Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Wilderness Wildlife Week offers excursions to various places in the Smoky Mountain National Park and the surrounding area.  These excursions are highly desired, and you have to enter a lottery to get a seat on one of them. On lottery night,  Hub and I got tickets, and mine was one of the first ones called.  You could register up to four people, so Hub got to go with me.  Two excursions are allowed per ticket; I chose the American Eagle Foundation/Bush Beans trip and a photography trip with a professional photographer as our guide.  Today, I am going to tell you about our photography trip, which turned a little differently than originally planned. We were scheduled to be at the LeConte Center at 8:15 AM for the 8:30 departure.  After we got there, we were told the trip would be delayed for at least an hour.  (The bus driver told us later that the tour company didn't bring enough buses, and he had to go to Knoxville to get the one we were on.) I...

Last week, we were able to spend some time in my favorite place, the Smoky Mountains.  We were there for Wilderness Wildlife Week, several days of events about Appalachia. It was held at the LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge.    Wilderness Wildlife Week was named top international event of 2016. People come from all over the United States and several foreign countries to attend this event.  It was started in 1991, and celebrated 27 years last week. There were stories and lectures about the folk life of the mountains.  We heard from writers, park rangers, hiking guides, photography experts, and crafts people on a wide range of subjects.  There was old and modern music on instruments one doesn't see everyday. Of course, there was some Appalachian  cooking, too! It was an amazing week.  Next year, the dates are May 8-12, and it is already on my calendar. These photos are from the Cade's Cove area.  It hasn't changed much sin...

Last Monday, two weeks since the Gatlinburg wildfires, Hub and I drove through there looking at the damage. The worst damage was in the mountains above the bypass from Gatlinburg to Pigeon Forge. My friend who works at  Apple Annie's  was there when it all happened.  She had been warned that evacuation was possible, so she went to the store across from the police department to fill her gas tank.  Fire was all around them, and people congregated at the store because no shelters had been opened then.  Hurricane force winds caused power lines to break and people lost electrical power and cell service at the same time.  In addition, emergency sirens were everywhere, adding to the panic.  Thankfully, there were no fatalities in her neighborhood, and the arts and crafts community on Glades Road was not damaged.  For my quilting friends, we stopped at Susan's Quilts and they are all fine. It will be a long, hard winter for the fol...

Hub and I spent a few days last week visiting the Smoky Mountain National Park during their Wildflower Pilgrimage. We have many of the same wildflowers in our area, but we love to hike the trails in the park and see what we can discover.  The first part of the photos are from the Chimneys trail. The photos below were made at one of the pull-offs just before the Sugarlands entrance to the park. There are still lots of spring wildflowers blooming here.  Today would be a good day to take a walk and look for some.