Pictures from the Road - Cabin 2019

First view of the mountains.

Cloud shadows on the mountains.

I haven't posted in a month.  I can hardly believe it.  Regular readers know that it means I have been up in the mountains.  I was only there for a week, but it takes me nearly a week to get ready for the trip, and another week to get everything caught up when I get back.  It is probably not that much work, but we work so hard up there that we are completely worn out when we get back.

If you ask anyone that has a vacation home whether it is in the mountains or the beach, he or she will tell you that when you get there, mostly what you do is work.  Since we are only there occasionally, everything that is normally done over the course of days or weeks at home has to be crammed into the few days we are at the cabin.  We are surrounded by trees, so the first order of business is to pick up sticks and branches so the yard can be mowed.  My husband mows the yard, and I start the cleanup process inside.  Since this was the first trip up this year, everything needs vacuuming and dusting.  The floors need mopping and the bathroom needs cleaning.  As soon as we get there, we go into "get to work mode."

Trillium

This year, we were up there in time to see the Trillium blooming.  Many times they flower before we make the first trip up for the year.  It was a real treat to see them blooming.  The Trillium prefer moist, shady conditions.  They are mostly found in the lower part of the yard under the trees.  It used to be that most of the Trillium up there were pink.  I noticed this year that we had more white Trillium.  It looks like natural selection is making a change in the flowers up there.

Apple tree blossoms.

Every year, we get to watch Spring come in twice.  When we left home, the trees had already started to leaf out, but had not yet fully finished putting out their full size leaves.  Up in the mountains, almost all the trees were bare except for the apple trees and the Dogwoods.  The apple tree in the yard had leaves and a few blossoms when we arrived.  By the end of the week it was covered in blossoms.  The Dogwood by the porch had just the tiniest of green leaves out, and it set out its blossoms by the time we left.  The bare maples and oaks had started to set out their first shoots of green leaves.  Every day that we were there, we watched the mountains become greener.

It looks like this will be a good year for apples.  The tree was covered with blossoms.  Butterflies and moths fluttered among the blossoms.  There were so many there that it looked like the tree was alive with movement, even when there was no wind.  I had not realized before that butterflies were such big pollinators of apple trees.  Up until now, I thought that bees were the primary pollinators.

When we travel to the cabin at this time of year, we have to pack both warm and cold weather clothes.  The weather can be unpredictable.  Sometimes it snows in April.  Sometimes it is really hot. This year it was both cold and hot.  The first night we were there the low was thirty-eight degrees Fahrenheit.  Some of the days it was in the fifties.  A couple of days the highs were in the upper seventies and very humid.  I think one day it hit eighty.  We almost did not bring enough warm weather clothes.  We were expecting it to be a little cooler.  Although we did use the radiator heaters on a few times, we only started the wood stove twice.  It was started the day we arrived to help heat the place up, and the next morning to break the chill.  After that, it was too warm to use it.

We are home now.  I am starting to get caught up on all the things that were left hanging while we were away.  By that I mean that I am getting caught up on all the normal things that should have been done while we were away.  I am still working on Spring cleaning.  I should stop calling it Spring cleaning.  By the time I am finished with all of it, it seems like it is time to start the Fall cleaning.  Maybe I should just call it cleaning.  By the time I get the place clean, it is time to start all over again.

Despite appearances to the contrary, I have been working on my projects.  I finally found my way out of the situation that had me bogged down on the denim project.  I will have some exciting news when I post on the blog next Sunday.  The quilt project is moving along as well.  Things are starting to come together.  Projects can be like that from time to time.  Just when I think a project can be a complete waste of time, you hit a point in the project where things take a leap forward.  Check back next Sunday afternoon for an update on those projects.