Hiking weather and a Stranger in the Woods!

The weather was perfect for hiking while we were in NC. We spent the afternoon at the North Carolina Arboretum and walked the trails along Bent Creek.

Lots of ‘hilly’ terrain that gave us quite a work out!

And the ‘stranger in the woods’ was this unusual plant.

Imagine my surprise when my blog buddy, Debby from My Favorite Things did a post about it this week. She has some great information on it in her post.The link to her post is HERE.

She identified it as the Bursting Hearts or Hearts-a-Bustin', Strawberry Bush or the by the official name of Euonymus americanus!

I was so excited to see something so unusual and beautiful, that I stopped some other hikers to point it out to them. Always a surprise when you get out in nature…when you surround yourself with beauty.

I’m joining Tex for the

Good Fences party.

Some Assembly Required….

…that’s what it’s called. Oh but I’m getting ahead of myself!

First let’s take a leisurely walk through the gardens at the NC Arboretum.

Hurry up the hill to see a buffalo in the pen.

Wow, there are still some pretty goldfinches here

and the weather’s nice enough for the gardener to be at work.

Maybe he’s getting ready to mow later.

Let’s stop at the koi pond next…

and look out at the Fall flowers.

EEEE!!! Something happening along this trail, too.

OK….

are you still with me?

Do you want to see close ups?

Did you figure it out yet?

Did you count up to five hundred thousand?

500,000 !!!

The buffalo….

45,143

goldfinches….

gardener…

lawnmower…

koi….

butterfly…

and my favorite…..

the Fox and the rabbit!

“The Arboretum's eight acres of formal gardens, exhibit hall and demonstration greenhouse are playfully decorated with twenty-seven sculptures created by LEGO® brick artist and renowned children's author Sean Kenney.

Inspired by gardens and nature these larger-than-life sculptures range in size from six inches to nearly eight feet in height and were created in total from nearly five hundred thousand LEGO® bricks.”

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday,

Seasonal Sundays,

Sundays in my City,

Mosaic Monday,

and Amaze me Monday!

On display at the NC Arboretum through January 5, 2014. It’s worth a trip!

LEGO bricks!

AMAZING!!!

Maple Trees in all of their Glory

We drove to the NC Arboretum one afternoon to walk through the gardens.

I have taken so many photos that I’ll never have time to share them all so these are going to be untouched, right out of the camera. I won’t even take the time to crop them.

You can drive right in with us….

do you have your seatbelt on?

OK….we’ll park in the parking lot!

Let’s check the temps to see if we need a jacket!

Ahhh….PERFECT!

Oh, and we’ll walk up on the bank and meet a visiting artist.

Sally Christiansen from Venice, Florida was painting with chalk. OH MY! Her art is breathtaking and she was delightful!

The Fall colors seem to be improving every day that we’re here. I took my camera and pointed it up into the spectacular color! 

~~Happy November~~

Have you ever seen a sweetheart flower?

Do you know what it is?

It’s a wildflower your sweetie gives you when you’re hiking together!

I know….I am totally spoiled!

We sure saw a lot of pretty wildflowers on our hike and then when we got to the greenhouses, I took these photos of the flower beds there.

Here’s another sweet flower, a beautiful gardenia.

 

My girlfriend Sharon from Alabama sent me this photo. She and I are penpals and good friends.

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday,

Seasonal Sundays,

Sundays in my City,

Mosaic Monday,

and Amaze me Monday!

These violas are for YOU!

Put on your dancing shoes? Or hiking boots!

We hiked a well maintained trail in our Asics!

Oh how we love the mountain trails at the NC Arboretum.

And what was in full bloom?

The Mountain Laurel!

 

It was gorgeous!

The trail winds around Bent Creek and it was so clear, we could see fish swimming!

Looks like a handsome man ahead…

probably leaving me behind!

(I didn’t put frames and spend a lot of time altering these photos because we have a slower connection here at our condo. It really was this beautiful!)

Mountain Laurel up close!

Hope you enjoyed our hike!

So which would you rather do?

Dance or Hike?

Vee’s October Notecard Party

Oh, I look forward to this party every month!

And this month we are blessed to be in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina.

The weather is cool and the colors are just beginning to ‘pop'!

(photos taken at the NC Arboretum)

Here are my fourteen photos for the party…

OH!!! I mean FOUR! heehee

(I just wanted to give Vee a chuckle!)

Join in HERE for the FUN!

Happy Fall everyone!

“Love One Another”

I hope everyone is enjoying their day.

It seems like all of my favorite bloggers have been quiet this weekend. I know I have been sobered by the tragedy in Colorado.

My thoughts and prayers are with all those who are suffering. Something like this really does affect us all. God bless you.

I’m joining Mary for Mosaic Monday

and Diane for Beautiful Sunday

and Sunny Simple Sunday !

I’ll announce the winner of my giveaway HERE Monday morning!

Sweet Southern hugs!