Falling into Color

fall color

On Monday we took a drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) in search of fall colors. One of the things I miss about the St. Louis area is the large tree diversity that results in brilliant fall colors. Here there are so many evergreens that you just don't get that burst of color. Except when you go to the higher elevations in North Carolina. We are fortunate in that we can get to the mountains in about two hours.

We left the house around 5:40 a.m. as we hoped to see the sun rise over the Linn Cove Viaduct. That part of the BRP is not only an architectural marvel, its complexity resulted in it being the last section of the BRP to be completed. The seven mile segment was completed in 1987. 

As we drove up it began to mist. The forecast for the area had called for partly sunny skies - perfect for photography - so we were disappointed to see the gray skies. Though tempted to turn around and go home, we continued with the journey. We rounded a curve (the BRP has plenty of those!), and there were blue skies.

We had a perfect day in the mountains. Crowds were larger than expected for a Monday, but we had forgotten that it was Columbus Day. That explained the abundance of children in the area. Nevertheless, we found parking spots at all the stops we wanted to make, and a favorite restaurant in Blowing Rock had outdoor tables available when we arrived for lunch. By the time we left it was packed.

Blue Ridge Parkway

All in all, it was a great day. It did my heart good to see all the glorious fall colors and to get out in the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Busy Fall Weekend

fall colors

This past weekend was pretty busy - in fact every weekend in October is packed for us this year. Saturday was the Second Annual Fall Festival at Imagery. It was rescheduled from the previous weekend due to Hurricane Ian, so some of the vendors were unable to attend. But it was a beautiful day, and I think the sellers who were able to come had a good day. About half the tables were artists from our community, and there are some very talented people here. I always think that I'll have a booth with my photographs of Mountain Island Lake, but then I don't get around to making it happen.

Sunday was the Second Annual Imagery Rides show. Last year we entered both Jim's car and motorcycle. This year they added the category of electric bikes, so in addition to the car and motorcycle I brought my Trek Townie e-bike along. That required some juggling of vehicles on our part, but we made it happen.

me & my minion

On Saturday evening the Mount Holly Community Development Foundation had their black tie fundraiser. As an added bonus for attendees, the Lantern Parade Chair asked if anyone would be willing to bring a lantern and do a short walk through the event venue. I took one of our minions from last year and joined a dozen or so other lantern makers in the parade. It was fun, and the guests seemed to enjoy it. We were also able to then promote the upcoming Mount Holly Lantern Parade, which takes place on October 22nd. 

Our community is again participating, and we are fairly close to having all of our lanterns completed. It was so much fun last year, and I am looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for this year's parade. The theme is "Written in the Stars", and that is just broad enough that it stumped a lot of people. We are up-cycling our minions from last year, and they will be in spaceships, riding rockets, looking like astronauts and chasing stars. We even added a girl minion this year! We may not win our category again due to the reuse of the lanterns, but it seemed like a good way to get another year out of all of our efforts from last year. 

Fun Times!

Life has been pretty busy lately! Our community participated in the 4th Annual Mount Holly Lantern Parade, so for the past several months we have been constructing lanterns. Minion lanterns, to be exact. We made two large minions, four smaller minions and a handful of bananas. We coordinated with the art class of the Mount Holly Middle School, and the kids made an additional 40 or 50 small minion lanterns. 

The initial construction was wire and duct tape, to which we added mini light strands. This was covered with a shell of translucent white paper, and then topped with colored construction paper. It was a process, to say the least. The parade theme was "Let's All Go to the Movies", and at first I was unsure of doing minions. I'll confess I knew nothing about the characters, so I had to sit down and watch one of the movies. I have to say, the minions were a hug crowd-pleaser. The judges took note of this, and we ended up winning first place in the "Group" category. Not bad for our first rodeo! It was a blast to walk in the parade with the kids. The adults wore yellow shirts, blue suspenders and yellow hard hats, and all of our group wore minion face masks. Those were a great way to ensure mask compliance. I added a unique touch to our costumes by making minion glasses out of canning jar rims.

The theme for next year is "Written in the Stars", which sounds very broad. Our group is getting together tomorrow night to begin planning our entry. The pressure is on since we took 1st this year.

Minion Mania!

We took a quick overnight drive up to Blowing Rock, NC on October 26th to photograph the fall color. We sure found some nice foliage! The previous two Octobers here the colors were virtually non-existent. It did our Midwest hearts good to see the pretty reds and oranges this year.

finding fall

  
On October 30th Imagery had a Halloween Pet Parade. There were two categories - cutest and best matched. We don't have a dog right now, but we sure enjoyed photographing the event. The parade was followed by a demonstration of the K-9 unit of the Mount Holly police department.

pet parade

On Halloween, the Lifestyle Director brought a band in to perform in the afternoon. The weather was perfect for us to be outside listening to some great music. Jim and I reprised our minion costumes as we knew our lanterns were going to be out on display. We never got a good picture of us the day of the parade, so we were able to rectify that on Sunday.

Minions 'R Us

Tuesday was such a pretty day that we decided to take our kayaks out on Mountain Island Lake. We found some beautiful color along the shoreline as we paddled along, and even startled a blue heron who was napping in the afternoon sunlight. As the weather has since turned rainy and chilly, I'm glad we took advantage of the day. 

Mountain Island Lake

Follow Up on the Booster Shot

We got the Pfizer booster shot last Wednesday, and the only side affects for us were a sore injection site arm and a little lethargy the next day. By Thursday evening I felt just fine, and that was that. I will certainly take those minor inconveniences versus getting Covid.

Yesterday our community had its first fall festival. Many volunteers worked for months to pull it together, and what a great job they did! It was a beautiful day, which was a blessing. We started the morning with a car/truck/motorcycle show along with coffee and donuts. People brought their unusual/unique/classic vehicles, and the Ford dealership provided a few new vehicles for display as well. We took Jim's Indian motorcycle and his 2007 Porsche 911 Carerra Cabriolet to the show. There were 15 vehicles in all, so that's not a bad start for a first time event.

In the afternoon there were about 30 booths for people to shop at or learn about local services. There were wine and beer vendors as well. One of our residents is a DJ, so he had the music going. There was also a food truck available. When the booths closed down, the live band started up. They were really good, and got a lot of people up and dancing. It was nice to have some outdoor fun, meet some new people who have moved in recently, and forget about Covid for awhile.

this morning's sunrise

Finding Fall

 

maples in St. Louis

One of the things I miss about living in the Midwest is the incredible fall foliage we experienced. Even walking around our neighborhood you could see a burst of colors from red, to orange to yellow. We moved during the fall last year, and the colors were poor to say the least. North Carolina had been in a drought, so that impacted the changing leaves. Even a drive to the higher elevations did not result in any pretty colors to photograph.

Tuesday we decided to see what colors were happening in the Beech Mountain area, which is about a two and a half hour drive from here. The colors were fairly vibrant, but mostly yellows. I guess that there are not too many maples in North Carolina. I want to research that a bit, as I would like to plant a couple in our yard if they can grow okay here.

At any rate, it was a pretty day for a drive. It looks like COVID will limit our travel for the foreseeable future. Our coronacations will consist of local drives for the most part. Luckily, our location is great for making day trips to see the beauty of this state.

leaf peepers

One year ago today we signed the closing papers on our new home on Mountain Island Lake. I have not regretted for one moment our decision to make the momentous move from the city that had been our home for our entire 41 years of married life to a place where we knew no one. It has been an incredible journey!

signing the papers

Photography Challenge Week 37

The weather is changing (sort of), and the Week 37 challenge was Story Telling: Seasons. I came across this leaf that had fallen on a stone wall at Crystal Bridges when we visited there last week. There is not a lot of fall color out yet in the Midwest, but I thought this leaf worked well for the challenge. I got a kick out of the fact that the leaf's shadow looked like a bat.

Dogwood Photography Challenge Week 37

Fall Leaf Walk

Wednesday I went on the Fall Leaf Walk at Bellefontaine Cemetery with a couple of my friends. It was a freezing cold day with a light dusting of snow on the ground, so not ideal for looking at trees and leaves. At any rate, the tour guide was amazing and I learned a lot about not only the unique trees that exist at this Level II Accredited Arboretum, but also about the icons used on stones. The most interesting thing to me as a genealogist involves the use of a period. If a period follows the surname on a stone, that indicates the end of the family name, meaning there are no male descendants to carry on the name. Who knew?

period on headstone

It was a wonderful tour, despite the cold, and I would love to do it again and bring Jim with me. Just not when it is winter!

Bellefontaine Cemetery

Kim Wolterman

Today I had the privilege of being on Radio63119, the local radio station for my community. The topic was house research, so a woman from the Webster Groves Historical Society joined the conversation as well. The show host is so professional and easy going that it was like we were all just sitting around my coffee table. I had a blast! I would be happy to be on her show again any time she wants me. An added bonus is that she put in numerous plugs for my book on researching house history in St. Louis County. Once she has a taped transcript of the show ready, I will be able to share that on my social media outlets.

Fall is All Around

Though we had a lot of rain this spring, the summer was fairly dry in my area so I wasn't sure what the fall colors would be like. Holy cow, over a couple of days last weekend things exploded! It's like an artist sat down with a paintbrush and cut loose. Our maple tree out front changed dramatically from Friday to Sunday.

On Wednesday I took off to try to capture some of the glorious colors around me. I'm so thankful that I follow other photographers on social media as I learn where all the cool stuff is taking place. My first stop was to the Missouri Botanical Garden. I had just been there a couple weeks before, and not much color was showing. This visit was totally different, and fall color was abundant.

Missouri Botanical Garden

After the garden I drove to nearby Forest Park. The colors in the park were outstanding as well. Since it was not too crowded, I drove to some areas of the park that I had never been to before. It was just lovely, and as an added bonus I hit my 10,000 steps before even leaving the park. Now that's my kind of exercise!

Forest Park

Fall?

Webster Groves Fire Department

Fall is my favorite season of the year, but this year has been somewhat disappointing at least as far as colored leaves go. There just is not much color, and what is on the trees seems very muted. Much of it has to do with the warm weather, I suspect. The temperatures have been very mild for this time of year. It was beautiful last weekend for the fifth annual block party around the corner. It is so fun every year to meet the new neighbors, and watch the kids grow up. The Webster Groves Fire Department always puts in an appearance if they are free, and the kids get a lesson on fire safety.

Friday was my birthday, and along with another couple, Jim and I went out to dinner in the Central West End before heading to the St. Louis Basilica for The American Boychoir concert. We parked halfway between the two locations so that we could do some walking. I think it was still around 70 degrees when we came out of the church. A bonus on my birthday was that my great-nephew decided to arrive 8 days late so we could share our special day!

Saturday we took a nice drive to Washington, Missouri hoping to see some pretty leaves. There just is not much going on. We did have a nice lunch on a patio overlooking the river in downtown Washington, so that was something. Looking at the upcoming forecast, I think we are going to have a season where the leaves just turn brown and drop. It is very disappointing.

One of my friends took me out for breakfast on Sunday morning, and then we came back to my house and sat out on the deck. You just have to enjoy the nice temperatures while we still have them. It was great until the next door neighbor decided that was the perfect time to use a chain saw on his tree out front. So much for peace and quiet.

Today is Halloween, and it was 68 degrees outside when the goblins began to arrive. I had purchased six bags of candy, despite knowing that not too many kids make the trek on our side of the street where the houses are not only farther apart but also sit back a ways from the street. Imagine my surprise when we ran out of candy by 8:00! A little before that carloads of kids began arriving on our street. I have no idea where they came from, but I have never seen that in all the years we have lived here. I felt bad turning out the lights, but what are you going to do?

Here's hoping that we get a cold snap and a least a semblance of some fall color soon.

tree in my neighborhood

Write On!

Kim Wolterman

Last week I gave a presentation on why every book needs a business plan at the monthly meeting of the St. Louis Publishers Association. The topic sounds a bit dry, doesn't it? Hopefully, the presentation wasn't. I didn't see any of the 30 or so attendees sleeping, at any rate. I believe it is important to think of the business side of writing a book as much as you think about the creative side. What is the point of spending months or years writing a book, only to find out that you can't afford to get it into print? Or to have it fail because you didn't have a plan for helping it succeed? Sometimes I feel like we don't cover the expense side of book publishing enough. At any rate, the presentation seem to be well-received, and people hung around talking until 9:30. If you are interested in reading more, I have posted about book business plans on my Write Formation blog, which you can find here.

Jim was on a motorcycle adventure last week, so Kirby and I held down the fort. The pooch is doing quite well, though we did just find a small lump on his tummy which we will need to keep a close eye on. I took him with me to Creve Couer Lake for a walk and to watch the sun set. Wow! This is the view I fantasize about when I think of a retirement home.

Creve Coeur Lake

Jim got back home last Saturday, so on Sunday we went to the Missouri Botanical Garden. These extended periods of temperatures in the 80s and even 90s have played havoc with the fall colors. I am afraid we are not going to see the vibrant oranges and reds we are used to. Instead I think the leaves will go more brown and then fall off. That's too bad, because I love fall. Some pretty flowers were still blooming, so it was still worth the visit.

Missouri Botanical Garden

children await arrival of UP 844

Tuesday of this week a train powered by a steam engine came whistling through our town. Delivered in 1944, Steam Locomotive 844 was designed to pull high speed passenger trains, and was the last steam engine built for Union Pacific Railroad. This is the first time in three years that it has been in operation as it was undergoing restoration. The train is traveling from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Memphis, Tennessee for the dedication of the "Big River Crossing" pedestrian bridge/rail bridge over the Mississippi River. I was amazed by how many people turned out, not only in our community, but many other locations in the St. Louis area. I loved the fact that the local pre-school brought the children down to see the train. This is a piece of history you just don't see every day. And of course I had the Johnny Cash song, Folsom Prison Blues, going through my head. "I hear the train a 'comin/It's rollin' 'round the bend..."

You can check out my short video here.

UP 844

Shooting the Dead

Bellefontaine Cemetery

The Women in Focus group that I belong to met at the Bellefontaine Cemetery Sunday afternoon to take some photos. The cemetery was established in 1849 on what was then 138 acres in rural St. Louis County, fortuitously right before the great cholera epidemic that hit the city in June of that same year. It became the first rural cemetery west of the Mississippi River. Today the cemetery sits on 314 acres and is the final resting place for over 87,000 people, including many of the Who's Who of St. Louis history.

With its park-like setting, the cemetery hosts many events throughout the year, such as the Beer Baron Tour, where you can view the tombs and graves of the men who made St. Louis famous for its beer. You can sample some wares as well. On this particular Sunday there was a yoga class as well as a walking tour taking place on the grounds.

Seven of us showed up for this event, which isn't too bad for a busy fall weekend. The leaf colors have not been too dramatic so far this season, and since this is my favorite time of year I have been somewhat disappointed. But the cemetery quickly lifted my spirits. Ha! There was beautiful color on the trees, as well as some summer flowers that are taking advantage of our mild fall. We certainly enjoyed the nice weather as we walked around the cemetery taking photos and talking about the different stones we came upon. It is so nice to be affiliated with a group of like-minded women sharing our passion for photography.

Bellefontaine Cemetery

Bellefontaine Cemetery

Fall in St. Louis

Cascading Mums

Fall is definitely my favorite season. The glorious colors, along with my birthday and Halloween, combine to make October an enchanting month. I like to get out for a drive at least once a week to enjoy nature's ever-changing tapestry.

Since my husband was riding his motorcycle on Saturday, I did some work around the house and then found a place to play pickleball in the afternoon. At the last minute some friends came over to watch the Cardinals post-season baseball game with us. (Or perhaps I should just call it the Cubs game, since they were the ones who actually seemed to show up to play ball Saturday night.)

Sunday we went to the Missouri Botanical Garden to take both a walk and some photographs. It is so awesome that we have many of the same interests as a couple. While there was some fall color starting to sprout at the garden, we are still probably a week or two away from seeing significant fall foliage. The early fall flowers and the last of the summer blooms sure put on an amazing show, however.

Quill Garden Mum

Cardinal Flower

    

Fall Crocus

After the garden, we took a drive through Tower Grove Park thinking that maybe some of the Sugar Maples would have begun to turn colors. That was not the case, so we'll add the park back onto our agenda next time we go to visit the botanical garden. From there we headed to the Cortex Innovation Community, a project that SWT Design is involved in. After all, Cortex is where it's at - ha, ha! Seriously, Cortex is a 200-acre innovation and technology hub located near the Central West End and Grove neighborhoods of St. Louis. Jim's firm was and is involved in the site master planning. It will be fun to follow the project as the plant material fills in and the area around the site is cleaned up. A concert is being held on the grounds next week, so if we are free we will try to get over there to take some photographs. In the meantime, I have to share this one since we took Jim's baby out of the garage and traveled in style on Sunday.

Porsche - there is no substitute

Falling into Adventures

Saints Peter and Paul Church

Things have been busy lately. On November1st, the St. Louis Publishers Association again offered a class at the Meramec campus of the St. Louis Community College. I have written about the book publishing class on my other blog, Write Formation. Later that day, my friend Caren and I went to Soulard to walk around the area and take photos. I am so grateful because she is an avid photographer (a professional photographer, in fact), so we both like to stop and take pictures. Of course there are four cakes in the area we were walking, so I had to get additional photos of those. We went to McGurk's for an early dinner, and though the day had been a comfortable temperature we decided to eat inside. They have such a beautiful outdoor dining area there, but it is not so much fun if you are cold.

9th Street Abbey

Trinity Church

unlucky chicken foot

On Wednesday I was doing some gardening as the day was very nice. I was pulling out annuals and tidying things up when I heard the dog chewing on something. He likes to gnaw on sticks, so I didn't think too much about it at first. When the crunching continued I decided I better check it out. Much to my dismay, I saw part of an animal leg on the ground next to him. Now, Kirby has never mastered the "Leave it!" command. There is no way he willingly gives up anything, be it a toy or something gross. Utilizing the fine art of distraction, I ran towards the gate shouting "Look who's here!", which faked him out enough to run off to guard his territory. I hurried back and scooped up the parts (thinking back to the old commercial "parts is parts"), and being thankful for my gardening gloves. Normally I am squeamish about picking up things like this, but desperate times call for desperate measures. As I dropped the pieces in the trash, I noticed the larger leg piece still had a foot attached. Ugh! I guess there is one less clucker from the yard across the alley now. They have a chicken coop but they also let the chickens roam. Sometimes I see them in the alley. They cannot get into our yard because they are too fat, and our dog never runs loose, so Kirby is not the fowl killer. He just takes advantage of the situation if someone else does the dirty work.

When I relayed this story to my husband later, I couldn't resist telling him that we were having chicken for dinner. After all, the dog usually eats the same thing as us.

Fall Colors and More

The fall colors in our area have not been as outstanding as in past years, but nevertheless this is my favorite season and I like going for a drive to photograph the changing landscape. We decided to combine a fall drive with a genealogy trip, something I am not able to talk my husband into very often. But he doesn't mind visiting cemeteries, so he was okay with coming along for the ride to an old cemetery. I have been tugging on a branch of my dad's tree recently, and found a link to some ancestors who are buried in the Denson Pioneer Cemetery located just north of Ursa, Illinois. The Hightower family can be traced back to early Virginia in the 1600s, and beyond that to the 1500s in England and Ireland. Of course, there is the small matter that I have to prove the lineage.

George Hightower, my fourth great-grandfather, and his family moved from Virginia to Kentucky sometime before the 1800 census was taken. George and his wife then moved to Ursa, Illinois prior to 1840, and two of their six adult children also moved there during this time period. I found the burial information on the on the website findagrave.com. I highly recommend this website if you haven't already checked it out. Volunteers are photographing headstones, transcribing them and putting them on this website. It is very helpful in corroborating death dates and/or locating exactly where your ancestors are buried. Often family associations are listed in the description of the deceased as well.

Kirby in the pumpkin patch

We took a leisurely drive to Ursa on Sunday, stopping whenever the mood struck to take photographs. I feel fortunate that my husband is just as enthusiastic about taking pictures as I am. Otherwise, one of us would not have been having a good time yesterday. We took the dog along, and he is definitely not as enamored with pausing for photo ops. He also did something at the cemetery that probably has resulted in him not going along for the ride in the future. More on that below.

The fall colors actually seemed a little prettier the further north we traveled. The area near Hannibal was the nicest I have seen anywhere this fall. Mark Twain would definitely have had something to write about had he been looking at the beautiful colors this weekend.

Denson Pioneer Cemetery sign

We arrived at the cemetery shortly after lunch. I am glad that the findagrave website included instructions on how to get to it, as I have no doubt I would have been unable to locate it on my own. You exit the county highway onto a tractor path to reach the small cemetery, which is completely surrounded by cornfields. The farmer had already mowed down the corn stalks, which made me wonder if you could even see the cemetery during the spring and summer months. I wasn't sure exactly where my family members were buried in the cemetery but I needn't have worried as it is quite small.  We found the headstones rather quickly. The state of the stones is quite sad, and not just the ones belonging to my ancestors. You can tell that a veterans group (most likely) is replacing the stones of the men who served in the Civil War, as they look pretty new. But many of the remaining stones are broken and/or toppled over. I don't think it is vandalism but instead is the result of years of the elements taking their toll on the limestone or sandstone markers. Here are the stones of George and his wife, Frances Ann (Hall) Hightower, along with their son Austin and his wife Mary (Caldwell) Hightower. Also we found George and Frances Ann's daughter Mary and her husband John Riddel. And while we were photographing the stones, the dog decided to take a roll in the hay, so to speak. Unfortunately it wasn't hay but horse manure he found. Why someone was riding a horse in this precious cemetery is anyone's guess. Let me just say that it was an extremely long ride home with a smelly dog.

Mary Hightower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Austin Hightower

John Riddel

Mary Riddel

Frances Ann Hightower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

George Hightower