From those other mountains

It's one highlight of every day to visit two English bloggers, Tony Richards at Lakelandcam, and Charles Winpenny at Cornwallcam. The Lakelandcam photos remind me a lot of what we see here in the Southern Appalachians, beautiful mountains and lakes covering the Lake District area of Cumbria, UK, even though there are a lot less trees there. The weather is even pretty similar. However, these mountains seem even more scenic to me because of the beautiful old buildings and towns around the area. No Wal-Marts or other giant lit parking lots here. Here's one of Tony's recent photo of The Lakes:

Clicking on the photo will show it full size, but it will expire in a few days, so the link will probably die then. Go to Tony's site for more.

And, from these mountains, it's time to get ready for The Possum Drop on New Year's Eve at Clay's Corner in Brasstown, NC. This event got a lot of publicity last year (even in the New York Times) so this year will probably be a real blowout. No, they don't drop the possum (that's why they call it the Lowering of the Possum), but there were some complaints last year so there seems to be a question of whether there will be a possum this year. You'll just have to come to see.

A Christmas walk in the forest... 

It's a sunny day but not down in the bottom... 

Here's a perfect Christmas tree... 

It's a holly... 

Lushly covered with berries 

Christmas morning, all is calm, not very bright... 

It's the season.... 

...at the general store (Blairsville, Ga.) 

Snow was melting by Tuesday... 

Proof that it really was 8 degrees outside early Monday morning..... 

Celebration time

As the snow arrived this morning, it made a cheery holiday scene:


Two mountain area bloggers are celebrating this week, much more than just the approach of Christmas: Doug Thompson, of Floyd VA, celebrated his birthday on Friday and a wedding anniversary a few days earlier. South Knox Bubba, of east Tennessee, is celebrating his birthday and a wedding anniversary today. Congrats to both great bloggers.

This front promises real cold. The snow is an extra. Note the thermometer is at about 20 degrees at 4 pm: supposed to get colder. 

Blizzardlike when the wind comes up. 

A little lake effect snow, reaching all the way down to the Carolinas..... 

Winter is arriving. 

Before the cold arrived, all the rain we've had turned to fog.... 

Winter grasses. 

After the rain...our little brook is bigger than I've ever seen it.  

Bird blogging: titmouse and a warbler? at the feeder. 

Cades Cove

South Knox Bubba has posted a gallery of photos from this beautiful Great Smokies National Park area. Great deer shots!

Another frosty morning.... 

Friday cat blogging: Gaby and Layla. 

The last tree with leaves; showing off. 

Old Clay County Courthouse, downtown Hayesville NC 

Full moon rising through the woods 

Reference Book

New, reviewed in the New York Times: Dictionary of Smokey Mountain English, by Michael Montgomery and Joseph Hall. From the Amazon.com description:

The first comprehensive work for the region, the Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English records the distinctive and characteristic speech ways of southern Appalachia, focusing primarily on the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee and western North Carolina.

Sounds great, but....$75.

And, in the 'related' section: Born Fighting, How the Scots-Irish Shaped America.

More photos from Sunday. This is looking towards the Tusquitees from Nantahalas....