Out like a lamb

It's been really dry around here recently but things are greening up here by the stream.... 

Up close. 

Unknown (and never seen before) wildflower: leathery leaves and waxy flowers, tiny and low growing. 

(Added May 4: now I know, thanks to Connecticut Botanical Society: Trailing Arbutus.

Cherry blossoms. 

Daffodils. 

Snow days

It's been cold, windy, overcast and sometimes rainy this week, which is why no new photos.
But I can at least show you a purple violet, rare around here. Yesterday and today it snowed, although none stayed on the ground. Further north and east there was lots more: check out the pictures from the Asheville Citizen-Times.
 

Lots more of the pale violets but they look a bit like they've been frostbit.... 

Music night

Beautiful harp. 

Onion with spring fever

I like the way the wild onion is growing in the pasture this year. On drugs? 

Flowering pear. The hot weekend got lots of stuff starting to open, but the rain and windy cold yesterday has slowed it down some. Nothing but blue sky today, though..... 

Peach tree, just beginning to open. 

Grape hyacinth. 

Bike rides

Nantahala Lake. 

On the dock. 

Photography vehicle. Well, that is, when I can get the driver to stop.... 

Helmet hair. 

Sunset and smoke

The clear winter sky around here has been fouled with smoke from land clearing, almost daily. With lack of rain and lots of wind it's not a good time for fires. This one, though, a couple valleys over, was in or near the National Forest so may have been a controlled burn. Whatever it was, the smoke filled the air from here to Murphy..... 

More signs of spring. 

Sign of the times. 

Overlooking Brasstown valley. 

Folk School craft shop entrance. 

They really do turn purple in the winter. Near Brasstown. 

Tennessee ride

Looking over the Ocoee gorge towards the Big Frog wilderness, TN/Cohutta mountains in Georgia..... 

Looks like a spring day, but cold. Gliderport near Benton, TN. 

Looking towards Chilhowee Mountain.