrees and very windy in the higher elevations) to catch sunrise at Clingmans Dome.  Us, and a bunch of other people!  The mountains are *packed*; there are tons of "No Vacancy" signs in Pigeon Forge, Sevierville and Gatlinburg; traffic is a nightmare; people are everywhere like ants.  But if you can fight your way through the madness, you will be rewarded with some exceptional sights.  Here are just some of the 125 pics I took today:

We blazed up the Clingmans Dome trail to beat the sunrise - felt like Dracula racing against the light, and we made it onto the tower about 2 minutes before the sun peeked over the horizon. Then we hiked part of the Appalachian Trail, then headed over to the Shot Beech Ridge Quiet Walkway & followed that out the ridge as far as we could. We finished up with a loop around the Courthouse Rock lower trails.

Garden's growing great

I've been excited about our little garden patch, this is the first year I dug an official one out in the yard.
So far we have tomatoes, pumpkins, sunflowers, bell peppers, jalapeno & banana peppers and watermelon.  The corn.... not doing so good due to the harsh heat and drought right after I planted it.
I have some new corn sprouting in starter pots that needs to be put in the ground soon.

The pumpkin vines are growing like crazy, taking over the whole patch. I may have to extend the sides a bit so I can plant the rest of my veggies.  Either that, or I may do more 5-gallon bucket gardens on the patio like I did last year, they were pretty successful.

Here's a baby pumpkin in the works......

.....and here is my 1st healthy pumpkin!  It's a beauty :-)

Our Mr. Stripey variety tomato plant is growing very well.  It was touch-and-go during the drought but now it is thriving.
We bought this one at the garden center, but I do have a few plants doing well that I started from seeds.


How is your garden growing??

Sunny outlook

Well geez, once again it sure has been a while since I've blogged.   I keep meaning to do it but life always gets in the way.  Let me catch you up to speed on one of my favorite things: the garden.

I ordered a packet of Giant Sunflower seeds from Burpee.  They have not grown to be tall giants (probably due to a combination of me not feeding/fertilizing them and the intensely hot drought we had at the start of the summer) but a few of the heads have gotten pretty large.

Here's a new flower forming.

Starting to open.......  I love the layers and layers of leaves and petals.
















Next year I am going to fertilize the bejeebus out of these things and see what happens!

That is pretty big, right?  Not too shabby ;-)

Happy gardening!

Been a long time

Haven't posted in a long time!  I'm still here though :-)  Busy working on my etsy shop!

Hearts All Around

Happy Valentine's Day!

Time for my annual installment of "Hearts All Around," wherein I post pics of........... [suspenseful pause].......... 'hearts' that I notice around me!
I've got two for you this year:






Radar Love!

My heart breaks whenever I have to stop hiking for the day, but it mends when I remember I'll be going again soon! ;-)

Early Spring

We were out and about in Cades Cove on Sunday - it was a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, though it was a bit chilly and there was still a dusting of snow in the terminally shady spots.
This Winter has been much milder than the last couple years and going along with that, it seems that Spring is getting a jump on things.
After finishing our hike along Rich Mtn Rd and coming back down via an old roadbed, we popped out in the field next to the concrete fire ring(?) across the road from the Missionary Baptist Church and discovered a patch of daffodils almost getting ready to bloom.
This seems very early.
I imagine the large patch near the north end Hyatt Lane will be coming along as well.... didn't get to check on it.