Nelson County Rocks

 
Along the Blue Ridge Parkway in late May

Flaming Azalea and Rhododendron along AT on The Priest

Lunch on the deck and cooking for Thankful Thursday dinner at Grace

Picking Strawberries at Seaman’s orchards with an incredible view

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway in late April

It was a winter that seemed like it would never end.  And of course it was the winter of Monika’s gradual and then dramatic decline and death, and subsequent months of deep mourning and loneliness.  So the belated arrival of spring, with its promise of renewal and rebirth, its virtual explosion of color and sense of new possibilities, has been most welcome.  And it has given a new direction to my life through my serendipitous meeting of Holly at a Sierra Club meeting in Charlottesville, where a brief conversation alerted us to a quite extraordinary congruence of interests and passions, which has only increased as we’ve gotten to know each other more.

 

  

My wonderfully perceptive and supportive sister Eleanor has captured these developments beautifully:  “I’m delighted that you found someone like Holly who shares your love of nature, hiking — and that the two of you enjoy each other’s company.  That pix of the two of you is adorable.  It never hurts to remind ourselves that we have only one life to live; I’m impressed (as I’ve been many times) with how much you accomplish and how fully you enjoy life.  That you’re sharing your life now with a sympathetic, attractive person is good news indeed.  (And, as you say, it does not in any way diminish your wonderful years with Monika nor your fond memories.)”

     

Monika and I decided to seize the moment and take a trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, which neither of us had ever been to.  The weather in this first week of October proved to be perfect: sunny, warm and clear.  We spent two nights in Kill Devil Hills (so named for the rum that washed up from shipwrecks in the old days–said to be so awful it would kill the devil), and two nights at Cape Hatteras, with side trips to Roanoke Island (by bridge) and Ocracoke Island (by ferry).  Each day started with a perfect sunrise from our respective ocean front rooms, and I apologize for an excess of sunrise pictures in the album below, even after my draconian editing.  Those sunrises were breathtaking! In addition to a variety of sea birds, Monika spotted from our balcony a fox in the dunes, and with the help of binoculars even located its foxhole.  Neat!

The only downside of the trip was the closure of many national seashore sites due to the Tea Party/Republican-engineered government shutdown, which included most lighthouses.  And evidence of a related sort of shortsightedness was evident at our Cape Hatteras Motel, which showed major hurricane damage to structures built right on the beach.

click here for trip photo album

 

I haven’t gotten much hiking in this summer, but on this beautiful early fall day I hiked up The Priest, the highest mountain in our region.  For the first time I climbed it via the Appalachian Trail from the Tye River, a route that gains over 3000 feet in elevation.  A demanding but perfect day.

more pictures available here

When I got up yesterday morning, I was greeted with this almost mystical vision of sun rays over our shade garden.  A very special moment which I’m happy (and surprised) to have been able to capture on camera.

Unseen just to the right in the picture is a small clump of spigelia, also known as Indian Pink, which bloomed in the past several days after a two year effort.  The original seedlings were eaten back to the ground by some critter, but they came back this year and hopefully will continue to expand.  I grew a clump in New Jersey, but most people down here seem not to know it, even though it is considered a native plant from the Mid-Atlantic states down to the Smokies.  It’s definitely one of my garden favorites, and I think the pictures below will explain why.

We’ve been blessed, as they say around here, with four wonderful family visits recently.  Nic and Alison came out for Mother’s Day and made Monika a great crepe breakfast.

Shortly afterwards, Tim and Megan made a weekend visit; we toured water-powered Woodson Mill in nearby Lowesville, as well as several houses on the Nelson County Historical Society’s annual tour.  The stone-ground grits from there are really good!

Later in May, Jim and Arlene spent four days in the area with us, including stops at the AT suspension bridge and Crabtree Falls, a ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and a trip to Appomattox.  And of course lots of nostalgic reminiscing and catching up.

And at the beginning of June, John came down for a quick visit with Cally and Sylvia, partly in anticipation of their upcoming family trip to Germany.  Three earlybirds got to climb Spy Rock in the morning; the rhododendron and flaming azalea were in bloom!

click here for more pictures of their visit

 

 

With our flowering weeping cherry, crab apple, forsythia and dogwood, the advent of spring probably offers the most spectacular display of color of the year on our property.

view from our rooftop

 

Above: Our view to the north; Coop, kennel and house

 

Full moon setting over snowy mountains

The March snows and cold weather are hopefully gone now.  Spring is in the air, and in the last two days our early-march plantings in the vegetable garden have finally started to sprout: snap peas, cilantro, swiss chard, collards, lettuce, and turnips are all belatedly coming up.

 

 

Based on my experience the past three years down here along the Blue Ridge Mountains, I sowed much of the spring garden early in March: snap and snow peas, lettuce, collards, swiss chard, cold-weather herbs, and turnips.  By this time in those years, virtually all those seeds would have sent up healthy shoots and leaves.  But March this year has been a different story–much colder than usual, with temperatures in the 20’s or low 30’s most nights.  And to top it off, we got five or six inches of snow again yesterday.  Nobody’s happy about this, not even our chickens, who, having rushed outside in their usual way, rushed back inside when they saw the snow.  Later, a few ventured out into the white stuff, but most stayed close to home.

 

click on image above for a larger one

Since Monika’s diagnosis of kidney cancer in January, our life has been something of a treadmill of medical tests and doctor appointments, culminating in a ten-day stay in Johns Hopkins University Hospital, where Monika had her left kidney and the tumor on it removed.  Before, during, and after, we’ve both been greatly moved by the outpouring of support in the form of cards, emails, prayers, best wishes, and good vibes.  A particularly special one was the poem above by our dear friend and former colleague at Rutgers, Rafey Habib.  I’ve used a picture Monika took of the Blue Ridge mountains she loves so much as a backdrop to Rafey’s poem.  We both find it profoundly moving.