More Photos from the Road

Peeling bark of a Birch tree.

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks.  Actually, I have been sewing like mad trying to finish the hand quilting on the quilt I wrote about in the last blog post.  Sometimes I have been sewing for several hours a day.  You would not think that a smaller quilt would take so long.  I really have to put in the hours to get the quilt finished on time; the entry deadline for the show is drawing close.  I hate working on a deadline.  In the mean time, I thought my readers might enjoy some more photos from my last road trip.

It is amazing how much the same scene can change in just a few weeks.  In May everything was a bright yellow green.  By June, the vegetation has turned a dark green.  Weeds have grown up along the roadsides.  The haze in the mountains has changed to a deep blue.  Even though I have seen the same road dozens of times, it is always different than the last time I saw it.  There is just so much to see even just walking around the yard.  I never tire of it.

There are a few different types of Birch trees in the yard.  The type of Birch in the first picture has a peeling bark.  Many of the Birch trees don't live very long here.  This one is one of the larger trees.  Many succumb to the harsh weather and terrain.  Trees that gain height more quickly tend to leave them in shadow.  They don't get enough sunlight.  They don't seem to have a good root structure for the terrain.  Many of them give way to the pull of gravity on the steep slopes.

A church along the road has a graceful presence. It has an old world feel to it.  I have seen a number of churches in this style, but I have not seen any with as much decorative work on them.  Usually they are fairly plain.   

Now that warm weather is back, the Kudzu is on the move again.   It grows amazingly quickly, covering the ground and climbing into the trees.