More Lolly-Gaggin'

Our day continued along the Blue Ridge Parkway, after spending an hour or so at Mabry Mills (see previous post) and we headed to Chateau-Morisette.  The chateau is a beautiful winery situated along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I don't drink, never have- but I LOVE visiting winery's! Unfortunately, for all the time we were there- I hardly took a single picture! What's up with that? (you may ask) Well, I guess I was so enjoying the shrimp, clam chowder and mountain music that I just never took the time to snap a picture. In my book- that's a good thing. :)

In the midst of enjoying being surrounded by good things- a friend snapped this picture of me sitting and listening to the music. 

While the others were doing the wine tasting-I wandered about the grounds of the property.

After the chateau we headed along the Blue Ridge Parkway's scenic stretch of roads and stopped at an overlook. From there we hiked along a trail, stopping to "smell the roses" -pausing to enjoy the circling pattern of a hawk, admiring the vistas, eachothers company and snapping pictures at whatever caught our fancy.

The view at the scenic overlook

Ferns are incredibly audacious specimens, and yet they seem so fragile and dainty. I wish I were like that, growing out beautifully-displaying vivid colors- between a rock and a hard place...

Knock-knock, anyone home?

While we were hiking up the trail, Rick (pictured above) stated that he had done all the hiking he ever planned on doing while he was in the Marines...and therefore he took advantage of the grassy knoll, light breeze and shade. This is how we found him after our excursion. :)  It seemed like such a great idea that we all laid down and rested before loading back up in the van. 


On our way up the Parkway I was made fun of because everyone was pointing out the beautiful fall colors in a field and I said, "Oooh! Look how pretty the dead tree is!"  All of the passengers collectively rolled their eyes and started poking fun at me. However, I stand by my statement- there's something kind of pretty about a bleached out dead tree-standing against a bright blue sky. The contrast. The textures. The shapes.

So, in light of the good fun they all made of me- I'm posting the below picture in memorandum of my strange sense of beauty. :) This isn't the tree I was talking about...and of course the lighting wasn't like this either. ;)

The sun was getting ready to set when we started heading back down the parkway. Our last destination was a stone church we had passed on our way up. The church had a graveyard in the yard- where everyone isntantly piled out and headed towards. (And they say I have a weird sense of beauty???) 

We were fortunate enough to be able to go inside....this is the only picture I took of the inside

Roses growing next to a headstone

Phototog buddy, Pete.

I can't help but to be solemn in a graveyard. The dates on headstones showing a life ending before it barely starts reminds us that we are not promised tomorrow. This picture is of a leaf on a gravemarker of an infant. Sad to think the leaf lived longer than a baby so full of promise.

 I found this little poem on a website that shows the parralell between the life of man and that of a leaf.

Such is the fate of man

riding on the winds of time

carried by the river of life

he too slowly vanishes

into the realms of unknown

Well, that was the only "heavy" moment of the whole afternoon! We loaded back up and continued on our way home. We stopped in a little community called "Fancy Gap" which is really just a name- nuthin' fancy about it! We had a most enjoyable dinner sitting outside on the patio- chit-chatting, getting to know eachother better and thoroughly enjoying our friendships. I think last Sunday will go down in my memory as one of the very best days of this year.

Whose up for another excursion?