An Afternoon in the Highlands

No, we didn't go to Scotland.  We did hear some bagpipe music though :-)  We spent an afternoon in a town called Highlands in the mountains of southwest North Carolina.  I really do love mountain towns, and there are lots of them dotted throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.  I haven't come anywhere close to seeing them all, but of the ones I've visited, I think Highlands is the most picturesque.

I got so many comments about the pretty churches in the post I did on Blowing Rock ("Finding Mitford"), which you can read about HERE.  I love churches as well, and for some reason, it seems that mountain churches are some of the most charming.  Highlands has a fairly small main street that runs through the center of town, and almost all of the protestant denominations are represented on this one small street.  While we were there, we saw a Baptist church, a Methodist church, a Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Catholic church.

Hubby and I didn't have a lot of time to spend there that particular day, so we were only able to photograph three of the churches, mainly because they were in closer proximity to one another.  I hope to photograph the Baptist church and the Catholic church next time around.  We also took pictures of some of the shops and the gorgeous flowers, like these pink Phlox.

Hooray For Harry

On Saturday, DH and I saw the last Harry Potter movie.  We drove to the theater with mixed feelings; we were excited because we'd been looking forward to seeing the movie, but a bit sad because we knew that it was the last one.  The end of the journey.

Our son convinced me to read the book the summer after his fourth-grade year.  I loved it; I encouraged my husband to read it, and thus we began a wonderful family adventure.  Seven years of reading all the books in the series, and ten years of going to see the movies.

The character, Harry Potter, was 11 years old in the first book, and our son was eleven when we chaperoned his fifth-grade class to see the very first movie.  Yep, there were kids there from age 10 to age 40 :-)  Then when our son got a little older, he went to see the movies with his friends and their parents, or his friends came along with us.  And finally, after sophomore year in high school, he decided he was too old for Harry Potter.  A lot of his college friends are still seeing the movies, but our son has moved on.

I noticed when we saw the last movie that most of the audience was our age (which might have been because we went to the matinee showing).  But my husband says that a good story has something in it for everyone.  The Harry Potter books have excitement, imagination, wonderful humor, poignancy, and unforgettable characters.  And they're allegorical.  Yes indeed; they teach wonderful lessons about friendship, loyalty, courage and the choices we make in life.

The actors began acting in these movies as children about the age of our son.  Like him, they've grown up too.  But to us, they'll always be those beloved Hogwarts students -- Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville.

Thanks for the memories, J.K.R.

Denise

Old Salem, North Carolina

I had planned to save this post for a later time, but I decided to go ahead and publish it now, because it has some pretty summer flowers and gardens, and it is definitely still summer around here.

I'm trying to learn about photo composition, and I have a lot to learn.  So, I've been practicing.  I have learned that light, too much or too little of it, is crucial to good pictures.  And we all know that the quality of light is different at different times of day, as well as different times of year.

On Monday of this week, I went to Old Salem to take some more photos for a follow-up to a post I did a few weeks ago, which you can read about HERE.  I started taking pictures at about 10:30 a.m., and it was already pretty bright outside at that time.  I got some good pictures, but when I looked at them on the computer, I realized I wanted a softer light.  So, I went back in the evening with my husband and took a few more.

Then on Tuesday morning, DH had to be at work at 7:00 a.m., so I took the camera with me, and after dropping him off at the office, I went straight to Old Salem, and started photographing around 7:15 a.m.  I found the light to be much better, and the quality of the pictures to be better as well.

There's so much to photograph in this small, historic community.  There are colonial merchant's shops with wonderful, painted wooden signs.

Finding Mitford

Have you read the Mitford books by Jan Karon?  No?  I highly recommend them; I really do.  Hopefully, you'll be drawn into the stories and feel like you know all the characters -- in some cases, better than you know your own neighbors. 

The characters in the Mitford books are mostly southern, very human, and oh-so-funny.  These books make me laugh out loud, and I really love a book that does that.  Karon's use of southern dialect is so humorous and realistic; one of the men in the books is always saying "buddyro", which I haven't heard anyone say since I was a child.  Having grown up in the south, the characters and dialect really strike a chord with me.  But you don't have to be southern to appreciate the books; the people and themes are universal.  I imagine if you look around, you can find real-life Mitford's all over the country.

The stories take place in the fictional town of Mitford, which is based on the town of Blowing Rock, North Carolina.  Jan Karon was living in Blowing Rock when she wrote most of the series; in fact,
the first book was printed serially in the small-town newspaper, The Blowing Rocket.

If you liked the books, you might enjoy seeing what some of the real places actually look like; if not, you can just enjoy seeing a really cute mountain town.  Unfortunately, Blowing Rock has become something of a tourist destination, so it's almost impossible to to find a time to visit when it's not crowded.

We took a lot of pictures, so this will be a two-part post.  You can see Part Two of "Finding Mitford" HERE.  The first group of pictures are of the church.

Love these beautiful foxgloves!

"Let Freedom Ring"

It's the fifth of July, and I'm just now writing my Independence Day post.  Hubby went back to work today, after spending last week recovering from his orthopedic surgery.  I'll be driving him to and from the office for a while because his car is a manual transmission, and he can't change gears with his right hand at the moment; we're not sure how long before he can.  His arm is in a soft cast/sling, and we have a follow-up visit with the surgeon this Friday.

I've missed blogging.  I have tried to look at a few of your posts, but haven't had much time to do so.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July holiday!  We could hear the fireworks in our neighborhood until close to midnight last night.

We ate at my parents' house on Sunday, July 3rd (it was my Dad's birthday), and then we ate at my in-laws' house on July 4th.  The food was wonderful at both places, and it was nice to get out of our house for a bit.  I had already bought some things to set a Fourth of July table with, so I did get to set it up (a few days late).  Most of the things I already had, but I did get a few new things.  I just hated to save it until next year, so I did a tablescape. 

You won't see any outdoor tables on my blog (at least not for awhile) because we don't have a good outdoor area to spend time in the spring and summer.  It's one of the things that I'd like to improve about our house, but it's just not in the budget until our son finishes college.  My kitchen needs a makeover as well, so that's why most, if not all, of my tablescapes will be in the dining room.  If I were doing an outdoor table, or a table on a screened porch, I would do something lighter with more of a festive, party feel.  But since I'm using the dining room, I went with more of a historic theme.

I truly enjoyed creating this table because I really LOVE history.  This weekend, we watched several parts of a series on the History Channel called "The Revolution".  It's a 13-part series and is available on DVD, but we recorded as many episodes as we could.  We stumbled upon it by accident Sunday night, and it was so interesting, we set up our DVR to record it.   DH and I learned so many things about the American Revolution that we had never known.  It seriously amazes me that a small, ragtag, but determined army was able to defeat the British, the most powerful empire on earth at that time.

For my table, I used white dinner plates and blue and white salad plates.  I used our everyday flatware,
Oneida "Colonial Boston".  Very appropriate for an Independence Day table, I thought.

"Little Williamsburg"

I'm celebrating Independence Day all this week -- at least on my blog.  Mr. Forest Manor had his out-patient surgery last week, and thankfully, he's doing well.  After I picked him up from work this afternoon, we drove to Old Salem so I could take some pictures while they still had their historic flags out for the Fourth of July.  I grew up in this area and have pretty much lived nearby all my life, and I never get tired of Old Salem.  I LOVE it there.  Years ago we read in a local newspaper or magazine (can't remember which) that Old Salem is like a "Little Williamsburg".  That was probably a tad ambitious :)  Old Salem is quite a bit smaller than Williamsburg, and they don't offer as many events; but it is quite old for this country, and I think it's charming.  You can read my second post about Old Salem HERE.

Old Salem was built in 1766 and features a living history museum that interprets the restored Moravian community. The Moravian church has its origins in ancient Bohemia and Moravia, in what is now the Czech Republic.  To escape religious persecution, the Moravians came to America, where they settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Salem (now Winston-Salem), North Carolina.  Like Williamsburg, Old Salem does historical re-enactments, and the tour guides and interpreters all wear 18th century traditional Moravian costumes.


George Washington visited Salem in 1791 and slept at the Old Salem Tavern.  And this has nothing to do with Colonial America or July 4th; but... the first Krispy Kreme store opened in Old Salem in 1937;)  The doughnuts were made using potato flour, an old Moravian practice.  So that's it for facts in this post; let's look at some pictures.

Hanging in front of this shop is the Grand Union flag, commonly regarded as the first (unofficial) American flag.

Thoughts For A Sunday Evening

My DH is asleep on the sofa; I'm glad he's able to sleep because he can get some relief from the pain and discomfort of shingles.  What an odd name for a medical condition that is essentially adult chicken pox.  As I wrote in my previous post, it's been a rough week, and next week will probably be rougher.  He'll still have the pain and discomfort of shingles, combined with the pain and discomfort of recuperating from surgery.  But we saw a rainbow here this evening, and I always think that's a good omen.  God is with us.

I enjoyed my mother-son time today so much, I just had to write about it.  It was an ordinary Sunday, except that my husband felt so bad.  But since our son is working as a dorm resident advisor for both summer school sessions, he comes home every Sunday to do his laundry, mow the lawn and /or help with other chores around the house, stock up on any grocery items he may need, and eat dinner with us.  Now, I'd prefer he didn't mow the lawn on Sunday, and I feel bad about it, but that's the only day of the week that he is always off-duty in the dorm; and we pay him to mow, so it helps him with his finances. We haven't had any rain here this week, so we decided not to mow.  The grass is already starting to look stressed , and we didn't want to make things worse.  After our son left to go back to school, we got a little bit of rain -- hence, the rainbow.

We always enjoy seeing our son on his Sunday visits, and sometimes we go to Greensboro on Saturdays and take him to lunch.  When we see him , he usually has funny stories to tell us about his job, or what he and his friends have been doing, or just campus life in general.  But today, he was just extra considerate and helpful, and I appreciated it so much.  His presence and demeanor just meant a lot to me because I've been so worried about DH this week.  I love ya' son :-)

Now, I'm trying to be positive about this upcoming week and the surgery.  I believe in the power of prayer and the promise of the rainbow.  So I'll be praying.  And I'll be thinking about the upcoming things that DH and I are looking forward to doing.  Like watching the Tour De France (starts Friday, July 1st), which we do every summer.  I like the cycling okay, but I'm really all about the gorgeous scenery.  And then, the last Harry Potter movie opens in about three weeks.  And hopefully, we'll still be able to take our annual trip to the mountains of western North Carolina the last weekend in July.  Positive thoughts, things to look forward to.  This really helps me because ya know what?  I'm a worrier, a born worrier.  It's all my Mom's fault -- I inherited it from her.  She knows it's true :)

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, but only saps today of its strength." A. J. Cronin

"Be, therefore, not anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow will be anxious for the things of itself." The Bible

Wishing you all a lovely, worry-free week.

Denise