Take a Nature Break

Morning view of the New River.

The New River is one of those marvels that flows NORTH, winding its way from where it starts near Blowing Rock, North Carolina, through Virginia and into West Virginia where it joins up with the Kanawha River.

The New River is unique among North Carolina rivers for several reasons. It is believed to be one of the few major rivers in the United States to flow north.

And I think that makes it pretty darn notable.

Zoey and I set out on this particular hike on Thursday.  Rain was in the forcast for the afternoon, ,temps were hot and reaching muggy, and the morning was the best time of the day to get out there.

Barbed wore wreath on old gate.

There is something about that lone tree on the hill!

(And yes, the storm clouds are gathering!)

The Halsey House -

I’ve shared photos of this place a few different times – but what caught me this time is how that ivy is just taking over the second floor!  How I wish someone could come love on this house.  I think it is the electric company that owns the land now – evidently they don’t care.  But like I said, I don’t know the story. 

I just say hello to the ghosts of this place and keep walking up the road – because it is uphill ALL. THE. WAY.

Except where it levels off a bit here, and goes down just a ways -

And then UP again!

We are coming from behind the sign so we’ve just left Virginia and are now in North Carolina.

I guess the Halseys and McMillans just up the road really could say that their nearest neighbor lived the next state over.

Humidity on the mountains!

I have always loved country lanes leading to wherever country lanes lead to – that double track dirt path letting us know where tires have been.  And though this is a couple of days ago, I’ll still play the video for you because the sentiment is the same – and just listen to those cicadas.

Click to Play

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A post shared by Bonnie K Hunter (@quiltville_bonnie) on Jun 4, 2020 at 8:43am PDT

On this day I was checking out the resilience of tree roots.

I have no idea how old this big huge tree is….but its roots are determined to stay firm and strong no matter how nature has eroded away the soil around them.  Steadfast.

And to help it stay upright those roots have also spread WIDE for more footing.

Clear over here – these are still roots!

And it is keeping company with this one across the road!

Sometimes having someone to stand firm with you makes the effort that much more doable.  Life lesson?

There were life lessons a plenty this day.

There he was in the middle of the road that had recently been spread with course chunky gravel.

I was afraid he would get run over blending into the rocks and dirt the way he did. It's a good thing I grabbed a thick stick to try to move him as this guy was a heck of a snapper! There was no safe way to pick him up.

I've always been told to take a turtle in the direction they were already heading so I scooted him to the side of the road and left him in the weeds at the edge of the creek.

It's amazing what you can learn by observing wildlife. Some people are like snapping turtles. All you want to do is help them, and all they want to do is bite your head (or fingers) off!

Also - it doesn't matter if you receive thanks or not. The person (or turtle) may not even be grateful. And that's OK. You did what you could and that is enough.

I added another row to my Shoo Fly Shoo variation this morning.

This thing is SO BUSY!

But I am loving it.  Every piece.

I need 3 more rows to get to the bottom left corner and than can start tapering down again.  You can see that the upper right corner is starting on its way down the right side.

The sad realization?  I am going to have to make MORE Shoo Fly blocks to get the amount I need, and after a year (and nearly 2 quilts worth) of these I am ready to be done and wanting to move on to our next Leader & Ender challenge starting in July!

Binding started last night -

But I didn’t get far because -

Hahahaha! ZOEY!

What’s a dog mom supposed to do?

Today we are back at the inn.  More painting has been going on while I dealt with sanitizing linens, putting quilts away for the duration of Covid, replacing the the freezer paper on the ironing stations in the Quilting Quarters, dusting, cleaning – general house keeping.

More today.

And those torrential storms we had a couple weeks ago that caused the New River to flood the way it did?  I think some of that rain found a way through the tin roof over bedroom 5 as there are now a couple of water spots on the ceiling that were not there before.  So that needs to be inspected, and the leak source fixed.  That means that during a time when there is a break between retreats we will likely have to  replace part of the bedroom 5 drywall ceiling and repaint that.  UGH.

It’s always something, right?  But that’s life with a 136 year old house.

Quiltville Quote of the Day  -

We will only have this day once. Attitude makes all the difference!

I made this four-patch on point quilt in the early 1990s. It's seen many a year of good use.

These are the kinds of nearly worn out and definitely “dated” small quilts that are great over picnic tables with lemonade and treats.

Perhaps on the back porch?

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone!