Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment.

Ellis Peters

Say what you wish, but I’m totally into this tree. First, because I love all stages of the tender, short-lived delicate blossoms. But second, because I get to practice photography.

I’m not much of a technical photographer. I just love snapping pictures. But this year, I’ve tried to use Manual settings only, adjusting the light and focus to yield better photos.

Beginning with the little buds, I focused sometimes on the fuzzy gray calyx.

And sometimes it was the blush at the stem end of each petal.

Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

Algernon Charles Swinburne

But sometimes on the second or third day of visiting these blossoms, I’m able to stand on tip-toe and look directly into their open “faces.” I’m not sure if this is odds or ends, but it’s a treat to see the various poses. Some flowers look upward, some sideways.

In a way, I feel I’m intruding on their privacy by getting into their faces! (Now that’s odd, for sure.)

Sometimes, I don’t just look for the positions of these flowers. I also look for variations in light. If I face my screened porch, the dark background contrasts with the creamy petals

Sometimes, blue sky forms the backdrop that enhances the simplicity of the blooms.

In many ways, there aren’t any “bad” pictures of these lovely gifts from Mother Nature.

Even in inclement weather, a light spring rain adds another dimension.

Blossoms fold over on themselves for protection, providing another layer of secrecy from nosy photographers like me.

A flower blossoms for its own joy.

Oscar Wilde

So, let me know how you like these odds and ends, and then forgive me for stretching the topic. After all, if you ask my husband what I’ve been doing for the past few days, he’d tell you that I’ve been pretty useless. I just reply that I’m doing important work: taking photos of our White Star White Magnolia!

Want to see how others have interpreted this week’s challenge of Odds and Ends? Head to Tina’s post for her wonderfully eclectic photos and entries by many others.

And then, move in closer to view the flowers you love. The reward will be worth it.

Travel in your garden sometime,

Rusha and Bert

It was a beautiful, bright autumn day, with air like cider and a sky so blue you could drown in it.

The last week of October 2021 offered us a day that we should have spent years ago and then again and again each recurring year: a day at Bald River Falls off the Cherohala Skyway about an hour from our home in Knoxville, Tennessee. When Amy posted the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week — A Day in My Week — we knew we had to share the beauty that was almost all ours for a day.

The Cherohala Skyway is similar to other major parkways in this area (Blue Ridge Parkway, Foothills Parkway, etc.) but with one exception: a turn-off road about six miles from the start will take you down a road following a river bed, going past boulders and mature trees onto a breathtaking discovery — Bald River Falls.

On this day last week, threatening, dark clouds hung overhead and drizzly rain had us turning on the windshield wipers. But it was actually a great day for travel: most people don’t want to picnic on a gray, dreary day, so we had the drive to ourselves. And a great day for scenery: brilliant yellow leaves contrasting nicely against the dark sky with each turn yielding new beauty.

Just as we became accustomed to colored leaves, we we’d find new marvels . . . like boulders covered in moss, firmly planted in rushing streams . . .

or tall black tree trunks contrasting nicely with brilliant yellows, oranges, reds, and greens.

At one stop, a small pile of balance rocks caught our attention.

Autumn leaves shower like gold, like rainbows, as the winds of change begin to blow.

Dan Millman

Sections of the drive offered new picture-perfect revelations. From multi-colored leaves . . .

to rock-filled streams rushing beneath colored glory.

But even though we knew what was around one of the bends — the waterfall itself — it still took our breath away. Bald River Falls just appeared on the landscape, without fanfare or signage. Impressive in its simplicity and majesty.

Autumn color, natural formations, and the sound of rushing waters — day like no other.

Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.

Lauren Destefano

If you’d like to see more entries in this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, head to Amy’s post. Although we all may label our days as ordinary — or not — one thing’s for sure: There’s something special about each 24-hour period, something we never need to take for granted.

Travel colorfully,

Rusha & Bert

A sunflower field is like a sky with a thousand suns.

Corina Abdulahm-Negura

They’re back . . . and it’s once again time to view sunflowers in Knoxville! Hundreds of them, now in full bloom are ready for viewing through July at Knoxville’s Forks of the River Wildlife Management Area. And with over 60 acres of towering yellow sunflowers, you can walk the trails between fields, take pictures, and enjoy summer color — all for free!

We only get this chance to see sunflowers every other year, on odd-numbered years. Because sunflowers require a lot of nitrogen, they’re replanted every two years.

But what a reward when you arrive! Tall stalks with large yellow flowers, loved by bees and visitors alike. It’s a photographer’s paradise, so you may want to capture your kids and grandkids in one of the golden fields or just focus on close-ups. It’s all good.

So, how do you get there? Head to Forks of the River Wildlife Management Area a little past Ijams Nature Center and Mead’s Quarry, about 10 minutes from downtown Knoxville at 3140 McClure Lane, Knoxville, TN 37920. Parking is available, but no public rest rooms, so you may want to stop at the Nature Center at Ijams before you explore the fields.

Afterwards, we recommend lunch or dinner at SoKno Taco Cantina — fun, urban atmosphere with great — well, what else? — tacos, of course. It’s located at 3701 Sevierville Pike, not far from the sunflowers.

Sunflower fields at Knoxville’s Forks of the River — it’s summer travel at its finest.

Rusha & Bert

Summertime is always the best of what might be.

If you stand still at Elkmont, you can almost hear summer. Kids laughing as they play tag around the old log cabins. Or waiting for lightning bugs to flicker at dusk. Mothers calling their kids in for supper. Old timers swapping tales of the way it used to be. Life was good, once upon a time.

It was a logging boom that brought the people here — in the early 1900s — as railways transported logs, and families, mostly from Knoxville, Tennessee, settled in to cabin life in the summer.

The place was known as Elkmont, taking the name from the Knoxville Elks Club. Members and residents loved fishing in the Little River and staying in the cabins for the summer. But in 1934, when the Great Smoky Mountains was designated as a national park, summer residents were given a choice: they could either sell their land and move or deed the property to the National Park Service in exchange for a lifetime lease meaning summers in the Smokies into the future.

Some homeowners left. But others stayed. And from what friends have told us, it was the best of times. Returning each year, these summer residents caught up on what had transpired during the year at their non-summer homes, kids played outdoor games, and grown-ups sat in front of stone fireplaces on chilly nights or in rockers on wide front porches.

But in 1992, leases expired, and the National Park Service became the owner. With no one to maintain the summer residences, the houses fell into disrepair — so much so that in 2009 many buildings were razed, leaving only 18 of the original buildings, abandoned but still on view for visitors to Elkmont today. If you visit now, you’ll see a few houses being repaired, but many have remained untouched, blocked off to keep visitors out.

It was an end of an era, for sure. No summer residents. No gathering as they once did at the Appalachian Club to meet, greet, and talk over dinner. And no sounds of happiness on summer nights in Elkmont.

Today, though, for visitors and photographers, these few houses remain as treasures, remnants of the past and reminders of good times known only to the residents and their guests.

Some of the houses are off limits . . .

others are open to explore with caution.

But all are picture-worthy for simple construction or faded-glory colors or the simple details that distinguish one from another. Like the red windows on the Levi Trentham house at the top or the chunky log construction in this sturdy house.

If you listen closely, you just might hear the chatter of the people, sharing their joy as they reconnect each summer, telling about a past school year, or promising to explore a new path during the summer before them.

Ask any former resident of Elkmont about summer living there, and you’ll get an almost tearful, quite nostalgic response. It was loved and treasured by many. And needs to be seen today —

if for no other reason than to let yourself imagine the joy of being in the Smokies summer after summer with friends.

The summer night is like a perfection of thought.

Wallace Stevens

Travel the Smokies,

Rusha & Bert

How to get to Elkmont: Drive US-411 from Gatlinburg to the Sugarlands Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Drive toward Cades Cove for about 7 miles and turn at the sign for Elkmont Campground.

For more information on the history of Elkmont, try these sites:

Elkmont, Tennessee — Wikipedia;

Visit My Smokies: Everything You Need to Know about Elkmont Ghost Town;

Roadtrippers — There’s an abandoned resort ghost town in the Smokies — here’s how to find it

My Smoky Mountain Guide: Elkmont

We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon — instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.

Perhaps the coordinators of Knoxville’s 2021 Dogwood Arts Festival events had Dale Carnegie’s quote in mind as they invited guests to stroll through Open Rose Gardens two weekends in a row.

Right outside our windows, so to speak, gardens in the west end of our town were available for touring — and photographing. And we couldn’t resist.

The home of Michael and Mary Bates provided more roses than we’ve seen anywhere. First planted by Kathy Brennan who sold the home to the Bates, the gardens showcased over 300 rose bushes, laid out in miniature garden settings, spreading underneath old-growth trees and climbing trellises in the backyard.

Roses of many colors (some labeled with botanical names) leaned toward the sun as if welcoming photographers and rose lovers to lean in as well.

Since getting into the hearts of flowers is what I love to do best, I tried to move in without stepping on anything, focusing my camera on the hearts of the flowers in order to enter the private worlds of these tender, ephemeral beauties.

Even though the rich reds with their velvety petals made us linger longest, it was the pinks that must have been a favorite of the original owner of the garden. They dominated the gardens while allowing their “cousins” time to shine as well.

A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring.

William Carlos Williams

If you’ve been around a while, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “I never promised you a rose garden . . . ” Thank you, Dogwood Arts, for a promise well kept.

Travel for beauty,

Rusha & Bert

2020: It’s a spring like no other here in Knoxville: people are staying inside, dedicated caregivers and medical professionals are working harder than ever, and most of us barely realize it’s the prettiest time of the year in our fair city. But one thing COVID-19 hasn’t stopped is the blooming of trees and flowers everywhere, Knoxville included.

In fact, spring is happening, with color and confidence.

2021: Spring has sprung once again in Knoxville (still with color and confidence) as we prepare for our signature festival: Dogwood Arts. Many residents have been vaccinated, so restaurants are reopening, fans are returning to spring sports, and lilacs, rebuds, dogwoods, tulips, etc., are blooming!

2020: The first shows in Knoxville are the tender greens — sprouts emerging from the ground, poking up to see what’s going on in this world of ours.

2021: No difference this year. Fresh, green leaves of hostas point heavenward, heralding the re-opening of our fair city and a return to “normal” — a state Nature never left.

2020: But pink quickly takes on a life of its own. Redbuds (maybe they should be called purple buds or pink buds) line the I-40 interstate and push out their color as if to say, “Look at me first.” But we can’t stop staring at them wherever we find them.

2021: In Knoxville, we know it’s spring when the redbuds are in bloom along I-40. These naturally wild versions spring forth early, adding a soft purple to the green space along the interstate. Shortly thereafter, redbuds appear on our main thoroughfares — in the city and the suburbs. Some are planned for and planted, some spring up wherever they get a toehold.

2020: Pink cherry trees also bloom early, almost bending with the weight of what looks to be tissue-thin flowers clustered along meandering branches.

The same has happened again in my neighborhood in 2021.

2020: But the heart of springtime in Knoxville is the dogwood (Cornus florida). Celebrated for 65 years now by the Dogwood Arts Festival, dogwoods even have their own trails. And a drive along any one of them is a spring awakening for residents and visitors alike.

2021: Dogwood Arts is now alive and well in Knoxville! And not just the trails that were open last year, but many of the events we’ve come to know and love — Chalk Walk, Bikes & Blooms, Featured Gardens.

2020: We checked to see if trails and open gardens would be available for touring this year, and, best we can tell, some are. This cautionary statement appears on the website: Due to the spread of COVID-19, some of the Open Gardens listed below may choose to close. Please only enter gardens that have an “OPEN GARDEN” sign in the yard.

2021: The new wording on the Dogwood Arts website is this: *MASKS REQUIRED AND SOCIAL DISTANCING ENFORCED. Thankfully, we can still roam freely in some of Knoxville’s prettiest gardens.

2020: One garden we’ve previously shared, the estate of Dr. Alan Solomon, will not be on tour this year, but we remember fondly the elegance of the forested acres and statuary that make it a showplace like no other in town.

2021: Dr. Solomon is re-opening his garden for the event known as Open Gardens on April 17 and 18, 2021. A glorious treat for all who remember these grounds that were open for years, except for 2020!

2020: If you want a springtime lift, a drive along one of the trails may be your best bet. Check the Dogwood Arts website for a map showing the location of this year’s trails, and then drive along for a color treat. We took the Westmoreland Trail this week, and, as you can see, there’s much to celebrate.

2021: The featured trail this year is the one in Holston Hills. Follow the pink lines running through the neighborhood and get ready to take photos. Trees are in full bloom!

2020: It’s good to know that even when most things we value are shut down across America, Mother Nature still shows her colors majestically. It’s time to celebrate spring — whether in Knoxville or your own hometown — and be thankful for growth, renewal, and color in these tough times.

2021: Perhaps we appreciate nature’s beauty even more this year after spending much of last year’s spring inside our homes. Truly this quote has new meaning for all us as we emerge from the “winter” of quarantine to the spring of life:

If winter comes, can spring be far behind?

Percy Bysse Shelley

Here’s hoping spring is beautiful no matter where you are — and this year, maybe we can all get out to enjoy it to the fullest.

Travel the pretty spots,

Rusha and Bert

If you want to see more entries in Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #142: You Pick It, go to Leya’s blog and enjoy the entries linked below her absolutely gorgeous photos of anemone hepatica.

But, you see, we’re quite fortunate, living so close to the Great Smoky Mountains. We don’t have to look for a change of scenery. Mother Nature makes those changes for us!

In the fall, our drives take us through spectacular woods in the Smokies — forests bearing autumn — glorious yellows, oranges, even brilliant reds at times. Mountain scenery changes daily as new colors replace old. A drive higher into the mountains may reveal one color, only to be replaced by another color higher up.

The really happy person is the one who can enjoy the scenery, even when they have to take a detour.

James Hopwood Jeans

Right now, in early spring, the newly opened Foothills Parkway (photo above), greets us us with fresh green leaves and verdant forests replacing the warmer tones of fall, much like a woman shaking off a winter quilt to expose clean, bright linens. Spring rains shower down from dark skies, freshening the palette almost daily . . . or so it seems.

A change of scenery may dependent on locale. But it may also vary as your proximity to the subject changes.

An Action News theme song from the ABC station (Channel 6) in Philadelphia says, “Move Closer to Your World” – a directive we can all take to heart. Something as simple as moving closer can change your world as you stare into a smaller space, noticing details you may not have seen from a distance — the familiar morphing into something mysterious, detailed, and new.

It is impossible to do a thing the way I see it because the closer I get, the more differently I see.

Alberto Giacometti

The key to a better life isn’t always a change of scenery. Sometimes it simply requires opening your eyes.

Richelle E. Goodrich

So, whether you look far into the distance or up close into the heart of things, here’s hoping you’ll notice the scenery changing in your area. Let’s welcome the change and enjoy each and every moment of it!

For more entries in this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #140, head to Beth’s blog Wandering Dawgs and click on the links beneath her post.

As always, we love your comments and clicks on our blog, too!

May your travel be always scenic,

Rusha & Bert

We like to be out in nature so much because it has no opinion on us.

Nietzsche

We’ve been taking walks lately, not just for added exercise but also to revel in nature’s last bursts of color in our home town, Knoxville, Tennessee. We live in a condominium complex that seems fairly ordinary by design, but because the trees planted 20 years or so ago are now mature, we’re blessed with rich reds, golds, and oranges all around us, as you can see in the photo at the top. Even from our back door, we have a lovely view from our little porch.

But if we drive to the UT campus, we see our favorite trees — those glorious ginkgo trees — showing off their fall best in front of the Frank G. Clement Residence Hall.

At Lakeshore Park, the view of homes on Lake Loudon is almost calendar-worthy this time of year.

Our favorite “Found in the Neighborhood” award, however, would have to to go this sudden spread of yellow ginkgo leaves on the sidewalk beside Knoxville’s East Tennessee History Center. Unexpected brilliance in a city setting.

So, what did we find in our neighborhood in only one short day?

Trees, glorious trees . . . the essence of fall in Knoxville.

Time spent among trees is never wasted time.

Katrina Mayer

If you’d like to participate in this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, link your post to Ann-Christine’s site and add the tag Lens-Artists.

Travel heads up,

Rusha and Bert

Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

It begins with the UT Color Garden — all in autumn tones — leading me down a path bordered with mighty color, showing off before winter.

A patchwork quilt of sorts emerges as individual flowers vie for attention.

In the heart of the gardens, an old truck faces the almost-blinding morning sun, but cares little. After all, you can stand anything surrounded by grasses and leaves and blooms reaching skyward.

A seat would be nice. Perhaps in the vegetable garden?

Or maybe I should push on ’til I reach the furthest boundary — a great vantage point from which to say good-bye.

I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.

L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

If you’d like to contribute to this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #117: A Photo Walk, just post your pictures, link them to Amy’s original post, and use the Lens-Artists tag so you can be found!

And then . . . go for a walk. It’s fall ya’ll!

Rusha

Loose Threads

1211 S. Roane St., #5, Harriman TN http://www.loosethreadsquiltshop.com

At Loose Threads, it was all about family members pitching in during the Shop Hop to share what’s new and different. Owner Lisa Lee smiled as she pointed out the on-display quilt made with pre-packaged doggie cutouts. If you have a favorite breed, you can find it in quilt form at Loose Threads.

Rooms and hallways of fabrics direct you through the maze of many bolts to the giant teaching room where award-winning quilts displayed at the Tennessee Valley Fair take center stage.

Family members pitched in while we were there, showing us new store items and fabrics for the free Blooming Blue in Tennessee quilt block patterns that every visitor to the Shop Hop received. Non only that, this could be the happiest group shot I took all week — even though they asked if we could waive the mandatory mask requirement just for the picture!

Bernina In Stitches

408 S. Roan St. Suite 100, Johnson City, TN http://www.berninainstitches.com

Fresh colors and friendly staff greeted me at this little shop in a newly developed urban area of Johnson City. Bernina In Stitches was all about great ideas from creating a strip quilt and tote bag out of beachy fabrics to fashioning little Tilda dolls based upon books by Norwegian author Tone Finnanger. I even found a sewing pumpkin made out of notions.

The easy chatter between customers and salespeople made me realize that there is a lot of repeat business here, mainly because the shop is so welcoming and friendly. Great quilts, little gifts, and a few funky things extended my shopping time, ’cause I just didn’t want to leave these nice people!

Tennessee Quilts

114 Boone St., Jonesborough, TN http://www.tennesseequilts.com

Housed in a classic two-story Colonial home, Tennessee Quilts may have the largest inventory of any of the shops in the East Tennessee Quilt Shop Hop. If not, they’re close.

A wall of animal motif quilts greets you and makes you smile . . . right at the front door.

Upstairs, teaching samples and instructions await — all using the Blooming Blue in Tennessee fabrics. (Also upstairs — a back room featuring fabrics at super sale prices.)

But it was the wall, the extensive wall, of brightly colored fabrics by American designer Kaffe Fassett that took my breath away. If anyone ever wanted fabric for a dynamic project, the whole back wall of Tennessee Quilts would make someone feel like a designer in a warehouse.

The Sewing Bee

222 Headtown Rd., Jonesborough, TN http://www.sewingbeetn@comcast.net

Owner Carol Mahar said she wanted three things when she came to live in Jonesborough, Tennessee: “. . . chickens, bees, and quilts.” And then she told me the story. “Well, I had the chickens and the bees in my back yard, but I always dreamed of having my own quilt shop. The owner and I sat down for a long talk. And a month later, I owned a quilt shop!”

She’s evidently done well with The Sewing Bee in the little over a year she’s been the owner. Her husband works with her repairing and selling Pfaff sewing machines, and her work on display in the shop is creative, artsy, and fascinating.

No wonder she had a dream that became a reality. And I believe she’s pleased a lot of area quilters, too!

Gina’s Bernina Sewing Center

10816 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN http://www.ginasbernina.com

My last stop and the shop closest to my home was Gina’s Bernina! Praising this shop is easy for me since it offers a wide selection of fabrics, classes in a spacious back room using Bernina sewing machines, a children’s dressmaking corner, and staff members who are helpful and knowledgeable. Gina’s is a teaching store all the time, but for the Shop Hop there were extra tips on half-triangle rectangles and how to use measuring boards.

Amazing to me are the samples hanging on every wall leading crafty people forward in their choice of fresh, new colors or a set-up display of long-arm quilting techniques.

Gina’s is a go-to place for new ideas, but I still love some of the wall hangings that have been around — and charming customers — for a while like this little yellow and blue VW bus.

But there are also new quilts that show off fresh fabrics and patterns . . . like this little row of houses done up nicely in farmhouse colors.

It’s always a treat to see what’s new at Gina’s!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this sample of the 2020 East Tennessee Quilt Shop Hop, a true display of the talent, innovation, and clever artiness of the quilters and proprietors in our area. With so many of us staying at home now, quilting and sewing projects is seeing a resurgence. And you can find quality fabrics and talented, resourceful people in my area as well as in yours.

I’d love to know what you’re working on and what shops you recommend. So, drop us all a line in the Comments below — we just may need to stock up for future days ahead!

Thanks, as always, for traveling far — or near — with us!

Rusha Sams

You may enjoy reading East TN Quilt Shop Hop (Part 1) here.