Sunday, April 17, 2011

86-92/365 Days of Photos

86/365 ~ Grasping at Straws ... err, I mean Spoons

Yes, it's 11:00 on a rainy Sunday that found me inside all day and looking around the house for something of meaning to shoot at this late hour. I pass by a wall of spoons from the living room to the kitchen a million times a year. Many who visit remark on the collection and ask how long I've been collecting. I started in 2nd grade when we joined the Little River Cloggers. Mama suggested we find something to collect in our travels with the team as well as the vacations they would be taking us on. So how old are you in the 2nd grade? Seven? Then I've been collecting these things for about 37 years? Wow! I have one rack that holds 99 spoons a gift requested by someone special and made by my dad; and several racks that hold 10 or more each. I've got spoons I collected on our trip out across the country when I was 17. I've got a wooden spoon from Russia brought to me by a co-worker at EVCC back in 1996. I have a Scarlet O'Hara spoon sandwiched between Rhett Butler and Elvis spoons. I even have all of my baby spoons lined up with all three of my childrens' baby spoons. The spoons pictured in today's photo of the day are the first ones I collected - they are from our clogging trip to Cherokee, NC and family vacations to Grandfather mountain and Gatlinburg, TN. They need to be dusted and some need to be polished but they're all there and accounted for and most every single one has a memory to be shared. - Taken with Retro Camera App for Android Phones

87/365 ~ Chimney Rock Park in the fog

It was really foggy today down through the gorge. By the time I took this photo and got back down to the road I looked back up and it was completely engulfed in the fog. I was impressed with the fact that I got this close of a shot - thanks to the 70-200 lens I borrowed. Too bad I had the ISO turned up to 6400 - and forgot to reset it - everything is very noisy today!

Privately owned by the Morse family for more than 100 years, Chimney Rock was acquired by the state of North Carolina in 2007 to become part of a larger state park dubbed Chimney Rock State Park. Currently, the 1,000-acre Chimney Rock is one of only two areas of the state park open to the public.

Chimney Rock, the 535-million-year-old monolith for which the Park is named, is considered one of the most iconic sites in North Carolina. From its top, you’ll soak in the 75-mile panoramic views of Hickory Nut Gorge and Lake Lure.

88/365 ~ Little details of our daily life.

Today I've had a monster headache all day. One that some might call a migraine but since I've only had three before this one, I'm not sure I'm qualified to diagnose it. All I know is, after sleeping all day, I woke up craving chocolate. I found a bag of Valentine candy and it was filled with hearts. I'm not a fan of them but when I dumped them out they were so full of love and even though they weren't chocolate they were very sweet! I don't think I've ever taken the time to read them, at least not since I understood the true meaning of soul mate :)!

89/365 ~ There are three easy ways of losing money - racing is the quickest, women the most pleasant, and farming the most certain - Lord Amhearst

For all my elementary school friends - a trip through Little River today found me this barn on 75 acres at the corner of Everett Farm Road and Crab Creek. This is the Shuford's old place and it's now for sale. 75 acres totaling 2.25 million dollars! Wow - Little River is kind of expensive now!

90/365 ~ Saluda Cottages, Flat Rock, NC
Again, I couldn't decide on which view I liked best today so I went with a collage. I would love a chance to visit the inside of this home.

This stately home and estate carries with it a heritage of distinction. Originally constructed in 1836, Saluda Cottage is listed on the National Register Of Historic Places and lies within the heart of the Historic Village Of Flat Rock. It is located next to the Carl Sandburg Estate and National Park, as well as the Flat Rock Theater, the State Theater of North Carolina.

Coastal South Carolinians continued to come to Flat Rock, calling it their "little Charleston of the mountains." They hired local men to build their houses, make furniture, and tend their gardens and livestock. Women and children came the end of May and remained all summer, while men, some of whose names are recorded in the annals of South Carolina’s history, went to and from Charleston as responsibilities allowed. Among them was Count Marie Joseph deChoiseul, the French consul to Charleston. He built Saluda Cottages (panel 21), a small two-story house with two houses for employees just south of it. The deChoiseuls remained at Saluda Cottages until 1841, when "The Castle," where the Countess and her son and daughters would remain year-round, was ready for occupancy. The original house was the center portion of today’s Chanteloup (panel 15). The additions, and the gardens designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, were added by the Norton sisters of Kentucky near the turn of the century.

Saluda Cottages had been so called because it lay near the Saluda Path, the first road to open Saluda Gap to wagons traveling from South Carolina. John Earle, living just across the state line, had been granted land near the "great flat rock" and had built a mill that would play an important part in Flat Rock’s history. Information courtesy of Louise Bailey (http://www.villageofflatrock.org/quiltinfo.htm)

91/365 ~ Biker's Hangout

Spent the day in Saluda and loved this shot of all the bikes lined up outside The Purple Onion while the bikers enjoyed lunch inside. Visit saluda.com for more information about this wonderful restaurant and more in such a wonderful little town.

92/365 ~ I paint from the top down. From the sky, then the mountains, then the hills, then the houses, then the cattle, and then the people.- Grandma Moses

Ditto but with my camera :) View of Roan Mountain or Mount Mitchell, maybe, from Double Island Road, Bakersfield, NC

Went loafin' as my dad would call it and wound up following the quilt trails through Burnsville, Spruce Pine and Bakersfield. Isn't this a magnificent view?

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