Friday bird blogging

Just a feeder scene....
...and the bluebird house, in the snow (so far unoccupied).
The best bird views of the week were yesterday, when we saw a bald eagle fishing in the Hiwassee River. No place to pull over to try to get a photo, but we saw him hit the water and begin to fly off. Couldn't see if he caught anything. A hundred yards down the road, a turkey flew across the road in front of us and sideswiped the windshield of an oncoming car. He flew off unhurt, we hope...

After the snow

Yesterday afternoon, already starting to melt:
This morning, Chunky Gal/Nantahalas, from Hayesville:
Three of Brasstown Bald, in Georgia. From Hayesville:
From Young Harris, GA
From Track Rock Road.

Most places looked like this, though, all the snow melted.

One more shot from yesterday morning, touch of color in the grey/white...

An unusual sight

Yes, it did

And it still is. More later, but wanted to get the snow on the trees before it blows away.

Changing weather

Some days warm, sunny:
Some days changing. Last night's clouds preceeded the storm. More today, cold tomorrow (snow?)

Foggy

Eclipse

Around the Folk School

Down the hill, at one end of the John C. Campbell Folk School, is the blacksmithing complex.A good friend visited us in Black Mountain 30 years ago, on his way to attend the blacksmith class there. Since then he's had a blacksmithing business in Vermont. This week he visited us here in Murphy area and we took a short tour of the school.

A class was going on inside.
Work tools.

A reconstruction project next to the old shop.
Looking back up the hill to the farm house.

Hiwassee Dam

And the view of the lake I never get tired of....

Right on time...

Cold and a bit snowy

There's more snow on this club moss now.....

Links moved

A few years ago I started keeping Web links for places, people and businesses in the Southern Appalachian area I was going to move to.

When I moved and started this photo blog, I posted them to the Web. They are mostly links that I've used, blogs I look at, and links to Murphy-area friends and institutions.

I also watched out for things relevant to other places in the mountains I've lived, mostly the Black Mountain-Asheville area.

I don't know if any of these links are relevant to any of you, but if you've bookmarked them, they've moved. My old dialup account, which provided Web space, is being cancelled since broadband has reached this (formerly) remote part of western Cherokee County, so the links are now at my new site at ElisabethDonovan.com. You can also get to them from the "Lots more local links" in the sidebar.

As the rain dispersed yesterday

There's a lovely view of the Tusquitee and Nantahala mountains from downtown Hayesville.
The People's Store.
The last time I visited this store it was closed and dark. Yesterday, at least, the lights were on so I could get pictures through the window.It's been cleaned and set up beautifully as a museum.
The view around the square is always peaceful.
The old courthouse has been cleaned and is looking really sharp. New sidewalks are going in around the square.

Colors in the rain

Sunny weather

It's been cold and gloomy but that didn't stop the amaryllis from blooming:
We've had a day or two with no clouds, though, nice change before it gets rainy again tonight.

Some days the clear skies, bare mountains, and golden fields make this one of the prettiest times of the year to me....
There's been enough rain that Lake Hiwassee has risen above its lowest point, to nearly normal winter levels. We're still in extreme drought here, though, but no longer exceptional.
A family enjoys exploring the lake bed in the warmer weather.
The huge oak near the dam is covered with mistletoe.