Wet wordless Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

A great year!

2009 started out on the cold side. (2010 is doing the same) We did get snow in January, but not much. The Camilla's continued to bloom and Spontaneous spent lots of time rolling around on the floor in front of the fire. We do like to be cozy here.

February was cold, but here in the south we still had blossoms. My Sweet Hubby kept me warm and spoiled. Some of these photos are from blog posts, some are just my favorites.
March was a busy month, I wrote two of my favorite posts. Space cadet, after we visited NASA and Rosie & Ruth, a tribute to my Mom and Rosie the Riveter for Women's History month.
http://akatscorner.blogspot.com/2009/03/space-cadet.html

http://akatscorner.blogspot.com/2009/03/rosie-ruth-womens-history-month.html
Go ahead, if you haven' t read them yet, do it now. I am quite proud of them. (Yes that is me at the controls)
April brought blossoms, a very messy storm and more blossoms. Spontaneous, as usuall, just wants to play.

May was for walks in the woods, making digital art, good food and another of my best posts, "Obsession". http://akatscorner.blogspot.com/2009/05/obsession.html

In June our trusty Toyota Corolla passed it's 100,000Th mile. Still going strong, that little car takes us all over the place. The lighthouse at Hunting Island and Beaufort for instance. I love to travel with my Sweet Hubby!

I don't know if you have ever been here for a Southern Summer or not, but everyone is just looking for a way to keep cool. Spontaneous likes the tile in the kitchen when it is hot, look at all that fur! One cool spot in the July heat is Asheville NC for Belle Chere.

In August we went back out west for a couple of weeks. I got to goof off with my sisters (Me, Margaret & Paula, left to right), then we spent some time with the wild life in Yellowstone. I got some great photos there, the bottom left is a bear. The necklace is one of my creations. It is turquoise with animal fetishes. I finished it on this trip.

September was perfect camping season here, not to hot or to cold. Our trusty old van got to come out and play. The blue car in the bottom corner is a Ford Granada, almost the same as my first car. They are not around anymore and when I saw this one, I took plenty of photos. I used the photo in a post called "Art on Wheels". (bottom right is My Sweet Hubby and I)

October is one of my favorite months and this year was no exception. We went on yet another walk up in North Carolina and found a tiny amount of snow. Decorations went up for Halloween and this dolly was made for me by a friend at http://www.randomspyder.com/ , isn't she cute?

November saw the end of Jack, a good stack of wood in for the winter and some lovely leaf colors. Here at Kat's corner, the Christmas decorations usually go up around Thanksgiving. The story behind the plate is in a post called "The Grandparents".

The year has come full circle and we are back to December. This last grouping shows some of my favorite things about the holidays. We play board games and eat homemade caramel as well as lots of other lovely treats. My Sweet Hubby has me spoiled rotten! The little bear is one I made and the top right is our church from when we lived in Charleston.

Here is hoping that 2010 is just as good for us and all of you.

Kat

With thanks to Lyn at http://lyn-everydaylife.blogspot.com/2009/12/2009.html, for letting me use her great idea.

Wooly caterpillars

There is an old wives tale that says something about how if the woolly caterpillars are fat and furry, the winter is going to be a cold one. I don't know if this guy has heard that or not, but he is fine and fat and furry. Do you think we should go get some extra wood? Somehow I always associated caterpillars and butterflies with the spring. This is most certainly autumn and here they are. All these photos were taken within the last week or so.

We have had a bumper crop of butterflies lately. I have photographed three different species just on our road. The

orange and black is dressed up for the season. The midnight blue looks ready for a ball.

This part of South Carolina brings in the fall, ever so gently. It slowly sneaks up on you. I anxiously wait for the first yellow leaves then the first of the red. It is often cool enough in the mornings to snuggle up. Soon, it will be time to bring wood up and cut it for the fireplaces. My Sweet Hubby brought the afghans down from the attic. I love to stretch out on the couch under a cuddly throw. Anyone who knows me, will know that I

hate to be cold. I do, however, enjoy being just a little cool, IF I can cuddle. Spontaneous the cat is quite popular right now.

There are so many interesting things to photograph right now. Green has been our dominant color all summer, I am ready for change. I have photos of three different kinds of mushrooms from our walk the other day. Just this morning, as we walked out to the car, I spotted yet another kind, these have red and white caps. I did not stop to shoot as we were already running late. If they are still there, I will try to get them for next week.


These little puff balls look like some sort of confection (no
worries, I would never pick wild to eat, I am very protective of my own skin). The other two types really look like they should have fairy's near by.

These two posts have some good examples of what I mean.


http://akatscorner.blogspot.com/2008/09/hodge-podge.html

http://akatscorner.blogspot.com/2008/08/by-special-request.html
Maybe I will have to go fairy with my trusty little camera again soon (I still have great nieces that have not been turned into fairies yet and I want to make some paper dolls too).



After the mushroom photos, comes another great use for mushrooms, Pizza. No mushrooms on this, just pepperoni and lots of cheese. My Sweet hubby has the hand made stuffed crust down to an art form. Good stuff!

Below that is another great example we found at Earth Fair in Augusta. I read about it in Martha Stewart's Halloween Magazine. She recommends it for it's spooky appearance and even spookier name.
When I spotted the cheese, Jennifer, our favorite cheese guru let us have a taste and we were hooked. It is Morbier. The stripe is vegetable ash, I know, that sounds just a little odd, but you really should try it. Way back when they started making this cheese, families that did not have enough milk to fill the mold all at once would put the mornings milking in, then a layer of fine ash to prevent it from forming a skin. In the evening, they milked again and put the rest on top. Part of what makes it so interesting is the fact that the morning milking tastes different from the evening milking, so the two halves taste different. I think the story is kind of romantic. Can't you just see the little cottage with one cow in the back?
Last but not least, we have Jack o'lanterns on the steps. The Halloween decorations are up and I am already dreaming of pumpkin pie.

In the woods and back at home

I had so many wonderful photos from that last trip to the Smokies, I just had to share. The first seven photos were taken on a lovely trail on the Doughton Park Trail system. We were there on a weekday and pretty much had the trail to ourselves.
As far as I am concerned that trail was just about perfect. There was some up and some down. Short stretches of strenuous walking mixed with easy strolls. The weather was also perfect. At one point when we were on our way back out, it started to sprinkle. We could hear it on the canopy of trees but only felt a drop or two. The trail winds around the hillside. In some places it is quite narrow then it widens out and
goes through trees and wildflowers. Pure peace!

















There are wild berries blooming all over the place. It is also a bear sanctuary. Do you think there is a connection? We did not see any bears on this trail, but I bet they know where the berries are. I particularly like this photograph with the Berry blossoms in the foreground.

















We did not see any bears on this trail, but evidently, the trees are hungry. See this one is eating the bottom sign. I have not photoshoped this picture, but you can bet I will. You can almost see the face already, it only needs a little help.

















Isn't this the most amazing mushroom you have ever seen? There were three of these grouped together. this one is at least two feet across! The second is probably about eighteen inches and the third much smaller. It looks like a pile of some sort of dough.
Can't you just see a whole flock of fairies perched on this?























Another pretty wild flower. I will have to ask my friend Lynn what this one is called. (She is brilliant!) These grown in clumps together and they remind me a little bit of some my Mom had growing in her garden.

















Another great view, these are the reward for climbing. The air is cool and crisp, just a light breeze. We stopped right here for a while. It feels a little like being in church.

















Here is an historic moment with our trusty Toyota Corolla. She reached 100,000 miles on this trip and she still looks great (runs great too). That is of course my favorite chauffeur, also known as my Sweet Hubby. We knew she was getting close to the big number so we were watching. He glanced down at just the right moment and pulled over for me to take the photos.

















When we got back home we were greeted by a lovely smell. The Magnolia is blooming. As usual these blossoms are huge.

















This little gem was going across the road in front of us when we went out for a walk the other day. Isn't he pretty? I think he looks a bit like a "Gummy" snake, you know made from the same stuff as "Gummy Bears" (I love the little German ones made by Haribo). This little guy is only about a foot and a half long.

















Another one of the rewards that go with living here. This is a stuffed crust pepperoni pizza with extra cheese. It was made completely from scratch by my Sweet Hubby. It was even better than it looks!

















I went out to take photos of my tiger lilies while they were at their best and spotted a visitor in my lavender (isn't the lavender doing great too)? I will have to harvest some soon. If I cut the flowers now and bring them in to dry, the plant will produce more before the summer is over. It drys easily and is the smell lingers nicely. I make old fashioned lavender wands to put in our dresser drawers and with the linens. It smells nice and discourages moths. I will have to post a photo and some instructions.

















One of the tiger lilies. They are also close to perfect this year. I have a great crop. My Mom grew these in her garden when we were young too.

What is Black & White and Lazy all over? Spontaneous the cat. She has such an expressive face.

And, last but not least, the star of the show! This fine specimen was crossing the road. He is a snapping turtle. He is also huge! Big enough that even the eighteen wheelers were slowing down and driving carefully around him. Usually my Sweet Hubby will stop and remove turtles from the road to keep them from being run over( he carries heavy duty paper towels in the car just for this). However, we were warned not to try it with this guy, he has a very long and agile neck. Did you get a look at those claws! We left well enough alone. Kind of him to pose so nicely for me though.

That is the end for this week. See you soon. Kat