July in the Glade

Looking at the blue sky while featuring the Lilies and Daylilies in our Road Flowerbed-- taken on 7/6/14;

I last showed you some photos taken on July 4th around our home and yard... SO---today,  I'll share more July photos  (not counting individual photos of Roses, Lilies and Daylilies which I will feature in future posts) taken this month.

Please click on the photos for enlargements.  Hope you enjoy seeing more of the beauty around our yard in summer.

A view of some of our front yard, featuring the lilies in the Lamppost Round Bed and the Roses, Daylilies and Lilies in the Road Bed--taken on 7/6/14;

This is the top part of our HUGE Glossy Abelia  (which I used to think was a Confederate Jasmine bush);  This beauty has little bells as flowers---taken on 7/7/14.

A beautiful Hosta given to me a few years ago by a friend--taken 7/7/14

One of our larger Hosta plants which was blooming;  taken on 7/7/14

Another view of the Lamppost Round Bed and the Road Bed --showing all of the pretty colors;  AND---also included are some Daylilies in the Small Daylily Bed near the big Rose Bed.  Taken on 7/8/14

Two Daylilies (Orange Vols and Lavender Deal);  I love these two color combinations.  Taken on 7/8/14

I not only look at flowers when we 'walk our yard' each morning and evening.. I also look at the sky.  These clouds were so pretty I thought..  Taken on 7/8/14

I love this particular Hosta...  As you probably know,  I have fallen in love with Hostas --and they do well here in our shaded yard. Taken on 7/9/14

Some of our Semps (Sempervivum) in bloom;  Semps are also called Chicks and Hens.  Love them!!!  Do you? Taken on 7/11/14

This is our Daylily Bed (although we have Daylilies all over the yard)...  I love seeing all of the different colors in this bed...  Taken on 7/12/14

Another pretty Blooming Hosta in our yard;  Taken on 7/13/14

This is a new flower in our yard this year---the blooms of a Canna Lily.  We have 5 of these beauties in pots along the sunny side of our driveway.  This special lily is HUGE --and was given to us by a friend... I'm so excited to watch it grow and then bloom.... Awesome!  Photo taken 7/15/14;

This is only one (of 5) of our new Canna Lilies... I love it!!! --Photo taken 7/15/14

The Orange Vols Daylily is really showing off this year.  Since I LOVE my Tennessee Vols sports teams,  you can imagine how much I enjoy seeing this daylily.  Gorgeous!!!  taken on 7/16/14;

Looking out toward the Golf Course Fairway from our Deck

Finally,  here's a picture of our Swing (on our deck)...  We sit on this swing early in the morning for our devotion time together.  Sometimes we go to the front yard and have our devotions on the bench--but most of the time,  we end up on the swing.  That photo also shows the late afternoon sun shining on the Golf Course Fairway out back of our home.  Oh --how I love sunset around here.

Hope you enjoyed seeing more of our Summer photos and colors around our home  today... Summer is my least favorite season (because of the heat)--but I do like it in June/July so that I can enjoy our Summer flowers.

Thanks for stopping by... You are special!  See you on Monday!
Hugs,

Emoticons

Cass Scenic Railroad--Part II

The Views from the train as we traveled up that mountain were fantastic. The mountain in the distance is the Skyline Drive area in VIRGINIA. (Are you over there, GINNY?)

 I hope you did not miss my last post talking about us taking a train ride at Cass, West VA on June 24, 2014, while we enjoyed celebrating our anniversary in that area.  We took a ride WAY UP the mountain to Bald Knob on an open-air train, powered by an old steam locomotive.  It was fantastic.  If you DID miss that post,  be sure to read it first in order to get all of the history and information about that fabulous ride and its area...  AND--be sure and listen to the short video near the beginning of that post..  Click HERE for that post.

Today,  I'll share with you what we did and saw during that adventure... Hope you enjoy our ride.  The first several photos are of some gorgeous mountain views that we experienced from the train as we traveled up that mountain.  Be sure to click on the photos for enlargements.

This was where we stopped along the way,  the Whittaker Station.  (There is another  train one can take --if you want a shorter ride--to Whittaker and back.)  We did stop at Whittaker since they had a concession stand there, some historical items and of course,  restrooms.

It was a marvelous day to be on that train.  The views were all breath-taking.

Here's another view of the gorgeous West VA mountains--taken from the train.

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the mountains and mountain views.

The higher we got in elevation while on the train,  the more RED SPRUCE trees we saw.  The Spruce trees 'take over' in the higher elevations... The dead-looking trees beside the dark Red Spruce are/were Hemlocks.  As has happened in many areas of our country,  the hemlocks  are being destroyed by the Wooly Adelgid insects... So sad!  Hope nothing ever damages the beautiful Spruce trees here.

We saw LOTS of WILDFLOWERS along our way... So pretty!!!

The ferns and those dense mountains were just fantastic... There were so many GREEN forests all around!  I love seeing the woods knowing that in most of these areas,  they are enjoyed totally by all of the wildlife and critters--and not by humans!  That's what we love about this area of West Virginia... Tourism has not ruined it...

We made it to the TOP ---to Bald Knob,  where at over 4800 feet in elevation,  the air was much cooler!!!  We had more beautiful views from here --and this is where most of us had our lunch that day.

Here is the view from the overlook (photo of it in my last post from here) of the mountains all around us.. What fabulous views!!!

Oh My Goodness.... Click on this one for sure to see that farm located deep within these mountains.... I used my zoom lens to get this photo.  IF I were much younger,  I'd love to live somewhere deep within the mountains!!! Talk about privacy!  Wow!

Here is that farm and others within the mountains --taken with my regular lens... These last three photos were taken from the overlook at Bald Knob.

Of course,  the deer were at Bald Knob --as we started leaving the area.  He was begging and they tell the folks not to feed the deer.  BUT--many DID.... He was 'licking his chops' (See his tongue?)   --after getting some goodies from one of the train passengers. 

Heading back down the mountain,  I loved this beautiful photo of all of the layers of mountains in the distance.

Here's one more photo as we headed down that mountain of the 'views from the train'...

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of what we enjoyed while being on that train.... Although I loved the wildflowers and the critters and the deep woods,  my favorite (as you can tell by my many photos) was all of the fantastic views we had of the surrounding mountains.  On such a beautiful summer day in West VA,  what could ever be any better than this?????

Have a wonderful Monday ---and I'll be back on Thursday.

Hugs,

Emoticons