Spring sprouts

I planted a few seeds in containers in mid-March and have kept them indoors ever since. Laxton's Progress peas, Little Marvel peas, Kentucky Wonder beans... as well as okra and a couple other things that didn't sprout.
The plants don't get full sun all day but I do try to shift them into direct indoor sunlight when it is available.
The Kentucky Wonder beans and Little Marvel peas have grown nicely and have begun to produce flowers.

Flower and buds on Kentucky Wonder vine in the kitchen. Soon the bean pods will emerge.





Yeah, that bamboo pole is not enough to keep two Wonder vines happy. Changes will have to be made....?








*omgcute!* Look at the tiny peas forming inside this Little Marvel pod! Truly marvelous ;-)

Juuuuumping spiiiiiiidaaaaaah!*

I am NOT a spider lover, no doubt about it. But as long as they're outside my house and they're not touching me, we're cool. In fact I find them interesting even though they give me extreme heebie-jeebies.
Today there was an awesome one on the back door. It was a Jumping Spider and true to its name, it did appear ready to launch itself at me but I blazed off before it had the chance.
Brace yourself..... I took photos:
































*yes, I AM a Ninja Warrior fan

Sunday afternoon

Feeling inspired, I've created a handful of new polymer faces and have painted some already..... and I'm getting ready to list them in my Etsy shop.

I usually don't have color schemes picked out for the faces while I'm forming them, I just decide on that right before I paint them.
Sometimes I'll start painting and it doesn't look right so I wash it off and start over. On rare occasions, I may do this 3-4 times on one face. On super-rare occasions, I may throw a face away completely.... which hasn't happened in a while!

Bumper crop

We bought a strawberry plant a couple months ago. It had about 15 flowers and I imagined a big fat juicy crop. I wanted to put it outside but was discouraged by deer, rabbits, and masses of tent caterpillars. So, the little guy sits in a pot in the kitchen and doesn't get as much direct sunlight as needed.... I started putting it outside on sunny afternoons and we were lucky enough to get two perfect little strawberries. The rest of the flowers shed their petals, the centers (what would become the berries) grew slightly in size and now appear dormant.

Smokies wildfires

Just saw a comment on Twitter which alerted me to the fact that some trails are closed due to fire hazards..... checking the GSMNP site confirms this. Having just blogged about the dry heat, I can say I'm saddened but not surprised. Here's hoping for a quick, safe battle against the blazes, and some much-needed rainfall.

Interesting hike on Curry Mountain Trail

Ok, first off, wth? It should NOT feel like late July on April 27. But we persevere and press on through the (dry) heat and swarms of insects.
Fortunately we didn't encounter anyone else along the approx. 7 mile hike, since we often launched into unexpected sprints in effort to escape bees and yellow jackets.


The trail, which begins near Metcalf Bottoms, is a nice moderate climb with some attractive seasonal views of the surrounding ridges.
Very dry conditions, felt drought-like even, yet flowers are still thriving in patches along the way.




A few dazzling displays of Dwarf Crested Iris along the way in the spots that hold more moisture. Though we did encounter a few that looked sun bleached and wilted.






At 3.3 miles, we reach the trail intersection and turn onto Meigs Mtn Trail. After a brief walk, the Meigs Mtn Cemetery appears. Very peaceful.

Moving onward......




We reach our goal: backcountry campsite #19. Not one of our favorites, it is small, plain and bisected by the trail. Our opinions were influenced by the presence of horse poop and the freakin' cloud of gnats and some kind of giant mosquitoes that hovered around us at the site. But we are always equipped with gnat hats - total sanity savers.

About halfway back to the trailhead, we encounter a long black snake on the side of the trail. A bit of luck just like our bat encounter... I stopped to dig in the pack for a tissue (damn you, pollen) and spotted it, otherwise we'd have trucked on by.

Back to the Jeep and on the road by 1:30.....
New goal: vanilla ice cream cones!

More hike photos get uploaded to my flickr account, if you're interested.

An outing in Tremont

In an effort to enjoy both wildflowers and solitude, we ditched the busy 'touristy' trails and spent a quiet afternoon in the Tremont area of the Smokies along Sams Creek on 4.21.09.
We had the trail all to ourselves.


Pale bluets next to a cascade on Thunderhead Prong....



A stunning carpet of violets in bright purple and snowy white....










A delicate, lacy Fringed Phacelia....








The bud of a Dwarf Crested Iris....










.....and nearby, an Iris in full bloom.






Back to the Jeep.


"Wash me?"
Soon.....