Flowers

We've been trying to solve the mystery of why we have so many more hummingbirds than usual - which was always a lot. Perhaps it has something to with our wildflower meadow.


These are not the kinds of flowers that attract hummingbirds.


But maybe they attract insects the hummers feed on? (this photo is taken looking down the slope - note the wood steps on the right.)

This photo shows the vegetable garden, a prominent feature just a month ago, almost hidden by the lush growth.



This little visitor, spotted on the neighbors' driveway this morning, shows up in our yard outside the deck near the vegetable garden nearly every day. Lu is fascinated, but certainly this critter is not responsible for the bird population explosion. If we say "Hello, kitty" - he or she stops, turns and looks, then runs quickly away.


We complain about the Multiflora Rose being so invasive, but we also have these Japanese Spirea proliferating around the neighborhood. Like the rose, it can be pretty, but it doesn't belong and crowds out the plants that do.

On the other hand, several of Cheryl's family would probably enjoy a walk through the neighborhood in the coming weeks because of these -

You can find berries any place that has not been tamed by the homeowners.


Finally, Cheryl took this blurry photo of the sun shining off the bark of an oak that was inexplicably spared when the cove was logged some 20-40 years ago. This one may not survive the building of a house on this lot, on the cul de sac just next to our driveway. The driveway for a new house was staked just to the right of the trunk.

Sweet Million

Family members have asked about our garden. It's 12:40 and there's finally a bit of sunlight falling on the squash and beans at the front of the bed, but none on the taller plants at the back. The giant rhubarb just in front of them is getting full sun already. We've had a good deal of rain lately, so things are growing, but we're a long way from knowing if we're going to see any produce. But we will make an exception and show a photo of the Sweet Million Tomatoes surprise-


Information at seed websites say these tomatoes are 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter. The ripe ones in the photo may be exceeding the high end of that scale. The plant can allegedly produce more than 500 sweet and flavorful tomatoes. Perhaps we'll taste a couple with dinner this evening. (the rebar on the left is the stake of our garden-art piece)

No Hungry Hummers

Norris thinks we should keep track of when we're adding more feeders and since our blog is our diary, here's a picture of two of today's hummers -

We had just one feeder at the beginning of the season, added a second one a couple of weeks ago, but yesterday, Cheryl refilled both of those in the evening and both needed to be refilled already this morning. We'll be adding the third feeder soon at this rate. Otherwise, we won't be able to leave the house without coming home to empty ones. We can't have hungry little birds, can we?

We use the blog from year to year to compare these seasonal changes.

Our wildflower meadow has a very different appearance this year-


Those daisies are clearly not this year's seeds - the new seedlings are not this tall yet, but we never saw daisies as thick and pretty as they are this week.

Cheryl's Birthday

We celebrated the occasion a little late, taking the day yesterday to see some of Charlotte for the first time - that is, it was our first visit other than the airport there. We took a lot of photos.

But let's start at the beginning.



On the way out of town, we stopped at the North Asheville Tailgate Market for some lunch for the journey.


You don't think Norris goes to the Farmer's Market for vegetables, do you? He got fudge from his favorite vendor, while Cheryl got a strawberry.

Then, still a half-hour from our destination, we stopped at Mary Jo's in Gastonia


Mary Jo's is a unique fabric store, with amazing prices. The photo shows some of the red fabrics in the home-dec area.

Finally, we moved on to the object of the excursion. This is the Mint Museum, the oldest art museum in North Carolina. (There was a big reception being set up for after visiting hours - hence the limousine.)

It's called the Mint Museum because it used to be a U.S. Mint - established back when North Carolina was a gold rush area (you probably forgot that the first big U.S. gold rush was in NC's Piedmont area). Minting operations were shut down after NC seceded during the Civil War, and in one of those amazing stories, the building was dismantled in the 1930's and moved, to become an art museum -- with no collection. The curators have been very busy since.


The reason for the trip was an advertised exhibit of Chanel designs. But it was a bit of a disappointment - most of the garments on display were very recent vintage, of the last decade. However, in the next two rooms were other garments from the museum's collection. The exhibit told the story of fashion's changing silhouette, from the earliest colonial days.


We didn't take our camera inside, but photography of the Museum's own pieces was permitted - Norris' cell phone came in handy.


The display space at the museum is not huge, and there were no Rembrandt or Monets among the paintings, but we enjoyed the other exhibits, particularly Chinese court robes, and all the pottery - both ancient from Latin America, and recent from North Carolina.

Finally, we dined at a contemporary Indian restaurant, housed in a historic home.


We both ordered from the "modern" part of the menu since we have nothing like Modern Indian cuisine in our area. We were not disappointed in the colors, flavors and textures.


We had a mile or two of downpour on the return trip, and hoped we had some rain at home. It did show up here - hours after we were sleeping.

The Other Flame Azalea

In earlier postings this spring we showed native flame azalea. It's finally the turn of our planted version -


The next picture shows a different angle to give a better perspective of size. The Virginia Sweetspire in the midground to the left are also blooming.


That photo is a reminder to talk about the redbuds that were planted when we moved in during the drought year 2007. We struggled to keep them alive -- but they are finally are doing what they are supposed to be doing in the landscape. Here's another one, up above the retaining wall behind the blooming Oak Leaf Hydrangea (and the TV satellite dish.) This spring has been unusual, but all the now established trees seemed to respond to the alternating heat/cold wet/dry weather.
The red leaves contrasting against all the darker greens are what our designer talked about when he explained the choice. And maybe next spring, they'll finally have enough flowering to be noticeable, like the orange azalea blossoms this year.

A New Amenity in the Reems Creek valley

Just up Reems Creek Road on the way to Weaverville, is a soccer field. It was recently renovated, and a path that goes around the field, next to the Creek, was added.


It's a mere .23 miles around and perfectly level, so it could be just the thing to encourage fitness for our visitors who are intimidated by the slopes in our neighborhood. If you blow this up and look very closely, you can see Cheryl walking her daily miles in the distance on the left in the photo. It's been hot and muggy in the afternoons, and we started our day with a couple of classes at the gym, so this walk - some of it in the shade with a nice breeze - was a good choice for us, too.