Summer June/July 2010
We saw this butterfly in our Miami garden -
along the pathway to
Suzanne's studio.
Early Spring - March/April 2010
Each morning my dad plants more seeds and we watch for our garden sprouts to pop out of the ground. Our daffodils took one week to rise out of the ground and open. We were so excited when we saw the first flowers.
Early Winter - December 2009/January 2010
We now have to park our car at the bottom of the mountain and walk up and down when we need to go into town and you can just imagine how much I love doing this! My dad and mom have created a nice walking path of packed snow so we are walking on eight inches now, not creating a new path through 18 inches of freshly fallen snow (this is hard to do). The walking is easier now but I still like to wander off the beaten path and create my own little side journeys when we walk.
Late Autumn - November 2009
One of my favorite streets in Asheville, Wall Street, is lined with Ginkgo Biloba trees. In autumn the small thick leaves turn a beautiful deep shade of yellow and fall down around me like rain. The Ginkgo tree was first planted in China over 100 years ago and grown in ancient temple gardens.
I love walking around Lake Junaluska and looking across the lake to the mountains. This lake is close to our house and a very nicely paved pathway goes all around the lake. We see a lot of people walking, jogging, and walking their dogs. It's fun.
Late Summer - September 2009
Mornings are misty and foggy. Change is in the air and I can smell the end of summer. Autumn is coming soon!
Early Summer - June 2009
Steven Cagle built a stone wall around the front garden. Now my dad has begun planting bushes and flowers so that one day we will have a garden filled with color. I have to be more careful in the future because I love to jump over the little wall and run through the garden, especially when friends come over to visit.
Early Spring - April 2009
It's early spring in the western North Carolina mountains. At sunset you can still see through the trees. Look at the lovely pink sky! The little buds are just starting to sprout on the trees. Our tulips are looking good too. (Did anyone tell them we are going to have a spring snowstorm?) Shhhh.
One afternoon we were sitting on our deck having lunch. The temperature was in the 70's. The next day the air started to get cool and later that night it started to snow. Yes, snow! I was sorry for the tulips but I loved going outside and playing in the snow. The snow fell during my dog walk, all through the night, and into the next day. The flakes are still blowing around outside as I write this. They are light, fuffy, flaky and soft. The low outside is just around 30 degrees - perfect dog walk weather!
Waterrock Knob (6292 feet) is the highest point on the section of the Blue Ridge Parkway near our house. I love this area, especially when I get a chance to chase my tennis ball in the grassy field - right in the middle of the parking lot. Yes, the mountain peaks are beautiful but you know me, I love my tennis ball!
Winter - December 2008/January 2009
I am celebrating the 3rd night of Hanukkah in our mountain house. It wasn't easy finding our candles around here. My mom bought our Hanukkah candles from a rabbi at The Chabad House in Asheville. I love my menorah.
Do you see the orchid on the kitchen counter next to the menorah? My parents brought this along for the drive from Miami because it was about to flower and they didn't want to leave it on the front porch in Miami blossoming without us there.
In the photo below, you can see ice that formed on mountain rock. This is the side of the mountain we see as we drive down from our house to Jonathan Creek Road. (The drive is four switchback turns down the mountain.) The ice formed after the very cold night we had - when the low the next morning was 8 degrees and the high that day never got to be above 28 degrees.
This is the eighth and final night of Hanukkah (right).
In the photo below, if you look really carefully, you can see I am wearing my Miami Hurricane rally beads around my neck. The beads are green and orange. We were watching the 'Canes in the college bowl game. The tried their best but lost. Oh well - I still love to 'Canes.
Here we are in the early morning by the fireplace. It is 8 degrees outside in this photo so you can just imagine how my dad felt. He gets cold easily so when were at home, we spent most of the day right here by the fireplace. I remember that on this same day we decided to go to Asheville and walk around the town a little bit. My dad was freezing because the high in Asheville that day never got to be above 28 degrees. I loved it and my mom didn't mind the cold at all.
Look below - The first photo with the pink sky is the morning sky from our back deck. The second photo is later in the afternoon when it was very cloudy. Can you see Waterrock Knob in both of the photos? I can.
These are two photos of one of the many beautiful farms and cows on Coleman Mountain Road.
I love to relax in the back seat of the car and drive along country roads. I enjoy sitting in the back seat of the car so much that, when we arrive home and pull into the garage, I refuse to get out of the car. I am not kidding. My parents have to drag me out. (I am a funny dog.)
I love stopping off at the viewpoints on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Ridge is a gently winding, tree-lined road through scenic mountains. It was built in the 1930's and is the nation's first rural parkway, and is still the longest (469 miles from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Grat Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina). There are lots of things to do on the Blue Ridge Parkway besides enjoying the many stops along the way to enjoy views like this one and the two below. You can go on a picnic, camp, or hike on all kinds of trails (I love the easy shady trails). The Ridge is just a short drive from our house making extra special for us.
Late Autumn - November 2008
Isn't this a funny photo? It is one of our first family photos my dad put on the camera's timer this autumn in Western North Carolina and you can see he is making a funny face. In the morning it was 38 degrees on our deck and by the time we took this picture my mom took off her flannel shirt because it was already around 70 degrees in the sun. I love North Carolina!
In this photo and the one above, I am standing in a grassy field across from house, on the other side of Jonathan Creek. I like this area because I can chase my tennis ball, run free, roll around, and not be afraid of rolling off the mountainside. I feel safe here.
Below is a beautiful view of Lake Junaluska, a corner on Main Street in Waynesville, and the NC Arboretum.
I enjoy going to the North Carolina Arboretum. The entrance way is a nice winding road lined with beautiful plants and trees. I like to sit in the back seat of the car with my head leaning on the door - window all the way down -breeze blowing in my face. It is such a nice feeling!
Summer 2008
I really like the Lake Junaluska area. There are flowers everywhere and a wonderful large lake with a comfortable walking trail all around it. There are also too many ducks but I shouldn't complain about that - they don't bother me. We like to go there in the late afternoon for a casual stroll. It's lots of fun meeting other dogs and people. In this photo I am standing near a beautiful flower garden near one of the many gardens next to the lake.
Here I am, running wild and fast in a field with my dad. I was running so fast that I look like a furry blur. We were at the Palmer House in Cataloochee, where the elk live. In the photo you see the barn. George Palmer came to this area of Haywood County from Buncombe County (near Asheville) in 1848. There is no one living in Cataloochee anymore, except the elk, deer, and other wildlife. It is now part of Smoky Mountains National Park.
Late Spring 2008
This was my first time in my home in Waynesville, North Carolina. My parents adopted me in April 2008 and brought me here the last week of June. The spring flowers still covered the mountains and the trees were many shades of green. One of our first day trips was to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. This is just about a 25-minute drive from our house. At the Biltmore we enjoyed the many trails and fields of wildflowers. Believe it or not - dogs are allowed throughout the property and we are especially welcomed in the farm area.
In the photo below left, you can see me with my parents on our deck with the mountains overlooking Maggie Valley in the background. In the photo on the right we are resting on a trail in the North Carolina Arboretum. In the other photo we are pausing during our hike on Waterrock Knob, a trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We especially love Waterrock Knob. It is the closest trail to our house, next to Purchase Knob which is the closest, and we can see Waterrock from our deck. Waterrock Knob is 6292 feet high.
The wonder of SPRING is seeing the trees and shrubs bud and then watch the explosion of green that seems to come out all at once. Spring sometimes brings late snow, covering our tulips, but that only lasts a couple of days. Walking around the yard in the spring is extra fun because I get to see the early blossoms sprout up out of the ground. I have to be very careful not to step or roll on the new little plants. Spring days get longer, giving us more time to take our dog walks.
SUMMER is the time to put your nose to the ground and enjoy long mountain walks. Walking through cold clear streams is an added bonus in the summer. Green is everywhere - with all the trees and bushes filled with leaves of all sizes. The pace of summer is much faster than winter but still lots of fun. Sunny flowers sing in summer and the hills are alive with music too.
AUTUMN is my second favorite season (second to winter), and late October is especially wonderful, with the leaves partially off the trees and the rest of the autumn leaves in brilliant colors. There are some beautiful color combinations, like burnt orange, gold, and red, that mix in with green pine needles, to make the world burst with beauty. The world starts to slow down in autumn. The days get shorter, the nights get cooler, and I start dreaming of snow.
