Our beautiful Appalachian Mountains are a wonderland at any time of the year but I guess we have to wait till the cold of winter has come to remove the outer layers of foliage for us to notice the subtle little things on the ground near the earth.
—Miss Cindy
I agree with Miss Cindy. The mountains are beautiful throughout the year. I especially like to pay attention to the deciduous trees.
In winter their leafless branches can be seen clearly. There is a stark beauty in their barrenness.
In spring of the year the faintest color decorates the trees as they begin to put on new garments. Sometimes the soft colored hue is the same shade the leaves will turn at the end of their lives.
In summer the trees wear their bountiful green garments. They are full and toss in the slightest wind that comes down the ridge and through the holler.
In fall of the year the trees change from their gowns of green into the bright garments of fall. The colors remind me of the old gospel song “God’s Coloring Book.”
I’m thankful to live in the mountains with four very distinct seasons. How blessed I am to live under trees that showcase each one.
Last night’s video: Shopping for Garden Supplies & the Many Ways to Garden.
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Pure poetry, Tipper.
Papaw’s comments, too.
I have always admired the beauty of the winter landscape. Bare and gives a glimpse of a hidden world. So many stories that are hidden for most of the year. Tree bark that has weathered with time surrounded by dead leaves hiding the promise of spring and new life. Thanks for sharing the winter trees of Appalachia.
Tipper, I’m with you on how blessed we are to live in a state that has four seasons. I sometimes joke and say NC is the only place I know that has four seasons all in one day. All joking aside, I’m thankful for the beauty of our state. I use to think no place was as beautiful as my birth home in West Virginia, until I moved here to North Carolina. God made so many beautiful places on this earth and I am thankful I have lived in two of them.
This morning greeted me from the southeast with layers of pink cotton candy clouds above a barren field as a backdrop and the stark bones of majestic old oak trees in the foreground. Soon the pink faded as an orange glow built all along the horizon further highlighting these seemed skeletons. Then, almost suddenly, between the two most stately trees appeared the beginnings of an evolving orange disc. In the time it took to make a pot of coffee the sun had chased the darkness away for another day.
“I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.” Thank you Joyce Kilmer for your beautiful verses. I Wish I could remember all the words without looking them up. I think like the beauty of trees this poem is one that I also love. And Miss Tipper, thank you for the beauty you show us in your words. They are so very eloquent to our ears and heart. God Bless You.
I watched the video and had to grin when Matt called Tipper the CEO. It didn’t take him long to learn he didn’t retire, now he is just working under new management!
Concerning the different ways of gardening, have any of you tried “hale bale” gardening? This is setting out plants in square bales of hay. I have been laying off to try it with some pepper plants. I don’t think I want to try this with tomato plants. Speaking of greenhouses, unlike today when tomatoes plants usually are bought in containers, my father in law would sow his tomato seed in two old ice chest filled with dirt from the woods and then cover the chest with some planes of glass taken from an old window. This was done outside and in the sun. After the plants were large enough, he would plow a row in his garden, walk along and lay these barefoot plants in the row and cover the roots up. He did not stake them or mulch them, but would plow and hoe them until they grew too big. He would pick 5 gal buckets full of tomatoes. This is old timey way of growing tomatoes.
Amen !!!! So Beautiful!!!! Love to you all !!!!
Trees are picturesque and downright beautiful in nature for us to enjoy in any season. It’s like looking at them through the eyes of God.
Fall is my favorite season of the year, but each one has its own beauty. I loved your description of each one. Your words made everthing so vivid I could picture it all in my mind.
My wife used to paint. She took photos and painted them on canvas. The first one she sold was of a huge oak tree in Winter. I guess it just jumped out to the buyer.
Oh, how I relate to your word pictures of the deciduous trees through the seasons! You nailed the visual aspects, but I also remember the musty smell of fallen leaves and the lonesome sound of wind in bare branches. On the other side of the coin, we lived for decades in the middle of a pine forest, and each spring brought a few weeks of heavy pollen that painted everything yellow and caused respiratory problems for many. Give me oaks and hickories and leaves to rake anytime!
Ought to be a law against some of the tree pruning that goes in some yards that robs us of the beauty of the winter trees.
Our mountain trees are always an amazing feast for the eyes. In spring, we are treated to so very many beautiful shades of green; summer brings the dark greens and flowering trees; autumn treats us with glorious colors; and your photo captures the gorgeous silver trees of winter silhouetted against the intense blue sky.
When the storms come in any season the winds make the trees dance, and it is a sight to behold. Thank you Lord for the beauty you give us.
Cheryl W. your description is like the beauty in and of poetry. Thank you dear lady. God bless you, always.
Oh My! Thank you, Jennifer. I finally retired and got out of a Florida city and back to the beloved Appalachian country 10 years ago. I feel extremely blessed to be in a little old cabin perched on a mountain just high enough to have views all around. I love seeing the seasons and sunrises and sunsets come and go. Just think how long this old world has been in existence, and each day God has treated His beloved souls on earth to a different sunrise and sunset. Wow!!
Miss Cheryl, you’re living my dream, that is since I’ve become an avid fan of Miss Tipper and family. Please think of me once in awhile when you are looking at the panoramic beauty that our God has created for us. I’m very happy for you though and what you more than likely deserve. My life isn’t so bad. We live near our beautiful Gulf Coast of Mississippi and frequently get to enjoy the water and the weather isn’t so bad either, accept for a hurricane, every so often. Have a blessed weekend my friend.
I love the stark look of bare trees against a blue winter sky, just as you have framed this picture. Thank you for sharing your poetic description of trees in all their annual splendor. Blessings to Granny. May she have energy in abundance.
Tipper—your writing on the post this morning is just beautiful and describes the four seasons of tress so perfectly. I, too, am so lucky to live where there are four distinct seasons that showcase the trees in our yard. I look forward to the changes in each one. When the trees are completely undressed, as they are now in winter, they look majestic against the deep blue sky. Our oaks are so tall, it’s amazing how in winter you can see them for exactly what they are. You can see how tall they really are, how large the limbs are, if there are any dead limbs that need cut, any squirrel nests or bird nests—most of which are hidden from sight in summer, when they are fully clothed in green leaves. It’s felt like spring here for a few days—but winter is gonna show its face again next week, with a prediction of several inches of snow here in the mountains of WV. Have a happy day everyone.
Our maple tree buds are starting to swell, and it occurred to me the other day that that is why the old timers never planted their corn until the oak trees had begun to leaf. Oak trees are wiser; they aren’t easily impressed by lengthening days like the maples and other trees. Oak trees know that winter takes awhile to fully let go. The other trees are like little kids, impatient for the warm weather and wanting to jump into it too soon.
Tipper I made the glazed ham steak recipe you shared a couple of weeks ago; it was delicious!
Catherine-I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I always look forward to winter so I can get a good look at the bared branches of the trees. When everything is leafed out, it’s not as possible to see the shapes of individual trees in the woods and on the roadsides. I admit that I am just a little bit disappointed when I see that first almost hazy bit of color that is brand new leaves beginning to grow because it means the branches will be hidden again for the rest of spring, summer and most of fall. Our winters here in the southeast seem to get shorter every year. But the cycle continues and, leafy or bare, the trees are beautiful to live near.
In the summer, I’m surrounded by those beautiful red maples. We’re blessed to live in the Appalachia mountains!
Everyone get outside and enjoy another beautiful day before the rains come tomorrow! Blessings to all.
I live in south Florida which is a tropical paradise but I am from Long Island and miss the seasons-I try to visit my daughter in Clyde in spring and fall
As I sat outside getting some sunshine and a break from the wallpaper to a painted wall (day 5 today) I noticed twisting and bending of the limbs of hickory trees like a smooth rippling of sorts. I also noticed dogwoods starting to get knots where blooms appear. I also noticed the way snow lays on the branches making them perfect until the wind blows the snow off. I’m delighted to think of spring and am sick to death of winter and being stuck like Chuck in the house! lol Anyway, everybody have a great day, turn off the devices, and get outside or at least get in touch with LIFE and living things… love and blessings to all of ya here! Did I hear chirping birds? All my best to granny and the rest of the fam!
I love to sit on the porch and watch the trees change their outfits! The best part of living in rural Tennessee. I was able to get in my little garden yesterday, it was hot and sunny, I cleaned some of the beds out to prepare for spring planting, I am so excited to grow my own food again! I am watching and learning from you so please keep posting about the garden, also can you show how to do potatoes, I would like to try them this year. I will buy a grow bag off your shopping list to help me get started. Thank you!
I also live in forests with four seasons, winter being the longest up in northern Michigan. Some are mostly conifer forests, some mostly deciduous, and some mixed, but there is something about winter woods. The wind, the silence, the cleanliness and breathing it all in while seeing the beauty of God’s black, brown and white art. I admit I romanticize the woods, but I have since childhood. Forests were the birthplace of my imagination, and when you add the critters to the trees, peaceful blessings overflow.
Nancy – some years ago I would come to Ishpeming to fish for those big Muskies! I remember walking through those forest of beautiful white birch trees and blueberry patches. Such a lovely area no matter the season. Have a good day.
Branda, Thanks for the reply. I know the area well though when I lived in the UP, I lived on the western side. I am biased of course, but I’ve never known a more beautiful place. These forests are so full, so alive, and their brooks and streams so pure that one cannot help but settle being surrounded by such beauty. Though I now live in retirement just south of the bridge, I can honestly say that the UP is my favorite place in the world. I hope you got the see the Pictured Rocks and Lake of the Clouds in the Porcupine Mountains. Breathtaking beauty.
Nancy, your post took me instantly to Robert Frost’s “Stopping by a Woods on a Winter Evening.” I’ll bet you know that by heart.
Oops! It was a “Snowy” evening.
Your words take me back to where I was born and raised, foothills of Appalachians, and I miss those trees and four seasons. I now live in north central Florida with the love of my life, but I still miss “home.”
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace ; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12
We usually have a pretty Spring, not too hot, and a really hot and dry Summer. Then a hint of a cooling off in late October and maybe a frost by mid December. The hills are green with fresh grass right now – but they will turn to brown as soon as the heat hits.
Your mountains sound so refreshing 😀
Thanks for today’s post on trees and the changes in nature. More people need to be connected to the earth and it’s beautiful offerings that are so freely given. If that happened, I think the world be be so much closer to God.
Try hugging a tree and smelling it’s bark, no matter the season. Sounds crazy but try it anyway. It gives you a deeper feeling of connection than only viewing the try can allow.
Happy Trails. Carolyn
trees are beautiful no matter what time of year. we are so lucky to be able to see them in every season.
I also enjoy watching the trees or being in the “woods”. My two favorite times are early spring and the fall after the leaves are in their colors. I especially like the early spring when the dogwoods begin to bloom. I never look at a dogwood tree without thinking of the story of “The Dogwood Tree.” In my area many acres of forest land has been destroyed and continues to be destroyed in order to build subdivisions or as I call them housing developments. The schools, roads , city water water, and even the electric company are warning they can not support the number of people moving into the area. Recently, county council passed a bill that will not allow homes in these subdivisions that will have to have septic tanks to be built on less than one and a half acre lots. There is concern about the number of homes being built along with septic tanks destroying the quality of the underground water and the rivers and streams. I am getting phone calls and letters everyday from real estate companies from other states wanting to buy my 33 acres of land without them even seeing my land.
Randy, I also wondered what would happen to my acreage after I’m gone. I sure did not want it to be developed. A friend told me about land conservatorship (not the same as conservation). I got on Dr. Google and found Land Trust Alliance website (there are others) that explained about conservation easement. if I understand correctly, you and your heirs can always own the property, and it can be sold later on. However, a conservation easement is on the land forever and protects it from development except for homesite area improvements. I made some phone calls and was told I can register this at the city clerks office in my county. I will definitely check with my attorney first, however.
You describe things in such a beautiful way. I can just picture it all in my head. I grew up, born and raised, in Central Florida. I moved to New Brunswick, Canada when I was 33. There is a huge difference in the seasons. Florida had two, hot and not so hot. Living here sure makes you appreciate each season and what it has to offer.
I should not have watched your setting up your planting season…I am so excited that I went through my seeds yet again. I don’t have a heat lamp setup but I do have a good south window to put them in. You have really started me up and I hope to do as well as you. Enjoy those non-hot peppers, they really are good. Prayers for you guys and Granny.
Beautiful word pictures.
Your mountain trees are beautiful at all seasons