Winter weekend

The ice storm pretty much missed us here, but we stayed inside all day yesterday anyway. I went out to take a photo of all the foggy rain, but after walking down the hill found I hadn't put the memory card in the camera. I wasn't going back. From today: at the barbecue restaurant. 


For some more photos, Fletch at Austin Country Limits has posted some nice winter bird photos. And Doug Thompson at Blue Ridge Muse and Fred First of Fragments from Floyd took some amazing photos of this week's full moon over the mountains.

Pictures from another time....

We're waiting on a bad weekend of possible ice storms or at the least, really cold freezing rain. It won't last long, but the last few days have been better inside than outside, despite sunny periods, so no new photos. This may be a good time to show some pictures from better weather, just as Charles Winpenny did on Cornwallcam today.
These photos are a random selection over the seasons....

Strawberries, May. 

Violets, early spring. 

A lovely mushroom, spring. 

Cherokee Hills golf course, summer. 

Oak, N. Ga, October 2003 

Tennesee coneflower, near Nashville, June 2004. 

It's been cold here this weekend (everywhere of course) so no photos taken. Here are a couple from the recent files: This is a storefront in Copperhill, TN, reflecting the bright colors of a Mexican restaurant (taken on Inauguration day). 

Another photo from last Monday: looking down I-26 into Tennessee. 

Mountain bloggers

A cheer for Marie of Blue Ridge Blog, who in her newspaper photographer guise, got one of her photos of the kidnapped kids from the Watauga county Amber alert story on USA Today's The day in pictures.
Marie also tells us of another new photo blog from the northeast section of the North Carolina mountains, Chelle's Early Mornings.

From the other side of the mountains, South Knox Bubba has some nice photos of the Sandhill Cranes at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, a place I want to visit soon.

Traveling up the Appalachians

Looking down from the gap towards Lake Chatuge, north Georgia mountains, on the road from Hayesville to Franklin NC. 

Snow in the Virginia mountains, near Salem. 

From the new I-26 crossing the high point of Madison County coming from Tennessee, the Black Mountains. That's Mount Mitchell (highest peak east of the Rockies) in the mid-left.... 

Closeup toward Mt. Mitchell. 

Civil War history

A great new site by the Library of Congress has maps from the Civil War, part of the library's American Memory Project. The maps cover all the states affected by the war and you can search or browse by geography or topic. There are four pages of maps just covering North Carolina. I found one showing the North Carolina Tennessee mountains in 1863/64. There are other maps drawn in other years. Here's a downloaded zoom from that map, showing Murphy NC and the Hiwassee River, in 1863. 

Catblogging: Layla explores the woods. 

After a few rainy days, it's sunny and warm in the forest today. 

You'd never guess this used to be an indoor cat. 

Following paths... 

Firewood time

Although the weather's unusually warm around here right now, lots of us are still burning wood for additional warmth, and we're sure to get another cold spell or two.
A couple good tips for those wondering about how to get value when buying wood: About.com has a whole section of links and information about firewood types, values and sizes. Also, here's a page from the Maryland department of forestry that tells you how to buy firewood and what woods are best. Useful stuff. (Thanks to Al's Morning Meeting for the tip.)