Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to DECEMBER . Hope you have an awesome and grateful month!

Thursday, April 30, 2015

A Heavenly Experience 4/22/15

The title says it all...  George and I have season tickets to Biltmore House and Gardens,  Asheville,  North Carolina.  We try to visit there during all seasons.   You know about the last time we were there on 3/23/15 --since I shared the gorgeous orchids in a recent post.  If you missed that post,  click HERE.   We also saw the Daffodils on that 3/23 visit.

BUT--we should have gone back about 4/8 or 9 to see the Tulips there.. We didn't get there ---but did go on 4/22 to see the Azaleas....  Next year,  maybe we'll go all three times and see the Daffodils,  the Tulips and the Azaleas...  What a wonderful place... We feel blessed to have season tickets --so that we can choose when we visit.

THIS blog post is about our visit on 4/22...  We walked and walked and walked all over the grounds at Biltmore ---and I truly felt as if I had died and was in HEAVEN.  This was the prettiest we have EVER seen the Azaleas.  We got there at the perfect time...

SO---today I'll share quite a few pictures  (thank goodness I am not sharing all 160+ pictures I took)---and I'll do it with few words... Just grab another cuppa,  sit back and relax and I hope you will enjoy the gorgeous colors of the AZALEAS at Biltmore, 2015.  (Click on the photos for enlargements.)













































Okay---that's enough for today!!!!!  I love flowers ---and remember one other time I felt like I did on this day at Biltmore.  Several years ago,  we visited Garvin Gardens in Hot Springs,  Arkansas at the perfect time to see tons and tons of Tulips blooming... I felt like I was in heaven then also.  BUT---this latest trip to Biltmore had to have been a highlight which we will keep in our memories for years to come.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the Azaleas....

Hugs,

Monday, April 27, 2015

APRIL 21st---Special Day for George and Me

On April 21,  2001---George and I went to Fall Creek Falls State Park,  Tennessee,  on a 'date'....  Even though our FIRST date had been just a short time before, on March 29,  I think that we both knew by this time that we were falling in love ---and wanted to spend our lives together.   SO--it was at Fall Creek Falls where these true feelings for each other came out  (since I got my FIRST KISS)!!!!!  Not only did our love for each other grow with each passing hour,  Fall Creek Falls is also where our love of waterfalls and hiking began.  SO---we visit that special place each April 21st ---and just enjoy a day of CELEBRATION....

Today,  I'll share some pictures from that day in 2001 and similar pictures taken this year on our day at Fall Creek Falls  (14 years later)...  SO much has happened in these 14 years,  but our love just continues to grow and grow.

Hope you enjoy seeing these pictures from our very very special day!!!!


Fall Creek Falls and Coon Creek Falls on April 21, 2001



Fall Creek Falls and Coon Creek Falls,  April 21, 2015;  More water!!!!  Also--helps to have a better camera!!!!! 



Betsy at Fall Creek Falls,  April 21, 2001



Betsy at Fall Creek Falls,  April 21,  2015  (much cooler weather in 2015)



George at gorge overlook,  April 21, 2001



George at the same overlook,  April 21, 2015



Betsy at gorge overlook,  April 21, 2001;  I'm sure you are going to ask about the GREEN SOCKS... WELL---I had a green top on when we first got there,  but the weather was so warm that I took it off...  Hence--the GREEN SOCKS with a black outfit  (which has been a joke with us for 14 years---ha ha )



Me at that same overlook on April 21, 2015;  NO GREEN SOCKS this year! ha



George at another gorge overlook on April 21, 2001



George,  the photographer,  at the overlook,  April 21, 2015



Betsy --doing what I do A LOT:  SITTING on a ROCK:  April 21, 2001 (don't know where those black shoes came from --but they looked better than the white keds with GREEN socks!!!???? ha ha)



Me --14 years later,  STILL sitting on a rock!!! This year,  I wore my hiking boots --which I didn't even have at that time in 2001...   (photo taken April 21, 2015)



Even with the green socks on, on April 21, 2001,  I was trying to act as if I was not afraid on that Swinging Bridge.  (Trying to impress the man, I guess.. ha)



BUT---even though I'm not crazy about Swinging Bridges that sway back and forth,  I did manage to walk across this one again on April 21, 2015.



Betsy and George at Fall Creek Falls  (Cane Creek Cascades) on April 21, 2001


Fourteen years later,  here we are --at the Cane Creek Falls Overlook,  April 21, 2015




FINALLY,  this is George Hole --where I got my first kiss.  We were sitting on a blanket here looking at pictures from his trips to China.  THEN--as George says it,  he 'stole' a kiss..  I thought I had died and gone to heaven!!!!! Talk about WONDERFUL!

 Here is a picture of US at George Hole (at Fall Creek Falls State Park) on April 21, 2015 ---where I still enjoy receiving a kiss (like we have done when we have come here these past 14 years).

I hope that George and I have MANY more April 21sts to CELEBRATE...  Fall Creek Falls State Park is a very special place for us,  and I'm sure that we will continue to go back as often as we can.

Some other important '2001 firsts' for us on this journey:  4/26--George 'unofficially' asked me to marry him;  4/27--I met more of G's family;  May 7--I got my ring, and George 'officially' asked me to marry him--in front of a BIG group of people;  May 12--we decided our wedding date;  May 13--George met two of my three sons....

We got married on Jun 23, 2001 in Knoxville, Tennessee, having a small ceremony beside  the water with family.  It has been a marvelous 14 years ---and I thank George Adams for coming into my life and making me such a blessed and extremely happy woman!!!!!  I love you,  Sweetheart!

Hugs,

Thursday, April 23, 2015

ORCHIDS 3/23/15

On March 23, 2015,   George and I took a daytrip to one of our favorite places,  Biltmore House and Gardens, in Asheville,  North Carolina.  We have season's passes to Biltmore --so we love to visit there every few months to enjoy all of the different plants/blooms  during each season.

On this trip in Early Spring,  we saw Daffodils and Hyacinths mostly.   We hope to go back sometime this month to see the Tulips ... Then there will be another visit to see the Azaleas..... LOVE this time of year!!!!!

As we usually do,  we visited the ORCHID Room in the Conservatory... Each time we visit that area,  we see new and different orchids... Today I will share with you eight of the ones we saw during this latest visit.  Hope you enjoy the beautiful ORCHIDS today.  Click on them for enlargements.











Interesting,  don't you think??????  Different!






Another 'different' one;   Pretty,  huh?





 This last one was one of my favorites during this latest visit... I have never seen this one before with yellow/gold splotches in it.... Very nice!!!!!

Do you have a favorite today?  I love Orchids and have a friend in Florida who has many orchids and roses year-round.... That is definitely an advantage of living in a warmer climate...

Have a fantastic week.   Enjoy Spring and Nature!!!!

Hugs,