Busy Summer, New Book and Autumn Begins

 Hi everyone. 

We've had a busy summer and I've been putting writing on my blogs on the back burner. But, I do go out and visit other blogs when I have the time.

First off, my husband had total knee replacement surgery on September 2. We knew it was going to be painful afterwards, but . . . 

It has been almost 4 weeks, and the pain and the swelling are still there.  Otherwise things are getting back to normal around the house. 

We haven't gone anywhere, except for a quick and short trip to our favorite state park, Pipestem.

  

view from our room

 

 out and about

As with every summer, it starts with a rainy season and then a long hot drought and now fall seems to have arrived.

I've been watching and taking pictures of the critters outside all summer - chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, deer, birds (especially the charming hummingbirds).

 

 

Since I had written a picture book manuscript around 3 years ago about hummingbirds, I decided to add my pictures of the hummers to the words and create a picture book.

It is now on Amazon and I also have copies.

Hope all of you have had a nice, safe and healthy summer -- now let autumn begin!

A Little Get a Way

We are leaving today for a little get a way. We will be back on Sunday.

We are taking the long way around or what you would call the scenic route to one of my favorite places.. .
Pipestem State Park for a two day stay.

I absolutely hate going on the West Virginia Turnpike. It makes me a nervous wreck. So my husband said we could take the scenic route this time.

Going out of Charleston we will start out on Rt. 60 (Midland Trail). On their site it says, 'listen closely, and you will hear the echoes of the past. The footfalls of hooves. The creaks of wagon wheels. Feet marching cadence to the drumbeat of war. Steam whistles and chugs of locomotives. Great herds of buffalo beat this east-west path across the Appalachians. Shawnee dragged captive Mary Draper Ingles across parts of it. George Washington and Andrew Lewis first surveyed and owned it. Daniel Boone hiked across parts of it. . . It is the scene of over 200 years of exploration, conquest, and American industrial history.'



We will drive the curvy mountain roads that pass Hawks Nest State Park. We will drive over the New River Gorge Bridge. We will drive down the winding mountain road into Hinton. Then, we will drive along the Bluestone past the Bluestone Dam to the Park. 


Now, doesn't that sound much better than driving the West Virginia Turnpike to get there.


We went to  Pipestem State Park on our honeymoon in 1978  and have been visiting there ever since. We love it. We went there last year in January and a blizzard came our first night there. Our car never left the parking lot until we came home. That was a first for us. You can go here and see the different posts I have did on the park.


I promise to take plenty of pictures. I will be back on Sunday and visit all of your blogs.
Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Weekend Trip #2

This is my second post about our weekend trip to Pipestem State Park.

We checked out at 12 noon on Sunday. We stopped by the Nature Center . . .


to visit our friend, the Park Naturalist. . .

Charley and Jim relaxed and gabbed while I took pictures.

this little one got sprinkled with snow while nibbling at the pine needles

the cardinal looked beautiful on the snow covered limbs

the little ones couldn't reach the bird feeder, but this one could

Jim said he usually ran them off because they ate all the bird seed, but he let me take some pictures first

they would go away, but kept coming back for more

and more. . .

We spent a long time sitting in the rocking chairs, watching the birds and deer. A good end to a cold, frosty trip to southern WV.

Weekend Trip

Snow was in the forecast for Friday and Saturday, especially in our southern counties. So what do we do? We take a trip on Friday to Pipestem State Park, which is in Summers county!

The trip down was uneventful and the only snow we saw was on the slopes of Winter Place as we passed by. But, what a difference a day makes. We woke up on Saturday morning to a winter wonderland. Pipestem ended up with I'd say a foot of snow on the ground. We were snowed in for the day on Saturday. This is the first time we ever went on vacation and our car never left the parking lot until we left to come home.

I took so many pictures, it was hard to figure out which ones to post. I thought I'd post of few pictures of my favorite parts of our stay.

Our room was on the 7th floor and the deer entertained us down below our window. They rutted in the snow for any food they could find.



The little ones were so cute. Their fluffy hair reminded me of wolves.


They looked so cold with their snow covered faces.



We took a walk in the snow. The only place we walked was on the roads, everywhere else was covered with a foot of snow and I didn't bring any boots. I looked like a red bird in my coat.


We walked to the playground. We decided eating on the picnic tables was out of the question :)


But the view from the restaurant on the 7th floor was beautiful.


You usually go on vacation to relax. But, my husband spent hours removing snow from on top of and around our parked car. I made fun of him when he packed a scraper, broom and snow shovel in the trunk of our little car. I guess he got the last laugh. Here he is sharing his broom and scraper with another lodge guest. Charley is the one on the right.


After walking in the snow and shoveling out the car, the lobby fireplace was a warm place to go and relax.



Wouldn't it be nice to soar like the birds over the frosty, snow covered hills?



We found out that, unlike a lot of people we met, we really do not like vacationing in the winter, especially during a snow storm. But we did enjoy ourselves and tomorrow I will post pictures of my favorite part of our trip.

Traveling WV - Part Three

I'm back from vacation. Sorry it took so long to get the last post up about it.
Even when you're gone for just 3 1/2 days, there's a lot of catching up to do when you get back.

On Wednesday we went down to the bottom of the gorge on the tramway.


The river flows below. . .


. . . in front of the lodge. We've stayed in these rooms before. The only way to get to them is riding the tram. It's a fun place to stay, the only drawback is loading all your luggage and stuff into the tramcar for the trip to the bottom.


We also went on a trail walk on Wednesday and I made a friend with this little box turtle. He was so cute and he let me pet him.


On Thursday, before leaving, we met our friend, Jim Phillips. I took a picture of him with Charley on the porch of the old homestead down at the Nature Center. He's been the Park Naturalist for years and still remembers when my oldest son (who is now 29 yrs. old) went for the river walk with us. My son was only around 3 years old, it was very hot and the trail was long and he stated to everyone, "I'm tired, I got a headache and I need a Tylenol."



We had a great trip and look forward to returning next year. We celebrated our Anniversary on Wednesday at Pipestem. It was 31 years ago that we stayed there on our honeymoon.

As soon as we got home on Thursday, I headed for the garden. . . and picked beans again.
Yesterday and today we canned a total of 28 quarts. I picked squash and cucumbers. My son forgot to go to the garden while we were gone and one of the squash could have been registered as a lethal weapon it grew so big!

Hope you enjoyed traveling WV with me this week. If you ever get the chance I would recommend Pipestem for a vacation destination.

You'll have fun!

Traveling in West Virginia - Part II

This is just a quickie to show you the views we woke up to this morning from our room on the 7th floor.


This is one of the reasons I love the 7th floor rooms.


You are up above the clouds in the morning. Below those clouds is a gorge where the Bluestone River flows through. There is also another lodge down there that is only accessible by tramway.



Later in the day we went past Hinton about 9 miles to Sandstone Falls. You walk out onto the board walk and view the falls. It is beautiful and worth the trip.


More views of the falls.



One more view.


Do any of you know what kind of fungus growth this is? We came upon this on a trail walk today. It sure is weird looking, isn't it.



I will try to catch up on my blog visiting when we get back home on Thursday.

Thanks for all your comments.

Traveling West Virginia...again

We're spending the night and the next few days here. . . at Pipestem State Park in Summers County, WV. We will be coming back home on Thursday.



We walked up to the Look Out Tower, which is the highest elevation in Pipestem State Park.


We climbed up to the top to look at the surrounding view. . .


. . . and the sunset. Isn't it pretty?


But, what's this? What could Charley and I be taking pictures of? Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it's. . .


. . . three baby robins sitting on a large wooden beam in the top of the tower, waiting for their mommy.


Aren't they the cutest things? One is getting impatient to fly away.


I will try to post more pictures of our trip tomorrow.