The Marvelous Marching Band

| Flower Roberts

Western Carolina University is known for its marvelous marching band.

I finally got to witness their showmanship first hand.

Even the warm up session was fascinating.

The members were grouped by instruments.

I ran from one to the next, watching these young musicians getting ready to perform.

When they took the field, they filled it up.

The sights and the sounds took me back to my days in my high school band.

I was so inspired by their polished performance.

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Oh yes, there was also a football game.

FLOWER

ATTENTION: Worker Bees

| Flower Roberts

Calling all worker bees.

It’s time to stop making honey

and fly to the polls.

Do not let the smoke confuse you.

The drones think they own the hive.

Rise up and use your voting power.

Ignore the media buzz.

Vote with your heart.

Choose love over hate.

Choose hope over fear.

There is no OTHER,

just US seeking justice for all.

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This is your call to wings.

Swarm the polls.

Sincerely and respectfully,

Your fellow worker bee FLOWER

Fairy Halloween Party

| Flower Roberts

The fairies have a new hangout.  Since it is fall, I carved a pumpkin just for them.

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They love all our human traditions for decorating and celebrating.

They like trick-or-treating

and bobbing for crabapples

and roasting marshmallows.

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Blow that out PI!

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Never trust a fairy with fire.

They spend most evenings together inside that pumpkin.

Oh, look.   They are in there now.   Let’s take a peek inside.

Looks like a Halloween party.

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What’s this girls?   Gambling?

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and alcohol?

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Et tu Tink?  Wait ’til Disney hears about this.

I should have known when I saw Wingrid’s new bottle tree.

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How old are fairies anyway?

FLOW is always the last to know.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

 

Daddy and the Big Planes

| Flower Roberts

It’s been a big week for my daddy.

You have seen posts of him with his little model planes.

https://floweralley.org/2018/04/06/my-daddys-little-airport/

This week he went to see some real World War II planes.

He looked rather tiny rolling around under these giant aircraft.

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The Collins Foundation brought their ‘Wings of Freedom Tour ‘ to Statesville’s  Airport.

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There was a B-25 Mitchell named the TonDeLayo.

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Also a B-17 Flying Fortress, the Nine-O-Nine.

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Daddy’s favorite was the B-24J -Liberator called Witchcraft.

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We got to see some lucky folks take rides in a P-51 Mustang.

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Daddy enjoyed talking with one of the pilots about the different motors used in the P-51.

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He also met a Vietnam veteran whose dad, Roy E. Guy,  was shot down in Germany.

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Mama was a good sport  during the event, as usual, despite being cold.

My sister was Daddy’s wingman,  rolling him wherever he pointed.

I, of course, was the reporter, photographer and spy.

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He claims that last year’s Liberator is his last model plane.

https://floweralley.org/2018/02/11/my-daddys-planes/

I hope this is not true. My daddy just loves planes. He was like a kid in a toy store.

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I must include this cute little dog, who waited patiently while his daddy got up in a plane for a photo.

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The FLYING FLOWER

Saving My Passions

| Flower Roberts

Saving my Passions involves some risky behavior.

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Passion vine hybrid

I must climb a ladder with scissors in my hand.  Twice.

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The first trim occurs back in early fall.  I cut off the side shoots.

I then streamline the vines down to three or four main stems.

The first trim prevents the vines from getting shocked all at once and makes the second trim easier.

Then I climb back up again, about a month later, to cut them down from the trellises.

I usually leave about one third of the plant in place.

I wrap this lower portion into a wreath-like ring and secure it to a short trellis in the pot.

I use garland hooks from craft stores to hold vines onto the trellis. These can be moved and removed easily.

I then wheel my potted vines into my sunny workshop to spend the winter with all my other precious plants.

It’s a jungle in there!

The trimmed pieces may be cut up into cuttings to produce new Passion vine plants for my friends.

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Passion vines cuttings. Red Passion has bigger leaves that are hairy and bronzed.

I keep a request list.  Newly rooted plants will be given away in the spring.

The bunnies helped out by hiding under the Turk’s Cap plant.

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They know mama on a ladder with scissors is something to be afraid of.

FLOWER

You Go On Ahead

| Flower Roberts

If you walk in the woods with me, plan on walking alone.

While you are getting your heart rate up, I will be bending down to examine red berries.

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You will jump over this log, but I will stop to admire a fungi castle on top, among a forest of moss.

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You will be looking strait ahead , but I will look down to watch a woolly worm wiggle across my path.

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You will quickly round this curve in the trail,  I will pause to wave at a big old rock that is smiling at me.

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You will loudly stroll by these stones, but I know a troll lives here, so I will I tiptoe past quietly.

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You will avoid muddy spots , but I  will closely to examine them for prints of the claws of my other friends.

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When you see this tree, you will frown at this hole in the trunk,

but I will smile because I know that it is a door to a fairy’s home.

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So you go on ahead,

I will be behind you

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enjoying all the wonders that you missed as you hurried past.

FLOW (Moseying through the Mountains)

Moses Cone Manor

| Flower Roberts

Between the mountains and the sky of North Carolina

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is a mansion

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with a view of a lovely lake in the valley below.

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I have rocked on the porch

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and climbed the stairs to wander its rooms and peek out its windows

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and think of a time,  when a man with a vision

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could see it to its fruition, by age fifty one.

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Amazing.

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FLOWER

Embracing Change

| Flower Roberts

This is the first fall that I have accepted the change in season

without the usual waves of melancholy that follow.

I am ready for a change.

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I will finishing up two long term projects in the coming months.

When these are completed, I will be moving on to a new challenge.

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Let the chips fall where they may as the leaves fall in the coming days.

It may be maturity or tiredness.  No matter.

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I am ready.

Bring it.

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FLOWER

 

Sierra Nevada Brewery near Asheville

| Flower Roberts

We stopped be this lovely establishment, the Sierra Nevada Brewery,

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as we passed through the mountains yesterday evening.

We did not have the time to take a guided tour and do a tasting.

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We did enjoy strolling through the upstairs and looking down on the huge vats

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and peering through windows at the bottling machinery.

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There were lovely gardens with many annuals and vegetables.

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There were even some hops vines growing up on trellises.

I had no idea hops had such a nutty aroma.

It was a nice break in our journey.

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If you find yourself passing through the North Carolina mountains,

you may want to drop by for a meal and maybe a drink.

FLOW