Over the 4th of July weekend we were able to hike around DuPont State Forest and explore a few of its many waterfalls. The weather was beautiful, and I was impressed with the wide, well-marked trails at DuPont. They made it easy to navigate and get around.

Our first stop was Hooker Falls, where we picnicked on large rocks overlooking the falls.

Here’s a wider view of the falls, populated by many swimmers and sun-worshipers.

Next we hiked to the base of Triple Falls.

Here’s the lowest of the three falls…

…and here’s a view of all three.

There are horse trails throughout DuPont as well — you can probably guess who asked me to take this photo!

Finally, we hiked to the base of High Falls and chilled our feet in the icy cold mountain water for awhile before heading home.

I was out at the Arboretum today for the Western North Carolina Craft, Architecture, and Design Expo. It was great to see all of the beautiful artwork & designs put together by all of the teams!

The team I was a part of designed & implemented the concept for a library room. (The images above are all from this room.) The team consisted of:
Jim Samsel, Architect
Susan Nilsson, Interior Design
Craig Weis, Cabinets
Heinz Kossler, Ceramics
Fatie Atkinson, Chairs
David Humphrey, Table & Frames
Scott Varn, Wiring, Speakers, & Speaker Covers
Gill Morgan, Rug

Here’s a closeup of a few of the photos I contributed to the room (that’s Heinz with his ceramics on the top, and Fatie with a neat children’s chair on the bottom). The really cool thing is that these images are printed on silk, and actually serve as speaker covers, in addition to being artwork for your walls. I love this aesthetic approach to making a room both functional and beautiful!

Scott Varn at Harmony Interiors in Asheville is the man to speak to about getting your own speakers & speaker covers – he printed & mounted the images. The speakers are mounted in the wall and are completely hidden by the artwork (you can also choose to cover larger, bulkier speakers that stick out of the wall with this type of design.) The metal frames, which I love, are by David Humphrey from Square Peg Designs in Asheville. The finished size of each of the mounted images is 20″ x 30″.

It was enjoyable to photograph each of the artists in their own studio environment, and see (and touch) their work in person. If you have time, the Expo goes through Saturday, so get by the Arboretum and check it all out!

The Handmade Expo will be at the NC Arboretum this coming weekend, June 25th & 26th. The concept behind this Expo is to bring local artists & industry professionals together with homeowners to help create entirely unique, custom crafted homes that reflect the personalities of the homeowners.

In particular, I enjoyed working with a team of talented artists & architects who have created a fabulous room that will be featured at the Expo. I had the pleasure of photographing four of the artists on the team – it was such a treat to document them in their natural environments and see their wonderful craftsmanship in person.

I can’t wait to see the images in “our” room & check out all of the beautiful designs at the Arboretum this weekend. You should come, too! I bet you’ll be inspired.

The latest addition to our walls is this little lady by Cornbread Anderson (I believe Harper’s named her “Princess.”) Cornbread lives just down the road in Georgia, and you can see plenty of his work locally at Oliver’s Southern Folk Art in Flat Rock – located about a mile or so from the Carl Sandburg Home.

I first noticed Cornbread’s work on the cover of The Laurel of Asheville, an excellent, free magazine produced in Asheville that showcases a different artist’s work on its cover every month. (You can find this magazine at tons of restaurants and local establishments – I actually read it at The Oil Can when I was getting the oil changed on the car.) It turns out that the article about Cornbread in that particular issue was written by Ted Oliver, who happens to run Oliver’s Southern Folk Art. Ted is a former art teacher and he really knows his stuff! You can gain so much knowledge just by stepping foot in his shop and asking him a few questions. I encourage you to visit his shop for a great dose of local, affordable art.

We went to the Biltmore Estate to see the Festival of Flowers this past weekend.

The flowers were GORGEOUS!

Poor Coley – all it gave him was a big allergy attack.

I wish I could say that tulip plucked itself…

…mmm hmmmm.

Sometimes they are so adorable and cooperative it’s just lovely…brief, but lovely.

freshly watered

After tiptoeing (more like tromping) through the beautiful tulips we wandered down to the azalea gardens (I bet they’ll be in full bloom this weekend – they were just starting to bloom when we were there.)

Just hanging out by the water…

…there’s always something new to be discovered at the Biltmore!

I was in Flat Rock a few days last week and took some time to walk around the beautiful grounds of the Carl Sandburg Home.

The “secret” garden.

The Easter Redbud

The dogwoods were in full bloom…

…as were the apple trees.

The garden was prepped and ready for spring…

…and the goats were busy being…goats.

What I love most about the Carl Sandburg Home is that it is quiet and peaceful. I could hear the songbirds in the trees and the goats munching on grass and dandelions.

It was a nice morning!

I visited two different locations on the Parkway today. The first was off of Highway 151. Highway 151 is entertaining because it starts out as this wide, fairly flat highway with panoramic views looking up at the mountains, and then turns into a tight, twisting, curling uphill road that dead-ends at the Parkway. Winter has not been kind to us this year, and the closer I got to the Parkway the more the road resembled an obstacle course where it was best to straddle the double-yellow lines in the middle of the road or swoop (slowly) back and forth between the lanes to avoid fallen trees, rocks, and debris. (I sort of wondered why the road was even open.)

The entrance to the Parkway was barricaded, which meant that I parked my car behind the one other vehicle that had ventured up the road earlier than morning, and set out on a hike. As you can tell, this portion of the Parkway is in definite need of a spring cleaning as well.

There are so many trees with broken limbs.

But the Parkway is still the Parkway, and the mountain air was crisp & fresh, the robins were busy hunting worms, and the sound of water gushing down the rocks was beautiful.

After heading back down the obstacle course and warming myself up with a caramel macchiato I discovered that the entrance to the Parkway near the NC Arboretum is now open to the south. Whohooo! So I headed in the direction of Mount Pisgah to check out the views.

It should be noted, however, that you can’t make it all the way up to Mount Pisgah or the Pisgah Inn from this portion of the Parkway. Normally you can, but there was a rockslide near Ferrin Knob Tunnel No. 1, and the road is closed until sometime in July, which means your best bet for accessing Mount Pisgah is via U.S. 276 in Brevard.

From what I could see, though, signs of spring are emerging…
…and I’m so, SO ready for those brown mountains to turn green again!

Overlooking the French Broad River…(On the left-hand side you can see the sandy shores of the teeny park where that opossum lurked last week.)

It’s a gray, rainy day here but I thought the fog lifting off the mountains was pretty.