As the mountains put on their summer clothes each year I’m startled by their beauty. The mountains are always there, yet it takes the new growth after the death of winter for my eyes to look upon them anew.
If you’ve ever seen the mountains of Appalachia you’ll know and understand exactly what I’m saying. It’s hard to describe the lushness that happens each year as the trees put on those new garments.
After a rain you’ll often see wisps of fog rising from deep mountain hollers. Higher elevations are sometimes totally enveloped in the rising fog that occurs after a rain.
For generations children in Appalachia have been told the rising fog (smoke) is caused by groundhogs making themselves a cup of coffee 🙂
Last night’s video: The Thread That Runs So True 3.
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
I like that expression.
There’s no place like the mountains. You couldn’t pay me to live in the city. (no way) I was raised by in a holler and that’s all is there, is mountains after mountains. You can’t catch no beautifuler place. The greenery, the wild flowers of different colors. The springs and creeks. Just that sound along is so peaceful. Mountains it is and always will be for me.
It is so nice to see someone else with the same memory of being told about the groundhogs making coffee. My Dad would often tell us this and I have continued the tradition with telling my children and grandchildren.
Many times, I have asked other people if they had ever heard this saying, and, until now, have not found anyone else who did and was beginning to think that my Dad was the author of that expression.
Your cute old saying is new to me. I’m glad you shared it. I poetically referred to it as spirits leaving earth.
Once you have been to or were lucky enough to have been born in the mountains, they never leave you. Appalachia is a wonderland of beauty, power, serenity and hope. It is very hard for me to explain in words how magnificent they are. Those who have left comments have done an amazing job. It is ever changing yet always the same. So many emotions attached to them.
I’ve never heard that saying about when fog rises it’s groundhogs making coffee, but it’s pretty cute.
Miss Tipper, That was such a sweet story. Loved it. A very special thanks to all those that gave service to their country and those whose sacrificed it all for our freedoms. Never forget! God Bless America. Jennifer
My family made an annual trek from Michigan to Florida in the 1950’s to visit paternal grandparents. This was, thankfully, way before the major interstates so the trip was always through the beautiful Great Smokies/Blue Ridge Mountains. As a little girl, I was told the smoke was from Indian campfires, but my parents did not have an explanation for the blue ridges. I believed this until I got older. I was captivated by the granite walls of the roadways with the occasional small waterfall trickling down. Every year we would stop for lunch at the same country store and get light bread, bologna, a small jar of mayo and my favorite yearly treat, a bottle of Yahoo. I have never forgotten those beautiful memories and am so very thankful I live in these mountains now.
Oh I love that! I can just picture little Mrs Groundhog in her housecoat and slippers making a pot of coffee for Mr Groundhog!
I didn’t hear that expression until I was almost grown. My oldest brother told his kids that the rabbits were brewing their coffee. No matter which animal is credited, I like the thought.
Sallie-are you a vendor at Townsend Festival? I usually go!
I did soap making demo and apple dolls at Townsend years ago but haven’t been there in a long time. I was called the soap lady then.
I have never heard this said about fog. I read an expression a few days ago in the book, When Someday Comes by Bill Carver that I liked. It was “worried/nervous as a fat hog looking at an empty smokehouse.” My Daddy liked to say “ nervous as a cat on a tin roof looking for a sand pile.” I have also read his Branch Water books and really enjoyed all of them.
Never heard that saying. Love the new things I learn here!
The grim grey of winter gives way to the warmth and wonder of spring. That in turn leads to the bright green of summer and the showers, mist of a morning, and lowering thunderheads of an evening that envelope this land of steep hills and smoky ridges. It is a place of enchantment, truly the portals of paradise.
Jim Casada
It’s been many years but I have seen those beautiful Appalachian mountains. And the morning mist just enhanced their beauty. What a whimsical sight the thought of groundhogs making coffee brings to mind. I love that!
I was driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway earlier this week and can report the groundhog barristas were busy! So beautiful!
Thank you to our Veterans!
I understand what you are saying. I drive the same roads every day. But once in a while I look up to see the fog lifting or see the 100 shades of green and it takes my breath away. What a beautiful sight these mountains are.
I’ve always love the Appalachian Mountains though I come from elsewhere. My mother and I took a trip to “See Rock City” when I was around eight or nine years old. Then then drove to Cherokee, NC, through your county, and over to Ashville to visit a girl’s camp. I fell in love with your mountains and their “smoke.” Later, upon marriage, my husband and I did the same trip on our honeymoon, camping in a tent, and again loving your neck of the woods more than can be expressed with words. And once again, a niece and I took our children on the same exact trail as my mother and I in my childhood, and we rented an old cabin on 15 acres outside of Highlands, NC, on a piece of property that had a waterfall and incredible creek. Now I know about your wonderful groundhogs, brewing away their morning coffee, to make those mountains so magical and hard to stay away from. How blessed you are that God planted your ancestors in one of the most magnificent places on Earth.
Never heard that before. The mountains are so very beautiful. I was born and raised in Florida, the flatlands. I loved going to see the mountains. I remember the first time going to NC and seeing Cades Cove, it was breathtaking. I live in New Brunswick, Canada, now and there are mountains all around and four seasons. It is amazing to see.
Ditto Sheryl!
I love that “groundhogs making coffee” what a delightful picture it makes