Indigo Bunting

One of my favorite birds that come to our feeders is the Indigo Bunting.  They are all blue ....blue as blue as the Cardinal is red.  It's really neat to see them sitting next to a bright yellow gold finch and the red Cardinal.  They seem to come to the feeders every morning and then again in the evenings.  A good way to start and end my day.

Foxgloves

Transplanted foxgloves

One of the fun flowers that I couldn't grow in Florida is "foxglove".   A couple of years ago, I bought one and planted it on the side of the house.  The next Spring, I had tons of little foxgloves popping up in the flower bed.  So, I started another " foxglove bed" over where the " mulch mountain" used to be. The next year, I bought a purple one at the " Master Gardeners" plant sale.   I have a feeling I will end up with a HUGE foxglove bed before it's over.  They multiply like rabbits!

Downtown Chattanooga

Tennessee Aquarium

One of several bridges over the TN River

Water Fall Steps

After enjoying lunch and walking around the Chattanooga Choo Choo, we said our good byes to Debbie and Joel.  They had to get back home to pick their dog up at the kennel before it closed.  Meantime, Joyce, Dick and us hopped on one of the " free trolleys" that take you where you want in town and went down to the waterfront.  It's a really modern, pretty part of town.  The Tennessee Aquarium is right there on the river.  I had seen a commercial  on TV with people walking down the water steps.  I wanted to find them!  There they were between two buildings.  I would have walked down them, but it was too cold that day.  After walking around for awhile, enjoying the " new Chattanooga", we hopped back on the trolley and went back to our cars.  We said our heartfelt good byes and promised to see each other again soon.  Hopefully when Joyce and Dick come back up to North Georgia in the Fall.

Chattanooga Choo Choo

The old train station

The dome in the ceiling of the station 

The Chattanooga Choo Choo

Ticket please

Beautiful gardens behind the station

The old trains made into motel rooms

Can't take us any where....ha 

Since we didn't want to pay all the money to walk around Rock City, we decided to go check out the Chattanooga Choo Choo.  Joyce and Dick had been there before but the rest of us hadn't.  It was the old train depot in downtown.  What a beautiful place!!  It seems like all the bigger cities had elegant train stations as the hub of their city back in the days.  There were two or three restaurants in the station and out back was a pretty garden with boxwood borders and roses in the middle.  A lacy gazebo with a fountain.  On the train tracks, were all the old trains that they have made into motel rooms.  The six of us had a really nice lunch in the " garden room" of the station, chatting between every bite of food.  What a fun afternoon!

A Day in Chattanooga

Joyce and Dick

Joel, Joyce and Debbie

The guys

The gals

Over looking the Tn. River

Beautiful painting in the Museum. 

As close as we got to Rock City

Sitting in front of Starbucks at Rock City

Last week, we got up really early on Friday and set out to meet our dear friends Joyce and Dick from Florida and Debbie and Joel who have just moved to Tennessee last Winter, over in Chattanooga for the day.  Joyce and Dick have a time share over in Northern Georgia and come up twice a year.  We met at Point Park on top of Lookout Mountain and walked around with a wonderful history lesson of the Civil War, right before us.  What a view we had of the Tennessee River winding all around the city.
    I couldn't wait to drive to the other side of the mountain to " See Rock City".  I had been there several times when I was little when we would drive to Illinois to see my parent's families.  The last time we were there Ryan and Michelle were little.  I was hoping to be able to " see seven states", walk on the huge swinging bridge..( I know...me walk on that bridge????) and see if I could still fit through " fat man squeeze".  Well, when we all got there and walked up to the ticket booth...what? ? a ticket booth?? the prices said it was $20 a person to get in.  $20 to walk around the mountain??  I can remember having to pay to get into " Fairyland" but not to just walk around the other places.  We all decided it was a bit too much for us to pay $40 a couple to walk around.  After all, we came to be with each other so it didn't really matter what we did.  It is kinda sad for me to think, I'll probably never go see Rock City again though.  Sure glad I have the memories of it back in "the good ole days".  That and all of the red barns that had " See Rock City" painted on them, all the way to Illinois and back.  Yes, we have a " See Rock City" bird house.  Everyone should have one!

Strawberry Fields Forever....

I know!  What can I say.....a dog dressed like a strawberry.....seriously? 

Making Strawberry jam

Eight jars of jam

Three of my homegrown berries

My strawberry pot

Home grown huge strawberry

This year the Hartselle Strawberry Festival actually had strawberries.  Don't laugh....a couple of years ago we went and there were no strawberries in sight.  I went with the intent not to buy any strawberries but when all those baskets of pretty berries where staring at me, I had to buy a basket.  They were just too pretty.  That meant I had to go home and make strawberry jam because Chuck doesn't like strawberries and I couldn't eat all of those berries before they went bad.  Besides that, they have a lot of natural sugar in them.  That means I can only eat a couple at a time.  I ended up with eight jars of jam to share with my friends.  Another fun part of Spring/Summer up here.

Growing Like a Weed

Zucchini 

Notice the first blossom on the zucchini

Pretty Romaine lettuce

Cherry tomato

Peas and Snow peas

Potatoes

Egg Plant

The garden is growing like a weed....but so are the weeds.  I really don't mind working down there every day because as I'm pulling weeds and watering everything really good, I realize how lucky I am to live where a nice big garden will grow during the summer.  It makes summer so fun when you go down and pick a big basket of vegetables for dinner.  Well, I'm off to the garden to pull some more weeds and to cut some pretty lettuce.  ..........lucky me!

Cows?????

Broken bird bath

Big ole wet cow paddy

Cow prints

Broken chair

Last week, I was drinking my coffee on the screen porch and I happen to look out by my bedroom window.  There on the ground was this HUGE pile of  ?????? something or other.  I call Chuck and at first he said it looked like we could have had a wild hog in the yard by the foot prints but then decided it looked more like a cow.  That was a big ole wet cow paddy!!! As we walked around the yard, we found more holes for foot prints and more damage.  They knocked over my little bird bath and broke the bottom and broke the wooden chair on the side yard.  The thing is....they were " right" under my open bedroom window and I never heard them...ha.  If one of them had " moooed" it would have scared me to death.  Chuck walked through the back woods to see if he could figure out where they came from and ended up talking to our neighbors Andy and Lydia.  They said around 11:00 pm something big was over in their trash pile that night.  When Chuck talked to the BNOE, Charlotte said around 9:00 pm they looked out and there were six of Billy's ( who lives across the street) in their yard.  They called Billy and he got in his four wheeler and the cows followed him home....BUT.....a couple of them must have gone over to Andy and Lydia's before Billy could round them up.  Hence....that is how they came here for a visit.  You just never know what you are going to wake up to here at Brambly Pines.  At least it gives me something to write about.  Stay tuned........