Summer days are becoming just a hot, muggy memory. There's less daylight, fewer birds at the feeders and the lake water is warm and mossy in places. On a clear day at Island Lake I saw the sky and trees' looking at themselves in a mirror.

I caught this grandmother and granddaughter walking casually along another sandy beach in Alexandria.

Blue Heron sunning himself on the pier of Island Lake, so toasty he didn't fly away from my lens.

Wishing you a restful and fun Labor Day weekend. See you in September. . . and at Skywatch Friday.

 

   

I'm still remembering our trip through the Great Smoky Natl. Park, in particular Cades Cove in Tennessee. Below the sun is trying to break through the clouds and mist in one of the meadows along the Cades Cove trail. This area was once full of early settlers in the 1800's.

Just around the bend as the sun was finally up, we began to see many deer .In this pic we came upon what looked like a 'good 'ole boy's club'--a meadow filled with young bucks with full racks, still covered with velvet.

Such a gorgeous color on these Cockscomb in Thomas Jefferson's garden. More beauty can be found @ Skywatch Friday.

If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. -- Milton Berle

Red-haired Thomas Jefferson's garden

Another installment from our motorcycle ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway and stop in Charlottesville to visit Monticello. Whenever I go to Jefferson's home the first thing I do when I get off the bus is visit the huge garden to see how the okra planting looks, especially the gorgeous blossoms they set.  I am never disappointed.

They start with a soft red center and end up a deeper red below, with  luscious pale yellow petals. Note the ripening okra in each photo.

Here's a view of a part of Jefferson's garden facing Charlottesville. The okra grows in the bright green rows to the far right of the gardener.

To honor Thomas Jefferson's red hair, I'm linking these okra shots to Ruby Tuesday.

Happy Trails!

. . .nothing but blue skies

Here are Blue Ridge skies from our motorcycle trip last week. We spent 9 days on the bike riding to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee then rode the full 469 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped in Charlottesville to visit Monticello and two days later we were back in Minnesota. There's no place like home!

 These two captures are along the Parkway where those mountains were always blue.

Below is the sky seen from the hot pavement of the parking lot at Monticello.

See more summer skies @ Skywatch Friday.