Feels like spring....

Peach blossoms.



And, for some really beautiful flower photos (and other mountain scenes), check out
the site of local photographer Larry Hunsucker.

And, here's another local blog I found intriguing: Smoky Mountain Cafe, a cooking blog by a Katrina refugee from Louisiana, now settled in the foothills of the Smokies. Nothing fancy, a little southern mountain cooking, a little cajun..... (via her brother's blog, western NC photographer John Roberts.)

J&B Produce

Nice to see a local business featured on another blog. Photographer John Roberts likes the looks of this produce stand, at the flea market at the Ranger intersection.

Contrast on a spring weekend

This is what it looks like this morning: snow on the pear blossoms.



On Friday, though, a whole different scene at Reliance, TN: the fishing businesses coming alive,

Rafters will be coming, too, as it warms up. Some bikers out now.

At the Apalachia powerhouse, they've rebuilt the walking bridge.

The clear water coming from Apalachia Lake meets the brown water from the 'dry' gorge.

The Hiwassee River travels about 10 miles through these tubes.

The new bridge work.

Looking downstream.

They were releasing large amounts of water that day to flush the river bed for the fishing.


Left to rot by someone:

Good Friday in the mountains

This abandoned house has always intrigued, on a remote part of the old Joe Brown Highway (Unicoi Turnpike). How did they live on this mountainside, and was it a busier road when they built it here?
What a view.

We saw several waterfalls we've never noticed before: the spring rains have made them bigger and they're not hidden this time of year.




(The new header photo: Cohutta (Big Frog) mountains from old Joe Brown Highway.)

It's starting

After all the rain, seems everything's popping out:

Is this the future of our mountain lands?

I saw this cabin-covered hillside a couple years ago on a trip to visit friends near Gatlinburg, over the other side of the Smokies in Tennessee. It was shocking then, and is even more shocking now, in this photo posted to the Blountviews blog a couple weeks ago. Just take a look. Commenters ask if it's real or photoshopped. How long before the hills everywhere look like this?

(Think this is impossible? There's a development across from the end of our road that will look like this if a house is built on every lot. And a lot more small-lot ridgetop developments around....)

We may get enough rain today

Darkness at noon.

There are some blooms on the flowering pear, but who can see them in this fog and rain?

Sunshine and snow

Photo upload in Blogger isn't working for me today. There was also a nasty patch on Saturday, when nothing would load (and the blogs disappeared for awhile).

So, trying something else....

Along Tellico Lake, looking towards the Smokies....

Winter returns

It was too warm for the snow to stay, so although it snowed a lot it doesn't look like much on the ground. After all the rain we've had and the snow on top of it , though, it may get trecherous when it freezes tonight....

Some color for a change