A Few Days in the Mountains...

A beautiful view is around every corner in the mountains.

I stopped here to eat lunch and stretch my legs.

A dam at one of the many lakes in the mountains of North Carolina.

This North Carolina waterfall is called Dry Falls.

The view from about half way down the waterfall.

The Mountains are where I like to go to renew my soul in the summer time. The light is so beautiful. The sounds of the birds and running water is everywhere. For me that is instant relaxation. It is definitely a place to realize just how small you are and what a vast place the world still is. I am always amazed that there are roads, train tracks, and bridges. Tunnels through mountains. Wow! The effort it must have taken. I hope you enjoy these. That they bring you peace when you see them. [I was so proud that I was able to hike all the way from the top to the bottom of the waterfall.]

Fall on the Cape Fear River

Wednesday of this week we had a terrible storm with rain, wind gusts and lots of thunder and lightening. All day and most of the night. Thursday/yesterday when I awoke it was sunny, warm and beautiful. One of those crisp days. A friend called and asked if I would like to go up the Cape Fear river on their boat and take pictures. Of course I said yes. This is from atop an old train trestle that crosses the river where we stopped for a bite to eat. Aren't the colors great?

Garage Sale Finds

Today was hot and muggy. I got a late start so I was only able to hit three or four sales. The first two were picked over and I am not a big clothes person. The third was great. The bottles were for sale there. The gentleman had several tables and boxes full of bottles. He worked for a demolition firm and had been hired to clear an old dump site downtown on the Cape Fear River for the new convention center. His crew had found all these bottles. Some were hand blown with bubbles, medicine bottles, two part mold bottles, clear bottles, brown bottles, these gorgeous aqua bottles. I missed the cobalt bottles. I didn't feel too bad cause I have a lot of those. I ended up with thirty bottles. I pretty much stuck with the smaller bottles. I like them for window sills. I put my sand collection in the clear bottles. The aqua bottles are my favorite. The small bottles can be used in altered books or assemblage pieces. All for 25cents each. What a deal.

The last yard sale was interesting. A mother - daughter decorating team. I bought a box of ten dress patterns for 5 cents each. The patterns looked like they had dressed the crew from Dallas. Look out Joan Collins. I love the pattern pieces as backgrounds on canvas. They also had these interesting ornaments. The stars and Fleur de leis. They are all hand sewn with metallic threads. Just beautiful. The whole bag was 10 cents. The woman actually apologized to me that they were "sort of old". Old is good. I also picked up four yards of this damask. I loved the dragonflies holding up the pearl like swag. Pillows maybe? The Russian spoon is for my mom. She has a very interesting collection of hand painted Russian boxes, containers, trays, and spoons.