Fall Foliage by Train and Glider Plane

Fall foliage by train and glider plane....what a trip! This weekend I joined friends to see the beautiful foliage near Etowah, Tennessee and along the Hiwassee River. The experience exceeded my greatest hopes.

First, on Saturday we boarded a train for the Hiwassee Railroad Adventure. The train is operated by the Tennessee Valley Railroad and closely follows the Hiwassee River from Wetmore to the town of Farner, where the train reverses itself and returns back to Gee Creek. The curving, mountainous line offers wonderful views of the Hiwassee River Gorge and includes the Hiwassee Loop, where the track loops back over itself.

It was challenging to get good shots from the moving train, but I managed to capture images of some spectacular countryside. Enjoy! The enormous vine above is kudzu, the monster that eats trees, valleys, and houses.

The next afternoon, still euphoric over the train ride, my friends and I urged each other into taking a glider plane to see the same territory from above. A group of us have remained good friends since nursing school, over forty years ago, and we have shared a lot of life's experiences: marriage, homemaking, childbirth, career ups and downs, fun trips and get-togethers, illness, the death of loved ones, the good times and the bad. The year we all turned fifty we celebrated by going whitewater rafting. We told each other the glider plane was to celebrate sixty. This group of ladies is determined to remain young in spirit, no matter what the body says!

Honestly, I was a bit nervous at the idea of flying around in a plane that didn't have an engine, but I am so glad I did it. For a while I was a big bird, soaring in the great blue sky, and it was close to the most fun thing I have ever done.

While I waited my turn, I took a few photos around the gliderport:

Finally, it was time to go! First is a shot of a glider plane, and below that are photos I took from inside the glider. Once we were airborne and had caught a good air current, the pilot released the tether to the pull plane. Then we were on our own!

See another glider in the first photo below.

Now we are trying to decide what we will do to celebrate our seventieth birthdays. Skydiving? I'm not sure about that, but we have a decade to decide! I have learned to seize life's opportunities as they present themselves.

Before we left the gliderport I took the following photo of a kitty, who was enjoying the wonderful fall day in a more down-to-earth way:

May you enjoy the good moments, and may you have good friends to share them with.

Deborah

A Forbidden Ruin and Other October Garden Scenes

October is rushing by like a high speed train, no doubt headed for some frosted, cold-wrapped region. I love it. Daytime temperatures are moderate, up into the 70s or 80s and even hot in the sunshine, but nights are decidedly cool. In the garden it's an odd month, with summer flowers still blooming while some plants are already dormant and fall foliage flutters to the ground.

There is one part of my garden I have never shown on my blog. Camera shots in this area were forbidden because it is unkempt and contains an ugly, broken-down storm shelter from the 1950s. In my mind, someday this spot will contain a wonderful garden house. But recently I blinked and the scene shifted. With wildflowers blooming around it, the eyesore was transformed into....a ruin! Such is the power of flowers. 

The structure has some interesting history to it. The story is that the original owner of my house was married to a strict teetotaler who forbid alcoholic drinks in the house. So he and his buddies would go down to the storm shelter whenever they wanted to party. I think it is a true story, because we found lots of old empty booze bottles in the shelter when we moved in.

Below is a peek at my 'ruin' and photos of some of the flowers blooming in the October garden:

Though only the knockout roses are still blooming in the garden that wraps around the patio, the colors and textures of the foliage in this area keep the interest alive deep into another season:

Many hostas have already pulled themselves into the earth for a few months rest. The huge leaves of Hosta 'Sum and Substance' are drooping but still striking. The lower photo on the right shows the underside of its wilted leaf, which I think is also interesting:

Dogwood, Japanese maple and other deciduous leaves are beginning to change into reds, purples, and golds:  But there is more to come! Here in Helena fall stretches itself all the way through October and well into November, possibly even into December! One never knows when our fickle winter will hit. Today, the great woodland trees are slightly golden in afternoon light. Soon their foliage will also take on multicolored hues.

I hope you enjoyed the look around my October garden. Blessings to you!   Deborah