Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Late yesterday afternoon we snuck away and visited the Piedmont Habitat in the North Carolina Botanical Garden, a little side trip while we were out doing errands. I’ve been itching for a chance to use my camera. It was the first garden near the entrance so Tim didn’t have to do any strenuous walking. What a wonderful place! I’m looking forward to exploring all 15 gardens and the 4 nature trails in the coming months.
1989 NC Wildflower of the Year
It was a lovely and refreshing little break from house hunting!
I lovely treat, Barbara! The dragonfly capture is more excellent than excellent!! And I look forward to seeing more of the smooth purple coneflowers in your future walks.
This morning while it is still cool, Yorkie and I will walk our favorite park on the bay seawall. We went Monday. Saw more than the usual number of hermit crabs and oysters on the lowest step at water level full of green sea moss. Enjoyed several dolphins close in and the usual birds. We will make a pit stop at the house. It went on the market on Friday with 4 showings last weekend.
To adventures…
Thank you, TD! Your walk with Yorkie by the sea sounds magical and healing for you. Memories to take with you to the desert, which I understand has its own enchantments. Wishing you the best selling your house. Yes, to adventures!
Beautiful
Thank you, Julie!
OHMYGOD the dragonfly – what a picture, Barbara!
Thank you, Leelah! It was a magical sighting…
I like tickseed in general and your photo does it justice. Our indigenous milkweed is white so the red one looks like someone colored it with a marker.
Thank you, Ally. There are so many new-to-me plants and flowers down south here, it will keep my brain busy trying to learn about them all. I had never seen or heard of butterfly milkweed before.
Oh, Barbara I want to say that I’m glad Tim is managing and taking the walking sites easy. That’s what I am doing too. Knowing we still need a small amount of light cardio exercise and trying to find that place we will still be okay. My walk this morning at the bay was uneventful, but gave me an Yorkie light 20 minutes cardio exercise.
Exercise is good but even on a slight incline Tim gets short of breath and a feeling of pressure in his chest. We’re trying to be patient waiting for that echocardiogram and are wondering if he will need some stents or some other treatment. Even a short walk around the neighborhood yesterday was too much for him. We do the best we can, don’t we?
Like Tim I’m only able to walk about 10 minutes at a snails pace which in this humid heat is okay. Yorkie Lucy plus I have changed our direction and are no longer going to move to New Mexico. After all research it wasn’t a good place for me. House is still to be sold and I’m looking into other locations that would be more affordable than where I’m now. Oh well… onward, my friends.
Life is full of plan changes, isn’t it? We get a lot of practice being flexible as our journeys continue. I wish you the best of luck finding a good affordable housing option that will meet all your needs. 💙
Yes constantly changing!
Glad you took a break and go out for some fun explorations. Gotta mix things up, “all work and no play” ya know!
For sure! House hunting is exhausting work and I will be glad when we finally get settled. Then I will probably need breaks from all the unpacking…
What a tantalizing sample of new flowers to enjoy!
I know! I can’t wait to see what new blossoms come along as the seasons change!
How fun for a quick wandering, it’s exciting to have an armchair ride and explore your new nature areas and sightings, Barbara! ❤️
Thank you, Donna! It’s wonderful having you along for the ride. ❤️ We saw a few birds, too, but none stayed still long enough for a picture. 😉
I very much want to be able to visit this garden again sometime. Beautiful photos, Barbara. I saw the new name of your blog and almost wondered how I had subscribed to a blog I didn’t know. I had no idea you were moving. I bet you’re thrilled to be close to your grandchildren. I’m going to back up a post or two to catch up with you.
Thank you, Robin! I am feeling very lucky to live so close to this wonderful garden now, and I think it will keep us entertained with ever-changing blossoms through the seasons. Our decision to move was made kind of suddenly after Christmas when Tim decided his desire to live near our grandchildren became stronger than his dislike of subtropical climate down here. We are most definitely thrilled to be here now. 🙂
What a treat for you and Tim. You had mentioned that you researched the botanical gardens when you first decided to move to North Carolina and this first foray didn’t disappoint. Did you already know the names of the flowers which photos were in this post? Were the wild roses like the beach roses you liked? I like the heron sculptures at the end. I know you were in your glory Barbara. 🙂
I just couldn’t wait to visit the gardens! 😉 I had no clue about the flower names but they have helpful little signs by the plants. Sometimes the sign is near more than one plant so I double checked online when I got home to make sure which flower the sign was referring to. The wild roses were smaller than my beloved beach roses, and they didn’t fill the air with fragrance, but next time I go I will get a little closer and give them a sniff. 🙂
Well that made you feel more acclimated than ever … a place to go, with your camera, like old times. I’m happy for you. That’s handy they have the signs – they only do that here for some rose types that were donated by someone at the Botanical Gardens. So it is guesswork on my part to add a caption to the flower so I leave it off. I did buy a Michigan wildflower book, but not used it yet. Maybe the rose is like your blog now – an inland rose as opposed to a fragrant beach rose.
That was a nice afternoon. Not sure how often we will get over there this summer between the weather and moving in and unpacking. It took me three months to pack our stuff so I wonder how long it will take me to unpack… We went over to the new place yesterday to sign the lease and take some measurements. It will be fun for me to decorate. A deer came up to the deck again, like she did when we first were looking at the place. I wonder if the last tenants were feeding her…
So does your comment mean that you already found a new place for you to live? (And that you will be going from your daughter’s place to a new rental.) I’m trying to keep up with you!
Yes, we have! It’s a sweet little one-story townhouse on a cul-de-sac in a heavily wooded neighborhood. We signed the lease and hope to move in within the next couple of weeks. So much to do!
You could not have found better than that sweet little one-story townhouse on a cul-de-sac in a heavily wooded neighborhood close to your children and grandchildren! I’m so happy for you and Tim!
Thank you, TD! 🙂
When does your stuff arrive Barbara? It will be interesting to see how long it takes to put your new home in order as close to how you had it before. The decorating will be fun as well. That is exciting about the deer – will you and Tim start feeding her since you likely won’t have any flowers around this year? That will be a fun topic for a blog post. You have gone from treating the squirrel to walnuts to seeing a deer on the deck. I wonder when Tim’s squirrel realized you had moved?
The POD will arrive on July 1st but we will be getting the keys for the new place on June 25th. Then we can get a rug and other things that we planned to buy down here to set up before it arrives. I don’t think we’ll start feeding the deer. There are so many of them around here. Last week counted a dozen of them on a lawn in front of a house as we drove by. But you know how our resolves not to feed the birds and critters go… We stopped feeding Tim’s squirrel about a month before we left so he wouldn’t bother the new owners. He looked in the window begging for a few days but finally moved on. We miss him every time we see a squirrel down here.
That’s probably best if there are that many deer around … it may be problematic if they invite their cousins, etc. to your house because the eating is good. 🙂 That worked with Tim’s squirrel – good thinking Barbara. I should not have started feeding the squirrels at the house again … I walk out the door and they are on fence or near the door begging and again when I come home after I fed them. I hear you about feeding the critters, especially the birds. I have the cardinal pair and chickadees bopping around the feeder and am enjoying it – hope I can get some pictures of them. We are softies Barbara.
So… I wound up feeding the deer some blueberries by hand — just once. My father’s voice came to me as I was doing it — he was a virologist — warning me about zoonotic diseases… At the same time I was thrilled with being so close to her and enjoyed feeling her tongue. Then I came inside quickly and washed my hands, just in case. It was an unforgettable experience. We’ve been keeping the drapes shut to discourage any further visits… Yes, Linda, we are definitely softies.
That is so sweet Barbara and yes, I would not be able to resist feeding or petting her either. That sweet face, those expressive eyes and big ears. I would also have washed my hands and though I like watching Joceyln Anderson’s videos about hand-feeding the birds and would love to have the Chickadees feel comfortable enough to land on my hand, I also would worry about any diseases they carry. When I fed the birds years ago, I handled the birdfeeder, scoop, etc. with heavy gloves on. Maybe I am a germaphobe, but yes we are definitely both softies!
I knew you would understand, Linda. ♡
How in the world did you identify all these beauties if this is a different area from the one you had been living in?? Well done, Barbara! I love coneflowers (but sadly, can’t seem to grow them), and that southern sundrop is just stunning!
Thank you, Debbie! The botanical garden made it very easy to identify the flowers with little signs placed here and there. Sometimes it was a bit tricky trying to decide which flower went with which sign, as there were some blooms sharing spaces with others. 😉