Old Fashioned Christmas Tradition: Cutting the Tree

The cottage from across the river, a couple of weeks ago.

Christmas is coming
the goose is getting fat.
Please to put a penny in the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny, a half penny will do.
If you haven't got a half penny then God Bless You.

For the last 32 years, give or take a few, my husband and I have gathered our children and headed to the mountains after Thanksgiving. Its time to select our Christmas tree. This has long been one of our kid's favorite holiday traditions. Selecting and cutting your own tree right from the lot is quite an experience, and something that will build many happy memories for your family.

There are plenty of "choose and cut" tree lots along the way to the cottage, but also in the Boone area and towards Banner Elk, Grandfather Mountain, Jefferson and Todd. You will find White Pines, Frasier Furs and of course our favorite, the beautiful Blue Spruce which is exclusively grown for market in North Carolina, or so I've been told.

Big Bad Bill (otherwise known as Willie the Woodland Elf around these parts) has a Holiday Tree Cutting System (all professional woodland elves do!) which requires the following items:

1. A snow flurry day is preferable. Second choice is the sunny day.

2. All available children under the age of 99.

3. Warm jacket, hat, socks and gloves for everyone, plus a couple of extra sweaters, just in case.

4. Hand bow or tree saw (usually provided for by the tree growers).
5. An old blanket or sheet of plastic (available at the Dollar Tree store) to lie on while cutting the tree.

Many lots also have freshly cut trees near their office for those of you adventurous enough to head to the mountains for your tree, but not wanting to get down and dirty while selecting and cutting do it with your own little hands. They often have someone who can cut and carry the tree for you. Once the tree is cut, they will bind it and help you get it on the roof of your car.

Freshly made roping and wreaths are available, or you can carry the cut-offs from your own tree (there's usually quite a bit below where the tree was cut off), and make your own when you get back home. (Its easy! I'll have "how-to's" on my http://tarpapersubmarine.blogspot.com/ hopefully early next week.)

If you already have your own tree out of the box, assembled and decorated in the living room right beside the fireplace, good for you. Grab a coat and head for the mountains anyway, just to rev up your Christmas Spirit motor. Its great just to be up there this time of year, and there's always a chance of snow flurries between now and Christmas.

By the way, we still have Christmas Day available.

Merry Christmas!

Deber

PS: For more information be sure to check out all the info pages found in the upper right corner of this home page.

New! Fantastic Off Season Rates!

My favorite trees, planted just down the street from the cottage.

Sweet, Crisp November! The leaves are almost done with their gorgeous Autumn dazzle, and there's been at least one good frost on the cabbage field already. It's too cold to swim. Well. The Polar Bear Club wouldn't think it was cold enough.



Late afternoon view as I crossed the bridge over the New River from our cottage on October 30th.

But its always beautiful in the mountains, and this is a fantastic time to visit. As a matter of fact, we coming up fast on Thanksgiving. Can't you smell the pumpkin pie already? Me, too.

Little cow,
little cow,
little cow won't you dance with me...

Just about every time I go up to see the cottage, I am tempted to take the long way home so I can indulge in a little bit of countryside photography. Usually I take the same scenes, just in different light, but sometimes I get lucky. The other day was one of those lucky days.

"Mooo." Maybe they were getting a kick out of taunting my worried little dogs... 

People usually think of cows as clumsy, awkward animals, but they are actually beautiful, graceful creatures. These dairy maidens not only crossed the whole pasture just to say hello, but when I drove away and turned around to get a photo of them from the side, they had already started heading towards me again, along the fence. The whole herd of them! For whatever reason, they seemed to find me attractive. Mayhaps the voloptuous milkers had it in their pretty little heads to do a bit of modeling and get their photo on the internet, hoping for fame like everybody else. (...unless they wanted to show those California cows what a North Carolina girl can do.)

There's still a good bit of color left in the area. This is right off the parkway.

I wanted to remind all our guest both past and future, that we have just reduced our seasonal rates. They are very reasonable. If you click on the Rates and  Payment Details page, you'll find our new fall/winter rates right there, plus all the other payment details.


Hope to see you soon!

Deborah

October!

I just wanted to show you some photos that I made when visiting the cottage the other day. Its gorgeous up there this year (as usual).



The trees around the cottage are just starting to change into soft Autumn yellows. There are a lot of Poplars in the woods behind the cottage.




This little mule is the prettiest I've ever seen. I had to stop and take her picture. She lives on Big Hill Road, near the cottage.




Maples are my favorite fall tree. Their black trunks and colorful leaves...gorgeous!




View of the River as you pass over the bridge just before River Road. I love this view. So peaceful.



Astors are blooming everywhere. Their soft lavender blooms contrast beautifully with the golds of the grassy fields this time of year.



Pumpkins! Need I say more?




Country Road, take me home...John Denver would have appreciated this little country road in the valley below the mountains.




I couln't resist showing off this pretty little mule again. (She's not a donkey, is she?)  Her name is Lucy. Not really. Well it might be, as she does look like a Lucy. Could also be Lulabelle...




Another beautiful Maple tree in her fall glory.




This waterfall is found right on the road called "Waterfall Road". It's on the way to my house from the cottage. I go that way on dry days when I don't mind being a little late. The road is partially unpaved, curvy and steep, so I don't go that way if the weather is wet, as it is quite slippery when wet.



Sweet Tantalizing September!

Just a sample of the October leaves in North Carolina...

All the world over, it's month number nine, September (which actually means seven. Right?) But numerical placement aside, "September" means different things in different places:

For instance, in Down Under Land, Austrailia, where they have lots of ancient rivers (see "An Ancient River Called the New", upper right) it has been winter all summer, so I suppose September means that spring is springing for at least some of those friendly folks below the equator. And let's see. In India where it's still Monsoon Season, it's September, too. In England where my daughter says it rains a lot, it's September, and in Russia where they have Siberia, its September, too. (I know little about Russia.) And in South America and Africa, who straddle the equator, it is also September, but with winter on one end and summer on the other.

Very interesting.

Yellow wild flowers growing along the river in the front yard of the cottage

It's even September in Central Florida, where I was born and raised. And though my friend Molly tells me that "it's sort of cool here, too," I know that's not exactly true...at least not by my standards. I'm not calling my girlfriend a liar, mind you, because Molly never lies. She doesn't. (She is honest as the day is long!) But her idea of cool is "under 90 degrees". Dear sweet Molly, that's...*writer shakes her head sympathetically, "tisk, tisk, tisk"*...that's not cool.

September is not the same everywhere as it is here in North Carolina, where cool, crisp breezes whisper fall to you with the scent of ripened apples on their breath and the crunch of colorful leaves under your feet...

(Sorry. I don't mean to make you feel bad. I'm sort of bragging.) But...

I love September in the Blue Ridge Mountains! Just the thought of it lifts my spirits and makes my heart beat faster. On those first cool fall mornings as the mist rises off dry summer grasses, you can smell fall on her way. As a matter of fact, my son (who lives in Boone) called this morning and said he can smell fall in the air. He said that its cool, and that some of the leaves are already starting to change. So its official.

Fields across the river from the cottage's front yard

That does it. My husband and I are going up this weekend. We're gonna smell the air. We're gonna pick up a couple of pretty red dogwood leaves off the ground below the trees. And we're going to eat dinner up there. Maybe we'll go to the Todd General Store for one of their famous hamburgers. We've never had one before, and I think a beautiful early fall day is the perfect day for a hamburger aficionado, such as myself, to have her first ever "world's best burger" (according to the mountain bikers, who know their hamburgers...) in a little General Store along the river in Todd.

One of the next door neighbor's
little pumpkins

Okay. So maybe you're one of those folks who is saying, "It's just September 3rd, so it is still officially summer right now." I hear you; you tell me that every year. And I do not care...'cos I tell you. In North Carolina when those first sweet, cool breezes wash their breath across my face and catch my hair in their gentle fingers, they whisper, "It's me again, your old friend, Autumn".

Welcome back, old friend.

NOTE: September 5

We did visit the cottage yesterday, and it was a crisp, clear autumn day. Gorgeous. The clear water was filled with happy canoers and rafters. Fields of wildflowers were blooming everywhere! You'll want to take a sweater.

Mozying Slowly Northwards

Like I told you yesterday, it was raining at the cottage when I left my home in Hickory at 11:00 am. The mountains are a rain forest. But by the time I got to the first mountain top, the clouds were already rising off the mountains, and blue sky was peeking out here and there between them.

That's okay. I much prefer a sunny day!

That's the way the mountains are. You never know what to expect. It's July, so usually along the New River, it's warm. But if you plan to visit any time but summer, actually even into June, do the Girl Scout thing and "Be Prepared". Especially if you tend to chill easily or if you are bringing children.

Now, if you are from a warm place like Florida, take it one further, and be prepared in the summer time too, with a light jacket or sweater for cooler nights, usually in the 60's.

I thought you'd like to see the next door neighbor's garden. It's absolutely charming. This is how it looked yesterday afternoon when I left. The neighbors are very friendly and helpful, and sometimes share the fruits of their labors with us when we're there.

While I was at the cottage yesterday, I put up an American flag on the porch. My daughter in law said, "How can you put that flag pole holder up without a drill (with Phillips bits)?"...because her husband, my son, always has a drill or an electric screwdriver for such tasks...him being a professional with his own construction company.

The cottage looking very American, with our new United States flag.

I, on the other hand, am an unprofessional when it comes to such matters. I have an old-fashioned manual screwdriver like the one my granddaddy used to use, and I know how to use it. I'm not saying it was easy, though. I'm a pathetic substitute for a real handyman with upper arms of steel. I'm sure when Bill and I get there this weekend, he will want to tighten the screws so tight that no one will be able to get them out of that post for the next 500 years, at least. He always does. It's the manly thing to do. (And he's been building things since he was a kid, when he hammered and screwed together his first tarpaper submarine http://tarpapersubmarine.blogspot.com/.)

Last, but not least, here is the photo of the river that I promised you yesterday. After the rain. Ooops! The camera batteries were exhausted. At least that's what the camera always says. I always say they're "dead". Yep, they were dead, so I couldn't get that last picture for you as I left the river. Sorry...you'll just have to take my word for it.

It wasn't high, it wasn't low, it wasn't muddy, either. The sky reflected it's pretty blue and fluffy whites on the surface of the waters as they mozied slowly northwards. Everyone who had planned to go inner tubing yesterday made it out sometime after 12:00 pm, so they were having fun bobbing about like happy little corks in the River of Summertime Fun.

As is to be expected on the New River on a sunny, hot and humid summer day.
As is proper for the New river on a lazy day in July when life is good, and the river is cool...
As you'll experience when you come to the cottage for your visit, some day soon.

Until next time, my friend. Have a great day. Hope to see you soon!

Deber

It's a Rain Forest!

Perhaps I shouldn't tell you this, but the Blue Ridge Mountains are a rain forest. At least they are in the Boone, NC area. That accounts for the lush vegetation and healthy wildlife. It accounts for the abundant snow we had up there this last winter. It accounts for the wet Highlands days, reminiscent of the charming Highlands of Scotland, far across the sea. 

The bridge over the river at the corner of Castleford Road and River Road.

A rainy day in the mountains.

So this morning it is raining here at my home in Hickory. I just talked to my daughter in law, who has spent a few days there, and she says it's raining at the cottage. The river is running high and fast. I'm heading up there to help her spruce up the place for this afternoon's guests, and I can't wait to see how beautiful it looks now. I'll take pictures for you while I'm there.

Even with a little rain, the cottage is a heavenly place to be. The views of the river valley and mountains beyond are gorgeous, and the spacious covered porch has plenty of room to sit and sip coffee in the morning, or a glass of wine in the afternoon, while watching raindrops fall into the river.

Now that we have Direct TV, and a new television, when you tire of watching raindrops fall, you can come inside and watch TV, or even a movie.

Or maybe you've worked your poor little self so hard lately that you need to get a little rest. So you can mozy down the hall to your bedroom and lay down for a cozy little nap. When you wake up, the rain just might be done doing its thing, so it's back to a sunny day in the mountains.

But don't forget, you aren't very far from all kinds of dining, shopping and entertainment. The countryside on the way is beautiful, no matter what the weather.

I'm heading out now. I can't wait to see those mountains rising up out of the rainy mist. Magnificent!

Just a Revised, No Longer Quick Note:

We spent a day at the cottage with some friends and relatives recently. So, when I first wrote this post a few days ago after receiving these pictures from Jake (my son and fellow owner of the cottage, an avid fisherman), I thought that these darling kids (left and center) had been visiting the next door neighbors when we were at the cottage visiting our visiting relatives. (If you think that's confusing, you should be with me right now in my little brain trying to make all this make sense...) 

After all, what is now almost 2 weeks ago, I'd been hanging out with my sisters and nieces and nephews inside while the some of the men sat outside on the front porch chatting about manly things, going down to inspect the bridge and river, and watching the children play. With so much commotion going on that day, I wouldn't have known if they'd caught a hammerhead shark in the river. (But don't worry. There are no sharks in the river!)

Anyway, it was just a quick note written late at night; I didn't do my usual editing. I'm normally very careful about what I write. However, I can't be 100% responsible for what happens here on http://cottageonthenew.com/ after 10:45 pm... 

The cottage from the front yard, summer

This morning, Hubby Bill and I met the family who spent last week at the cottage; I realized that these were the children in the photo above. Now that I knew who they were, I decided that I must revise this post. I arrived home and went straight to my computer to do so. Hmmm...somehow, it sounded like these two children were my relatives...oops! I'd be proud to have them as family, mind you. But since they aren't, I have to correct my mistake and pronto, just for the record. 

It's official now: these two cuties were two of our guest children.

Looking up New River from the bridge this week.

As it turns out, Jake had gone to the cottage with my grandson on an errand during this past week (unbeknownst to me), and decided to go fishing with his son and our little guests. He took the pictures with his new fangled cell phone, and sent them right through the air and into my email. Amazing.

This morning, Bill and I were delighted to meet these kids, their sister and their mom as they were just preparing to leave for their next fun destination. What a precious family. While in the area, they went to Tweetsie Railroad twice (because if you go after three pm you get to return the next day for free?), made Indian headdresses, played Cowboys and Indians (Tweetsie style, I imagine) in the front yard, visited charming Todd General Store for hotdogs and icecream with everything on top, swam in the river, saw a small bear, collected 31 tiny live river snails and one dead crawdad, and swam some more. They enjoyed their visit so much that they said they will indeed come back again, maybe next time with their grandparents.

Getting back to my original post, I thought you'd enjoy seeing some pictures of my grandson and his new friends, with a fish they caught. As you can see, my little grandson is destined to be a fisherman, just like his dad. It's too dang cute. That's all I have to say. Scroll down for other posts that will tell you more about the cottage.

deber