Guess where I was...

First, Happy Halloween everyone!
Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous outside...so I went for a ride.  And a bit of a hike.

And it took all afternoon, so these 3 shots are from different spots!

before and after

After the summer with many rains...this is what our flower bed on the shady side now looks like. This includes many leaves courtesy of the oak trees nearby.

It's good to see how both the north facing and south facing beds have weathered the heat/rain and lack of care.  When you depend upon volunteers, it sometimes is difficult to get something like flowers cared for.  There are more important things.  And we can see the lantana is the best survivor here, as well as a few dusty millers.

These were planted back in the spring, by volunteers.

This is the before picture, having planted begonias, marigolds, wandering jew, and maybe some other shade tolerant plants.

After a lot of sweat and bending over...this was the completed work in May of this year.

But this is what the bed looked like before we even started working on it.  Then we had a lot of good work done by some volunteers.

Autumn colors

This is not my photo...and unfortunately when I saved it, I forgot to put the artist's name on it.  But it's too beautiful to leave sitting in my computer.  Hope he/she doesn't mind...and if they see it, will comment so I can give credit. Actually I think that's the Burnett Reservoir over to the far left, and this is from Craggy Gardens, looking down toward Black Mountain NC from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

- that wasn't an earthquake...

It was just me jumping for joy at finding a lovey tree ful of colorful leaves in downtown Black Mountain yesterday.

It stayed cloudy most of the day, so this brilliance was not available for long.  So I'll only put one photo up for today.

Hope you have a happy Sunday.

Into each life a little rain must fall...

 Yes, a robin was flying around, tried to find his favorite berries, but there didn't seem to be any.  Otherwise, he could do fine with the worms in the mud below the trees...if he wanted to.

The clouds obscure the distant mountains completely, which otherwise would show through our almost leafless trees.  I will bet the "Leaf Peepers" were all hanging out indoors yesterday also.

Sharing with Saturday's critters.

Sunny afternoon around (where else) Lake Tomahawk

 Stopping to catch my breath, a beautiful cool day with warm sunshine...and great Carolina skies.

 Ms. duck kept diving to find something worth eating...but she was all alone.  Everyone else had settled for naps somewhere safe.

The remodeling at the Lakeview Center should be finished this week.  We ate lunch downstairs Tuesday...and hope to return to the roomy lunch site upstairs soon.

A train that's not a train

Track maintenance on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018.  This is the only one I captured, but earlier in the day another big orange machine on the tracks was cutting back trees/branches/bushes...and leaving them lying along the sides of the tracks.

No wonder I haven't heard any trains this afternoon.  There are many miles of mountainous tracks between Black Mountain and Old Fort...if they went that direction.  I've heard there are ll tunnels through those mountains, and one place where a switchback occurs such that you can see the beginning of the train across from the end of the train.

When the electric generating plant in Asheville switches to natural gas, I wonder if we'll have as many coal trains come through here.  Of course many other electric plants will still burn coal.  But the industry itself has seen the writing on the wall.

Bounty and Soul helpers

Each week a charity occurs right here where I live.

Of the more than 70 apartments, a few dozen senior residents come for free produce that's provided through Bounty and Soul, part of the Manna Food Bank in this area. You can see baskets of produce on the display tables, including some recipes for using the various vegetables. There's also usually a nice snack that's available for us to taste, and take home a recipe if we wish to prepare it for ourselves.

The Bounty and Soul volunteers also provide free produce for the public at the St. James Episcopal Church on Tuesdays (I think.)

Lately we've also received some complete meals from The Food Connection, which works with area restaurants who sometimes have food left from catering or other special events.

The other food bonus of Black Mountain, is a free lunch (or whatever you wish to donate)  held at the Methodist church right in town each Wednesday.  Most folks put a couple of dollars in the basket.

I'm glad to see there are efforts to provide food for those less fortunate in our area.  Having the marketplace atmosphere gives us a gala gathering as well as some delicious produce.  I'm so grateful to be part of this community.

The Red House

A great view of the Red House, from the parking lot at the library.
The Red House is the headquarters of the Swannanoa Valley Fine Arts League, or SVFAL for short.
This small building houses gallery and office space on the ground floor, and a meeting/classroom.  There are also studios for painters.

I, and a few other ceramic artists, have become members as well, and there is a new support for three dimensional work.  I renewed my membership recently and plan to put some of my angel sculptures into a show that is coming up in November and December.

I will also provide a few small ones for hanging on the tree.

Frost may give us some color finally

Sunny walk at the lake

This is Tomahawk Creek. It flows through the golf course, then into Lake Tomahawk.

I'm sharing these geese with Eileen's Saturday's Critters.

I'm gad that I captured the green (though it was late until October) because our first frost is due Sat. night, Oct. 20.

Temporary lunch site

This building was most recently the Foam and Fabric store.  But originally (I think) it had been an auto showroom.  It was purchased by the Town of Black Mountain and now houses the Public Works offices, and the Recreation and Parks department.

When our usual site of the Council on Aging lunch program, The Lakeview Senior Center, was getting renovated, the COA and the Recreation Dept. hauled the tables and chairs over to this building.

I admit to being very skeptical about how it would be having lunch in the building where I'd shopped for fabrics. I remembered it being huge and like a warehouse inside.  This is the side entrance to the lunch program.

Entering the building, the town is beginning to bring some amenities of waiting room style furniture, where you can observe packing boxes piled opposite.

And down one wing, with windows all along one wall, are 5 big round tables, awaiting the seniors who come for lunch Mon - Fri.  The food has always been trucked in hot (or cold as needed) from the Moose Cafe over in western Asheville.  So it hasn't changed things much for us.  We hope to return to the Lakeview Center sometime next week.

Sunshine after a night of rain...thus brown water

Hello, as I stop periodically in my .55 mile walk around Lake Tomahawk.  That is the way I'm able to complete the walk.  Pausing for breath, and photo snapping with my phone.

I wonder how much longer these beautiful hydrangeas will bloom.

I think I prefer the reflected sky, rather than seeing the muddy water as the last one showed.

A woman was sitting on the dam, with her white fluffy dog..barely visible here.

Young people who kept looking down at their phones.  Oh well.

A weekend function left a pretty colored tent near the picnic shelter.

I spotted this female mallard being chased by some other ducks...she had been given a bit of bread...