12/14/08 (Sunday): I'm supposed to be addressing Christmas cards right now. Wiley's at home doing laundry and I'm sitting at Books A Million, using their WiFi, drinking hot cocoa and feeling a little guilty about it all! So I'll make this a quick blog.



We had a thoroughly good time helping prepare for a stage Camellia Christmas at Maclay Gardens.



First Wiley and I and one of the rangers clipped camellias from bushes all over the gardens.



Camellias bruise very easily, so we had to put them in padded trays in a single layer.



Some volunteers from the local senior center helped put the camellias in vials of water. We had to put a little hot glue on the back of each blossom to keep it attached to the stem.



It was great fun to chat with these ladies. They were long-time Tallahassee residents and they were as interested in our nomadic lifestyle as I was in their knowledge of the local culture.



Some of the camellias went in a garland of vines over the front door of the house. That's Ranger Dave on the ladder.



Volunteers from the local gardening clubs made arrangements of greenery, camellias, berries, etc. (also cut on the grounds) for Maclay House and the Visitor Center.



Yet more volunteers filled Publix deli containers with sand and candles for luminarias to line the brick walks of the gardens.


My friend, Lucie, came for a visit and graciously volunteered to help with our preparations. (I hope your twisted arm is feeling better now, Lucie).



We finished up just in time, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then the gates opened and the visitors poured in!





Lucie and I were stationed at the Lakeside Pavilion. Santa and Mrs. Claus were there along with some choir groups. What a lovely (if chilly) way to spend an evening. Thanks, Lucie!




We were supposed to be off for the three days after Camellia Christmas, but they needed someone to work as a docent in the house on Saturday and Sunday. The house is only open for Camellia Christmas and the weekend following Camellia Christmas. Then it opens again from January 1 through April 30 (the season that the Maclays lived there). Since I won't be here when it opens again, I volunteered. I crammed a lot of information from the Docent Handbook and I think I did a creditable job showing the house to a good many folks.

It's an awesome responsibility to be the only person in attendance in a house full of priceless antiques.



The table this arrangement sits on is a refrectory table from Europe. It's over 300 years old. The vase is an antique. The drapes are also antique textiles (linen). Even the lamps are probably valuable. It was great fun!



Lucie and I did have one day off together to catch up with one another. We drove into downtown Tallahassee and went to the museum of Florida history. It was an awesome museum! She also took us to a wonderful restaurant that specialized in buffalo meat (but it did have other selections). It was great to be able to spend some time together.

After we said "goodbye" to Lucie, Wiley and I put in some more hours helping with clean-up. We had to get rid of all the greenery and flowers in Maclay House so it could be closed back up. We were really ready for our next days off! We went kayaking on the Wacissa River.



The Wacissa is a beautiful, very clear, spring-fed river. It's skirted by swamps full of cypress trees.



We saw lots and lots of birds.




It was a relaxing way to spend the day.



That's it for another day, folks! I probably won't blog again until after Christmas. We're leaving here on 12/23 and will start at Gold Head Branch State Park on January 2. We'll be staying with Wiley's folks in Winter Park. I hope everyone has a joyous Christmas.

12/13/08 (Saturday): This is a test blog to see if I can notify Tom and Julie when I post. If it works, I'll be happy to add anyone else to the list. Tom and Julie--please let me know if you received this post!

12/3/08 (Wednesday): We're just back from a Thanksgiving visit with Wiley's family in Winter Park. We enjoyed dinner (with no clean-up required!) at Holiday House. It's nice to be back fairly close to family. Today it was back to work. Wiley was putting pine straw down in some of the beds and I was typing a spreadsheet with some information the manager needs for a phone conference next week. It's quite cool here--high in the 60's today--and went down in the 20's last night!

I've promised several times to posts some pics from our kayaking trip on the Wakulla River.














There were very few flowers in bloom. This was a very strange looking moth or butterfly.














There were turtles everywhere!

















A lot of manatees had also come into the river (which is spring fed and relatively warm) from the Gulf of Mexico. Some of them were so close you could have touched them! They're REALLY big, and I was half afraid one was going to come up under the kayak and topple me!









We also enjoyed a drive up the coast a ways to Panacea. This was Sunset over the Gulf of Mexico from the restaurant where we had dinner.















I spent the last week before Thanksgiving decorating the Visitor Center and entrance gate station. I turned these unlikely looking dried seed pods



















into these ornaments for the tree with a little gold paint, red berries and ribbon. They look really nice on the Visitor Center tree!



















Then (along with my co-worker, Donna), we turned the entrance station into a gingerbread house. Some of the decorations were leftover from last year, some we made ourselves.



















I particularly enjoyed making the candy wreath. The candy canes are real, but I made the gum drops out of play doh and glitter glue! What fun!!




















I've got to go home and start some dinner. Catch you next time!

11/22/08 (Saturday): We sure chose a fun place to volunteer this time! Wiley is enjoying getting to garden every day (in a REALLY big garden). I've enjoyed cleaning the historic Maclay House (that's it in the picture--it's hard to get a good shot because of all the foliage) and decorating the Visitor Center for Christmas.

Next week, I get to decorate the entrance station. Last year they turned it into a gingerbread house and they had some of the decorations left over, so I've been making some additional decorations. Some folks from a local seniors club are coming on Monday to help me finish up. I'll post some pictures.

Needless to say, the gardens are gorgeous. This yellow butterfly particularly likes these two pots, right outside my window at the Visitor Center.













The gardens are famous for their camellias, which are just starting to come into bloom. The bushes are just huge.













Mr. Maclay, who designed the gardens in the 1920's, drove around the area and collected specimens that he particularly liked from local yards. So many of these bushes are over 100 years old.












There are also lots of gardens within the garden, like this walled garden.















Of course, lots of people visit the gardens mostly for the lakes. The closest lake (Lake Hal) allows boating (no motors) and fishing and has a small swimming beach. The other lake can only be reached by hiking. It's pristine and no boats, swimming or fishing are allowed.










There are plenty of things to do on our days off. So far, we've been to St. Mark's a couple of times. It's located right on the Gulf of Mexico where a couple of rivers dump into it.












These black vultures were sitting on the edge of the boat ramp. I'm not sure what they were waiting for, but they sure weren't in any hurry to move out of the way of the boaters!












In my spare time, I decided to use up some leftover yarn and crochet ponchos for the granddaughters. I think they turned out really cute. I put jingle bells at the neck and edged them with fuzzy white yarn. Then, I found Santa tights at the dollar store. The girls loved them! Of course, I ran out of yarn about half way through the last one and the correct color only came in a huge roll, so now I have lots of leftover yarn again. anyone want a poncho?!

That's it for this blog--things to do and places to go. I'll finish catching everyone up in my next blog, where I'll have some pictures of a couple of kayaking trips we took and a historic mission we visited.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

11/15/08 (Saturday): Greetings from some happy campers in Tallahassee, FL! I've got some catching up to do, so let's get right to it. Before I talk about our new jobs and adventures in Tallahassee, I want to backtrack a bit and share some pictures of our last week in Boone, our visit with friends Julie and John, and our trip to Jekyll Island, GA.

We left the Boone KOA the last weekend before Halloween. The store was decorated so cute!














I really enjoyed holding some kids' activities, including making these cute black cat hats and ghost hands (plastic gloves filled with popcorn). Wiley and I also led a couple of flashlight hikes to the cemetery and did some scavenger hunts. Joan says next season I'm going to be the activity director, so I'd appreciate some ideas for fun, cheap things to do with campers (not just kids).






I can't remember whether I shared some of my autumn pictures with you or not. This barn was near West Jefferson. I made a print of it for Mag, who has a series of barn pictures taken in the Spring, Summer and Winter, but not one taken in the Autumn.









This farm stand was also near West Jefferson. I'm spoiled forever for any apples other than the ones in Joan's orchard and the campground!














I guess it's been too long since I've ready my own blog (or too long since I've posted a new one), because I also couldn't remember if I shared this picture with you. It's one of the most interesting of the quilt barns I saw and it was right in Boone next to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Julie and I stumbled upon it by accident when we were trying to find the right exit to get back to the campground. There were two of the fattest goats I've ever seen in the front yard.




Julie and John stayed with us in Boone for the last couple of days we were there. Then they helped us pack up. I teased them that they were going to have to give up their beds for the last night, because that's where the kayaks travel. But they convinced me that it was too cold for them to sleep in a tent, so we waited until the last day to load the kayaks on the bed.







We finally left all our friends at the Boone KOA and meandered (with Julie and John following) down to Jekyll Island, GA. It was cold and rainy, but we had a good time anyhow. John and Wiley found a fairly sheltered spot to fish. Wiley caught a huge redfish, but I had to help him bring it in because it got stuck under a rock. Later, we grilled it over the campfire. Everyone said it was delicious (I don't enjoy seafood, so I generously let them eat it all!).





While the guys fished, Julie and I drove around the island for a bit of sightseeing and shopping. We happened on this sea turtle rehabilitation center and had a great tour. Sea turtles are fascinating and endangered. They're doing some very innovative things to save these gorgeous creatures at the center.








Well, I've got some more catching up to do, but it's going to wait. I've got to get back home and start some supper. So I'll catch you up next time on our fun work at Maclay Gardens and a couple of short adventures we've had at an old mission, on a kayaking trip on the Wakulla River and a visit to the St. Marks River where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Stay tuned!

11/7/08 (Friday): Here we go again--off on another great adventure! We're already loving Maclay Gardens. We finished up our first three work days today. Wiley has cleared an area along the brick path to set out luminaries for Camellia Christmas on December 5 and I've "worked" in the Visitor center (which hasn't had very many visitors at all). The gardens are just beginning to come into bloom. They're famous for camellias, some of them more than 100 years old.

There are also lots of ancient live oaks draped with Spanish moss, two pristine lakes, acres of azalea, rhododendron and dogwood--all the beloved plants of the deep south.


Our campsite is a lovely little shaded glen with a couple of large live oaks and a swath of verdant green that draws deer like a magnet. We have a little shed with a (free) washer and dryer--it's so convenient! Our only neighbors are Donna and Dick, the other volunteer campers. They have a son who lives nearby and a new grandbaby.



We've enjoyed several walks through the gardens. There's a brick path (the bricks came from an old street in Tampa) beside the lake that's heart-breakingly beautiful. the reflecting pool is the site of many weddings.



There's also a little pond and a number of walled and "secret" gardens with statues and benches. It's just an enchanting place. I keep expecting to see a southern belle out walking under her parasol.



In fact, the area was granted to the Marquis de Lafayette after the Revolutionary War. He wanted to start a colony of French in the area, but the Napoleonic Wars depleted his funds. He sold it to some folks who had a 2000-acre plantation. The original plantation house no longer exists. It was apparently pretty much destroyed during the Civil War and the period of Reconstruction. It was bought in the early 1900's by some people who built a hunting lodge and outbuildings on it.


Mr. Maclay bought it in the 1920's, refurbished the house, and used it as his winter home. Maclay was from a wealthy banking family, but after his service in the Spanish American War and a tour of Europe and the Far East, he didn't want to work in the family business. His wife was from the Fleischmann Yeast family. He had built extensive gardens at his summer retreat in Upstate NY, and decided to built the extensive gardens we know today around his new winter home.


I'll be working on a couple of interesting projects while I'm here. I transcribed an interview with some old friends of the Maclays, and that led to another project involving purchasing a slide scanner and digitizing some historic photos. I'll also be giving them some of my photos to print for the photo albums in the visitor center. Some of the photos they have now are faded.


So far, our only problem has been finding a place with free WiFi so that we can check our e-mail and update the blog. Right now, I'm sitting in the back of the truck in a parking lot at a bagel shop. It's not ideal, but it's free!

So, I may not be as quick to answer e-mails and post new blogs as before, but it's only for two months. Stick with me!

11/3/08 (Monday): Greetings blogger fans! I apologize for the long delay in blogging. We left Boone on 10/26 (with our friends Julie and John in tow) and spent a couple of days at Jekyll Island, GA. We arrived at Maclay Gardens State Park in Tallahassee, FL on 10/30 and had our orientation 10/31. Yesterday we drove to Winter Park for a short visit with Wiley's family before we start our volunteer work with Maclay Gardens. There's no WiFi at the gardens, so I've been unable to get on the internet until now.

We absolutely love our new home! There are two campsites set up for volunteers in a lovely wooded glade with ancient live oaks draped with Spanish moss. We're just a short walk from a beautiful lake where we can kayak, fish or just sit on a bench and absorb the beauty of the gardens. There are about 1100 acres of woodlands and garden paths, a complex of historic buildings and all kinds of shopping and restaurants in the surrounding area. We've met our co-workers and the rangers and we're pretty sure we're going to love this job. We're almost sorry that it's only for two months!

I've got lots of pictures and will do a more thorough blog soon. I just wanted everyone to know that we haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Stay tuned!

10/14/08 (Tuesday): We're enjoying our last couple of weeks here. Yesterday and today we took drives on the Blue Ridge Parkway, where the autumn colors are just fantastic.

Yesterday's drive took us as far as the little town of Spruce Pine where we visited the Mineral Museum of NC. The town was established in 1907. It is located in the Toe River Valley, almost to the Tennessee line. Spruce Pine is home to one of the richest deposits of gems and minerals in the world. Mined for its mica, kaolin and feldspar, the area provides over 90% of raw materials used in plumbing fixtures, and Spruce Pine feldspar is found in many home computers. The quartz in this area is ultrapure, and virtually every silicon computer chip in the world came from this area, which is nicknamed "Silicon Mountain."

It was a gorgeous day--warm sun, cool breeze, very little traffic, good company and magnificent autumn color. Here are a few of the gazillion photos I took (there seemed to be another great shot around every bend in the road).

The picture below was actually takaen from a McDonald's parking lot!

Today was another one for the record books. We decided to re-visit Linville Falls and see how it looked with autumn colors rather than the spring blooms of our last visit. The area around the falls is studded with virgin hemlock, white pine, oaks, hickory and birch. It's a great combination this time of year--the colors were so beautiful.

As you can see, it's even prettier in the fall. We enjoyed a great meal at a BBQ restaurant in the nearby town of Linville.



All this beauty, and another day off tomorrow. It doesn't get much better!

10/9/08 (Thursday): Autumn is falling on Boone! About a third of the leaves in the high country have changed, but when you go down the mountain, it's still pretty green. Here are some pictures we took today on a (rainy) drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway after work.





Gorgeous, isn't it?! We've also got some great color going right here in the campground. Here's a shot from our front patio.We had two little adventures last week. We went to Hiddenite, NC, and sifted the creek for gems. It's pretty amazing--you get some beautiful stones in just about every sifter! I'm in the process of identifying what we found and I'll post some pictures another time.

We also took a drive into Tennessee and enjoyed some great autumn scenery.

This is the Toe River (really!). The road followed along its banks for a ways. Very peaceful.


Look closely and you'll see that these folks have lined their whole driveway with pumpkins!

When I was a kid, we used to see barns all over Southern Maryland with tobacco hanging to cure. I haven't seen that since then until we passed this small barn with tobacco hanging in it. Brought back some great memories!

And that's a wrap for another great adventure!