Trees and seasons

 I love reading other blogs! They are such interesting people, all over the globe. And close to home. But almost always they post something worth while, either inspiring me, or bringing me into their lives to understand them better. Thank you, fellow bloggers.

Today I first clicked on a blog with a poem, by Mary Oliver. Here it is. When I am Among the Trees

Redwood Forest by Will Stenberg

Along Flat Creek, Montreat NC

Entrance to the Tailgate Market, any day but Saturday!

The trees make this tailgate market special, and more comfortable on hot summer mornings.

Outside my living room windows on a foggy morning (the result of rain the night before)

I live in a nest in the treetops on one side of my apartment. Different seasons bring different amounts of light inside.

Have a wonderful day, and look for a tree somewhere!

Today's quote:

Ultimately, work on self is inseparable from work in the world. Each mirrors the other; each is a vehicle for the other. When we change ourselves, our values and actions change as well.

CHARLES EISENSTEIN

A day without complaints

 

Gustav Klimt maybe. I think it was "in his style" perhaps

"Zip" bronze sculpture by Jason Johnston

Great Smokey Mountains, US Dept. of the Interior

I learned (thanks to Jeopardy) that the Forest Service isn't under the Dept. of the Interior, or Parks, but Agriculture! After all, they are trees.

Today's Quote:

Ah! what a divine religion might be found out if charity were really made the principle of it instead of faith. 

-Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet (1792-1822)

A Saturday hodge podge!

 
Good morning (when I am writing this!)

I hear birds chirping, though we're back to winter temps...but at least no snow and it will stay above freezing all day!

Not my shot, and this bird obviously isn't outside my windows...but I had it in my files! 

Progress on the tiny tall house on First St.

Someone else posted this beautiful tree. Now that's a great example where a tree can just grow and grow all directions...but I wonder if there isn't a space underneath where kids could hide.

A sweet little critter I met this week. Sharing with Saturday Critters.

I may like dragons, but I think this is a bit over the top!

So we should call upon this dragon slayer, eh?

Last week I was at a birthday party for a dear friend, who just turned 39 (er 90!). Bette is also a Mudbuddy too! 

Photo by The Valley Echo

Today in Black Mountain there will be hundreds of runners that hope to run up to Mt. Mitchell, but due to snow probably at high elevations, it may just be a marathon, turning around and coming back to Black Mountain from the Blue Ridge Parkway. For me it means lots of new people in town that are in the parking places I usually would use!

I hope everyone has a happy Saturday!

Today's quote:

I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don't trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it. -Charles Dickens, novelist (1812-1870)

I think that I shall never see

 ...a poem as lovely as a tree.

Thanks to Joyce Kilmer's poem.

Today I focus on the trees by Flat Creek.

Not sure if these are sister trees, or the small one is just a secondary  trunk.

There are so many wonderful textures on trees.

Way above the creek bed, and the power lines, are houses along the top of this ridge.

While below is a short driveway and several hiking trails going in different directions in Montreat NC.

Most of the greenery in February in these woods comes from rhododendrons. But there are also some evergreen trees.

Today's quote:

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life...”

Herman Hesse

Looking at trees

 

This maple on the right brings a bit of shade, but the 2 dogwoods further down the sidewalk are not doing very well. My apartment is to the left, the second set of wood stairs.

At the bottom of the hill I noticed these maples are a different variety, with sharp pointed leaves. Sorry, not all that clear in this pic.

At the junction of Walker Street are a couple of evergreens, with a lot of ivy growing up their trunks. New house can be seen behind them.

The other side of the driveway has pretty dense woods. I'm so glad there's this barrier between highways and our neighborhood.

This was an early bloomer in the spring, and it looks like it's going to show fall color pretty soon also.

Same bushy form with the evergreens in the background.

I think this line of firs (or whatever evergreens they are) were planted intentionally, since they are in a line and evenly spaced.

Looking up to the clubhouse/office building. Many steep slopes have this ground cover on them.

This is the little maple forest which I look out upon from my windows in the building on the right. With the steep hill, I am on the upper floor on this side of my apartment.

And since 9/11 was this week, this is the "Survivor Tree" there. It's likely there will be one in Lahaina Hawaii also, if the early signs are correct. 

Today's quote:

“That is why the future is so endlessly fascinating. Try as we can, we’ll never outguess it.” Arthur C. Clarke  

More from latest water visit

 You knew I did more than just listen while sitting by Flat Creek last Sunday... I did swivel my head, trying to discern which voices of the creek came from which direction. But then I looked more closely and had to capture some of the designs that nature offered.

This strange marble boulder was golden in comparison to the rest of the rocks.

Below the bridge is a nice pool which is always washed away during the next rain...see the rocks going across the water?

Today's quote:

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.

RUMI

A quick vist to my friend's garden

 Helen has a very nicely planned garden with lots of butterfly attracting flowers!

First the flowers up next to the house as you walk along the driveway.

Tom told me orange blackberry lily! Want to remember it by typing it heere!

Aren't these cute daylilies that copy tiger lilies!

A nice seating area in her back yard...with more flowers around to the right, but we had places to go so I didn't get to walk around and take more photos.

I told my friend I liked this big evergreen (the first one) because it's branches droop down then sweep up at the ends. Her favorite was the next one, a white pine. Now I have to identify this one, she thinks might be a hemlock.

(I know it's not this one...because, Eastern Hemlock below)

I'm guessing it's a kind of fir...hope my tree-savy friends will save me here!

(Yay, Tom came through with Norway Spruce!!)

Sharing with Floral Friday Fotos.

Today's quote:

It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth what I paid? 

-Richard Bach, writer (b. Jun 1936)