Sunrise Wordless Wednesday

Craggy Gardens.

Come away, oh human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand

Those lines from W.B. Yeats poem, The Stolen Child,

Yeats
kept running through my head as we walked along the trail.

Craggy Gardens is truly a magical place.

Awesome in the oldest and truest sense of the word.

They are part of Smokey Mtn National Park, up on the Blue Ridge.

Time plays tricks, it is easy to see where the old stories about
entering the faery kingdom, then leaving and finding out your afternoon has lasted for years,

come from. It felt like we were only there a few minutes,

not nearly long enough.

The trail leads across a meadow.

View from the edge of the meadow.

The wind was perfectly still when I took this picture.

Dappled sunlight sneaks through the trees and all too soon, it is time to leave.

This seed head is as pretty as some flowers.

Craggy Gardens is not a formal garden,

just a natural, magical place.

Kat

Wordless Wednesday

Travel Report Bele Chere 2010 in Asheville NC.

Bele Chere is an annual art's festival in Asheville NC.

Great music, good food, art in all it's forms, and happy people, what more could you ask for?

We were there on the 22nd of July.

I told you they had all sorts of art, this is a cat statue (I always find the cats).

The locals really get into it. I love the decorations on this balcony.

This is one of two photos of this band, don't they just look like they are making mountain music?

This is the rest of the band. Lighting conditions were not ideal and I had a lot of trouble getting a shot with these two out of the shadows. Photo shop to the rescue.

We have been to Bele Chere several times, you never know what you will find there.

This is a blow up dental spa.....

(The handsome guy in the middle is my Sweet Hubby)

The festival is well laid out and signposted.

Buskers come in all shapes and sizes.

Here we see a mime (a mime is a terrible thing to waste) walking with a fairy on stilts.

We also saw magic acts, living statues and plenty of musicians.

There are miles of booths selling all sorts of hand crafted items, as well as food and drink vendors.

There is that handsome guy again. He is my travel buddy.

Need to cool down?

Each year they set up a couple of giant canvases on frames for graffiti, they even provide the paint and brushes. We were there on day one and the canvas is already getting lots of attention.

My favorite artist's contribution.

This is, in our opinion, the best band we heard there. Their music seemed to fit the mood just right.

They are "Brother Fatback"

You can hear them play here Brother Fatback on My Space

A little bit of everything. This puts a whole new spin on "Playing Air Guitar".

Look at the top near the strap, it is a drink holder.

On that note,

Stay cool,

Kat

More Flower sculptures and flowers

As promised, here are the rest of the critters from our flower festival. They are an art form all there own.

Our first picture here is an early morning ape. He has his cup of coffee and is holding his newspaper high. The ape is a much improved repeat performer from last year.

This odd fellow is a Bearcat from Lander U (where I earned my BSN). I have never seen one wandering around, except on campus and I suspect that one is a guy in a suit. Oh well, go Bearcats!

This, in case you are not from The South, is a University of South Carolina, USC, Gamecock. There is a lot of rivalry over who supports what football team and this is a Southern favorites. He is about 15 feet tall.

I think this one  is just plain sweet. A flower pony. He is slightly larger than life size.

Once again, this year, the Mama and Baby Elephants are my favorites. The baby is a fountain!

This exotic looking beauty was growing over a fence in Savannah yesterday.

Lilly

I don't know what this is, I stuck my camera through a fence to take the photo. The ball of flowers is about 8 inches across and grows on the end of a two or three foot long stalk.

Pretty colors,

See the Katydid?

Have a great Monday and enjoy the sunshine!

Kat