Grovewood Gallery

I finally made it up to Grovewood Gallery right next to one of the most amazing hotels I've ever seen, the Grove Park Inn. (http://www.groveparkinn.com) It had been "on my list" every time I came to the area, and I never made it until now because it is sort of out by itself and a little difficult to get to.

Grovewood Gallery features mostly local artists, and the thing I most wanted to see was the outdoor sculptures.  I think they have outdoor art on display all the time, and rotate artists showing from time to time. Anyway, it's all very cool, and very expensive.  I didn't note the artists' names or prices, but I was impressed by all of it. 

So following are just the photos I took of some of my favorites.  Not much else to say about them.  I enjoyed moseying among them until one of those fabulous thunderstorms came roaring over the mountains.

There were two of these horses.  It doesn't show well in my photo, but there is glass embedded in some places, and a lot of the exterior is created from "found" objects.  The tail is part of a tree limb, for example.

Big kitty!  It was on a pedestal, but I'm guessing it stood at least 4 feet tall on its own.

From The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost - - -

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Beautiful large garden gate

This represented a young blue heron with its "first catch", a snake.  See it in the talons?

The tallest flower was taller than me.

A garden of twirling sculptures driven by the wind. ( It made me think of the crazy lady in the movie "Twister" who had all the sculptures in her yard.)

Such a peaceful face.

Just Parkin' It

On one of the bird walks, a local told me about another good birding spot at a municipal park that is between Black Mountain and Asheville.  I had looked for it with no success, but finally found it yesterday.  It is beyond Warren Wilson College campus in the town of Swananoa, and really is a little jewel!  It has a nice .8 of a mile walking path around the lake, and part of it runs by a trout-stocked stream.  On this visit, I didn't see any unusual birds, but saw plenty of red-winged blackbirds, robins, song sparrows, and swifts.

I arrived late in the afternoon, and storms began to roll over the mountains just after I had done my "intentional" walking and started moseying to take photos.  So I had to cut my visit short, but hope to make it back at least once more before I leave the area.

View toward the mountains - basketball courts, baseball field, and parking to the left.  Stream runs alongside the lake to the right.

There weren't a lot of access points to the stream without risking poison ivy exposure, and I didn't have on long pants.  So this is just a peek through the bushes and trees.  I did see a great blue heron on the opposite bank while intentionally walking, but he wasn't there when I moseyed back.  I don't know why, but I had did not think I would be seeing herons inland.

Despite all sorts of "no swimming" signs, someone clearly has a great idea about enjoying the stream! 

Several mallard pairs were around the lake, and I am thankful no one was feeding them like happens in other places!  If you aren't sure why that's a problem, please see this link: http://wildlifecenter.org/news_events/news/problem-feeding-ducks And please find other ways to enjoy wildlife that do no harm. (End of rant)

Following are a few more photos from the park closest to my place - Lake Tomahawk in Black Mountain.  People feeding waterfowl was a huge issue the last time I was there, and I had to resist the urge to be "educating" people.  Despite that....a few scenes of interest:

It was toward sunset - I had actually gone down there hoping to see the "super Moon".  With the cloud cover it was not to be.  But for a time the clouds were beautifully reflected in the lake.

Two wildflowers of the same type, different hue.  It would really help if I had a good wildflower identification guide!

I'm still thinking this is a Merganser, though it doesn't look exactly like the guide illustrations, and the books describe them as commonly being found in flocks.  I have only seen this solitary one, so I don't know if there is a mate, whether or not it can travel to find a mate, or if the mate is off somewhere else when I'm there.  It seems to be shy and certainly not drawn in by the people feeding the ducks.

When the light is low, I love seeing the little "trails" the ducks and geese leave behind as they travel through the  water.

Hum and then some

Another beautiful day had me outside and soaking in the sunshine.  The house where I am is very shady now that the leaves are all out on the trees, so I do have to leave if I want to feel the sun on my face.  On my "list" was re-visiting the small town of Brevard, southwest of Asheville, where Charles spent several summers at Brevard Music Center's summer sessions for talented musicians.  I had enjoyed the feel of the place back in those days when we dropped him off at camp and then spent a few days in the area.  As all things do, the place has changed and developers have homogenized the appearance.  I couldn't really get the right vibe about being there, so after driving around a bit and eating at the local "natural foods" store and cafe, I headed back out into the woods, where I apparently belong!

My first stop was the Ranger Station/ Visitors Center for Pisgah National Forest, right beside Brevard.  I remembered being there several years ago and seeing many hummingbirds on the feeders beside the porch.  I was eager to play with my camera some more, and haven't had many opportunities to "shoot" hummers, so I was pleased that they were still there.  I took dozens of shots and here are some of my favorites:

 There was also a butterfly garden outside the building, and I enjoyed seeing some of the first butterflies of the season.

Driving along one of the most scenic roads in the Pisgah Forest area, Highway 276, there are many opportunities to pull off beside the road and enjoy the river that runs beside it.  One of my favorite memories from childhood family vacations is that we would find spots like this to get out, take off our shoes, and dip our toes in the very cold mountain streams. The water is still just as cold as I remembered!

Queen Anne's lace just about to bloom along the highway.

My last stop of the day was the Cradle of Forestry.  I arrived at 4:00 p.m., and it closed at 5:00 p.m., so I only had time to "beat feet" around a couple of the interpretive trails.  The place is dedicated to the history of the beginning of forestry study in America, and also explains the history of logging.  I only took out my iPhone camera for photos, but thought this old logging train trestle was pretty.  Another interesting thing on one trail was the "Moon Tree" (below). In 1971, on the Apollo XIV mission, astronaut Stuart Roosa, a former Forest Service smoke jumper, wanted to honor the Forest Service by taking along tree seeds with him as he orbited the moon.  This tree was planted in 1976 from some of those seeds, which I guess proves you can orbit the moon and still grow up to be normal?

 

 

 

Juneteenth

(This wasn't really a celebration associated with the meaning of Juneteenth, it was just that June 15 was the day of these travels.)  I set out with the intention of enjoying a lively day at the Lavender Festival near Burnsville, NC, a good 1.5 hour drive from Black Mountain.  It turned out to be quite a mountainous drive in every sense of the word, including gravel switchback type roads near the destination.  And the festival itself turned out to be not very festive or well attended, but did offer some pleasant smells and photo ops.  So since I had driven so far and only spent about two hours slowly smelling lavender, I reprogrammed the day to include Mt. Mitchell and Craggy Gardens - sort of in the general direction of where I had traveled.  And I ended up very happy with how I spent the day!

View from the lavender maze with the Black Mountains in the background.  I did learn that there are several different types and colors of lavender, and that people put it in some strange things, like cheese and ice cream.  There were some lavender flavored things for sale, and I might have tried the ice cream, but they had run out by noon. 

There truly was not much to do besides walk around, smell the lavender, buy things in the gift shop, buy limited lunch items at the barn, buy things from a very few vendors/artisans, and take pictures.  Some of the things listed on the schedule of events didn't seem to be happening, or at least not happening on time.  But lovely to "peace out" with the smells and scenery!

Next stop of the day - Mount Mitchell.  Beautiful, exceptional views from the top and lots of great trail-climbing to get there.  It seemed to be a very popular tourist stop on a beautiful Saturday, and one of the staffers said we had lucked out to get a day with clear views.  Apparently it is often foggy or cloudy up top.

Slightly different view from the top - mountains as far as you could see.

I decided to take a chance and eat at the park restaurant which is slightly lower than the highest elevation and has incredible views if you get a window seat.  The food was decent and fairly priced- veggie plate option worked for me.  After my early supper, I found that there was a porch out back of the restaurant with rocking chairs and a spectacular view.  For a while it was just me and the birds out there, but a few friendly folks joined me later.

Cedar Waxwing having his dinner; it's one of my favorite birds.  There was a man that sat in a rocker to my left who had a very impressive looking camera, but apparently no experience bird watching.  So he was snapping photos of birds and then asking me to identify them for him.  That was kind of fun, but I wanted to ask what he took photos of with that big lens if not wildlife. :-)

Indigo Bunting - I don't think I had seen one before coming to NC and it is one of the bluest blues I've ever seen. This popular perch was a dead tree some distance from the porch, but few of the birds sat still long enough for great photos. 

Next stop - Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I've visited this trail several times trying to catch the rhododendrons in blue as they arch over the trail.  No luck yet, but it is a beautiful trail in any season.  It was pretty slick and muddy on this visit, since the area is already 16 inches ahead of average annual rainfall at this point in the year.

There were some rhodos blooming in areas that got full sun.

This is the tunnel between Craggy Gardens and Craggy Bald - the hill that is in view beyond the tunnel.  Folks hike up to the top of the bald, but I haven't done that yet.  Looks like the view would be awesome.

Tons of wildflowers blooming this time of year.

Sunset at Craggy Gardens. I had hoped for more "glow" to the sky, but the clouds overtook the sun before it reached the mountains. 

Serene end to the day.

Downtown Friday Night

Well, one of the very coolest things I've done in downtown Asheville is the weekly community drumming at Pritchard Park.  It happens every Friday night during the warm weather months, and is one of the most phenomenal experiences of community I have ever had.  So, having read that people start arriving as early as 5:00 to set up drums, I made an afternoon of it strolling around downtown in and out of art galleries and got to the park early to grab a seat on a boulder and wait for the magic to unfold.

Asheville has some incredible architecture.  I remember hearing about "why" on the tour I took a couple of years ago, but I forgot the details.  I plan to take the tour again next week to refresh my memory. :-)

Buskers are a big part of the downtown ambiance.  I particularly enjoyed this little group with their "baby busker".  I think she was basically playing Suzuki violin tunes (lots of folk tunes), and the older guys were enhancing her melody line with some very interesting embellishments.  They were really quite good.  And yes, I tipped.

This is what it looks like when the first drummers start arriving at the park.  It was neat to be there and see it all come together from nothing.

Throughout the drumming, the lady in the black striped top would invite children to come and drum beside her on one of her drums. She included toddlers to young adults in the invitation and would search them out in the crowd.  I was also touched that one of the drummers brought a drum over to an adult in a wheel chair and invited her to join the fun.  She grinned the whole time!

By about 7:00 p.m., the crowd had grown to fill the park and spill over onto the sidewalks.  Most of the people seated on the terraced step area brought some sort of percussion instrument with them. It was a very well-behaved, family friendly crowd, with only one exceptional person, which the police officer quickly and quietly escorted away.  The drumming was amazing with all sorts of instruments represented, and changes in dynamics and tempo evolving with no visible leadership.  Truly communal, amazing, and inspiring.  If I lived here, I would hope to go every Friday night, take my drum, and beat away the stresses of the week.  I can certainly see why it endures.