more blooming moments

Early spring in East Tennessee offers an interesting variety of colors in flora and fauna – there were six spectacular blue jays around the bird feeder on Saturday morning, and who flew in but a Red-bellied woodpecker – as brilliantly-colored as the painted illustration in this web link!  He was really sporting his Tennessee orange.  Sadly, I didn’t have the camera with me, but I hope to capture some pics if I see him again.  I also enjoy evening visits from three pairs of doves, along with several cardinals and the usual assortment of songbirds.  They are emptying the bird feeder about every 30 hours right now!

Here are just a few more blooming pictures I couldn’t resist – if you can identify them, please comment for me.  I’m hopeful that I might see a tulip or two – a few leaves have poked up through the earth, but no sight of a bloom yet.

We are amazingly close to the time of the Dogwood Arts Festival ~ can hardly wait!  NO MORE FROST, PLEASE.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Peak Week

I think this has been the peak week for leaves here in the Smokies, although 20 miles north at my house my trees are still green, go figure.  Thank goodness my mower, you know, the one I’m so reluctant to use…ah hem…is a mulching mower, which may help the grass recover from the ravages of a summer under my care…

Anyway, I want to share this picture with you – thanks to the passing of daylight savings time, I need to find an excuse to leave an hour early tomorrow to capture some better lighting, but this beauty is on the road edging a local historic cemetery.  Breathtaking, isn’t it?

And then my battery went dead. =(

So I have a fresh one now, and I hope to share some early morning leaf images tomorrow!

Have a beautiful evening,

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Have you heard about the Synchronus Fireflies?

I just found out this week that something really spectacular happens in the Smoky Mountains for only a couple of weeks each June ~ synchronus firefly flashing!  There are over a dozen species of fireflies in the Smokies, and this particular species synchronize their flash patterns.  The reason has not yet been discovered, but I found someone talking about it who sounds kinda smart.  Here are some first-hand reports from Mr. Smarty and other folks who have witnessed the phenomenon (he’s a smarty in a really good way!).

THIS WEEK there are shuttle buses from the Sugarlands visitor center to viewing areas each night.  Read more about the shuttles and how to participate here.  This is something I definitely plan to view for myself this week!

It’s almost Friday!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Blooming Dogwood

A week of sun and warm weather have brought out of profusion of deep pink and bright white dogwood blossoms for which East Tennessee is so well known.  Enjoy a few pictures from my parents’ front yard.

The Dogwood Arts Festival has just wrapped up this week.  One of the festival highlights is driving a dogwood trail through a Knoxville neighborhood.  Here’s a picture taken along the Sequoia Hills trail.

My mother contributed the photos today – Barbara is just great with her digital camera.  In fact, I’m spilling the beans - the trail picture above was actually made through the windshield of the car!  (I had to crop out the passenger side support strut.  Seriously.)  Buck prefers slides, and is, in fact, even this morning giving an armchair tour of gardens around the world to the local garden club (on his dual-deck slide projectors with 7-second fade).  Between them, they have thoroughly documented the flora and fauna of East Tennessee and places around the world for the better part of the last century…come count the slides and files if you doubt me…

Woo hoo!  Here comes Monday!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Bird Nerds??

Do you think there are nerds in the bird world?  Geeks?  Rebels?  Social misfits of feathered society?  I do.  I think there is one living in my neighborhood.

 

This little twit gets up at 4:31a.m.  Every morning.  In a good mood.  A Really Good Mood.  I mean a FANTASTICALLY. GREAT. MOOD.  Singing, twittering, chirping, tweeting, peeping.  I imagine his nearest neighbors are just longing to smack him up side the beak with a few stiff feathers.  The rest of the gang has the decency to sleep in until at least 5:30 or so.  What’s with this one birdbrain??  And where’s the Owl Patrol to put a beat-down on Twitternut until a more reasonable hour?  For crying out loud, Mr. Sun isn’t even up until about 6:30, what’s with the whole “HELLO WORLD!  HERE I AM!” pre-dawn siren??  (I will NOT call it a serenade)  I think maybe his egg was dropped out of the nest a few months back, or he tried to fly before he had feathers…

 

Anywho, my little Bird Nerd friend has me thinking about what the world – or at least East Tennessee – sounded like back before humans took over the landscape.  How many songs are we missing now because we’ve taken out so much forest land for farms and homes and boat ramps?  Not that there’s anything wrong with boat ramps!  I’m sure my bird-brained little neighbor might not have been singing so solitary a song a few decades back.  No wonder American Indians and the first settlers got up so early – they couldn’t possibly have slept through an entire chorus of Twitternuts!  I think that was before we had ocean wave and tropical forest sound machines, right?

 

~Janet @ The Christmas Place (not an early riser)

Busy Spring in East Tennessee

Already here in East Tennessee, the frosty crystals of winter mornings are being supplanted by the white and pink petals and green leaves of early spring – and none too soon for those of us longing for more hours of sunshine in the day.  (And just who thinks this “daylight savings” is a good thing?  Why am I once again getting up before dawn?  What I’d like to be saving is darkness for sleeping and daylight for getting up!  Who’s with me on this?!)  Wait, where was I?

March 12th thru June 8th join us for the annual Springfest celebration here in Pigeon Forge - after winter in the mountains, we know how to make the most of spring.  On Friday, April 11th, Dolly Parton serves as grand marshall for the Dolly Parade, kicking off activities throughout the area.  March 21st thru May 5th, check out Dollywood’s Festival of Nations, an annual event showcasing music, dance, art, and foods from around the world.  In April, there’s the Spring Grand Rod Run, the annual classic car, truck, and motorcycle pilgrimage to the valley.

Here at The Christmas Place, we welcome back our Singing Santa for appearances Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays starting March 22nd!  And don’t forget that the Easter Bunny will be here on Sunday, March 23rd, posing for pictures and handing out treats.

In April, we have a special week-long event on our calendar - Department 56 Village designer Bryon Shroats will be here in the store to rebuild our villages and showcase new pieces the week of April 7-11.  We’re hosting a reception for Bryon on April 11th.  Watch for more information about this event in the coming weeks.

April 25th thru 27th Tennessee offers up a tax-free shopping weekend, a great time to come by the store and stock up on goodies for next Christmas, as we are already displaying new 2008 products on our shelves.

Just up the road in Knoxville, the Dogwood Arts Festival takes place April 4th thru the 23rd.  The calendar is crowded with events and art shows, contests and concerts, a parade and garden shows, and opportunities to experience the beauty of the area on neighborhood Dogwood Trails.

Jump in the car and come to East Tennessee!  We’re “bustin’ out all over” for the chance to meet you.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place