Sadly, school has been back in session for two weeks (sans this Labor Day holiday) and summer is quickly coming to its close up here in the Blue Ridge. The September air already has a bite to it, reminding all of us how harsh this winter may be. In the mean time, here's a scattering of end of summer photos from July & August, spanning from my garden to Virginia, to a rowdy night of music in Blowing Rock, and finally to the Watauga County Farmer's Market.

Major Magick headed on the road to Southern Pines (or some other nearby city - the confusion of that day makes the actual location of the gig quite foggy now) on July 5th for a soul show of sorts. The band played a lot of old greats & the audience ate it up. Though it was sweltering and nothing seemed to be going right, the boys pulled it off as usual. And yes guys, I have a picture of all 5 of you... at one time. By the way, the nearly identical dancing couples were getting down to a nearly 7 minute version of "Let's Get It On!"

After a long hiatus, I'm back and with more photos than ever. There's a stockpile just longing to be put on this blog & now that I finally have the Internet, a flow of posts will be up very soon!
Nestled in downtown Asheville, NC, a gathering occurs every year. For the past 31 years, the Bele Chere festival has taken over the historic downtown of the mountain city for a weekend. Sheila and I headed down to the celebration with her family in tow to take in the art, music, people, and atmosphere - my favorite part is always the smell of the food, even if I never choose to indulge in any. These, again, were taken on my Cybershot as it is easier than lugging around the Nikon, especially when the buildings force strangers closer to one another than is the norm.

On the 4th of July, Megan and I took off amongst all the traffic between Boone and Blowing Rock (due to the celebrations at Tweetsie Railroad) and arrived at the Blowing Rock Country Club for a picnic and fireworks. The fireworks were huge - we were right underneath them and I actually had to turn my camera sideways to get the fireworks completely in the shot. Fireworks are custom to July 4th celebrations, as any American knows, and they never cease to make me feel like a child again. Hope everyone was safe in their own celebrations!

As my roommate Megan and I were working on our new farmhouse in Vilas with a few friends, I rushed upstairs to scrub another layer of paint off of my hands before returning back to trimming the edges of the stairway in green. I immediately grabbed my camera, turned back around, and yelled quick instructions for everyone to drop their paint brushes and get outside. My room, as I'd found it, was being lit with the most amazing orange-purple light and I knew, without looking, that there would be an amazing sky awaiting us. We stared at the colors of the sky and the setting sun until they all faded to a deep blue and we got back to brightening our living room from a once dirty cream into our own blue, a bright, beachy hue to serve as our getaway from work and school.

My roommate Sheila and I took her dog, Forest, for a walk on campus a couple of weeks ago when she came up to visit. We started out in Durham Park before walking all the way through campus to King Street to grab some dinner at Our Daily Bread. Everything was in full bloom, proving to me once again how lucky I am to go to school at the most beautiful university in North Carolina. Walking to class amidst the mountains never gets old. Well, except for maybe in the sometimes subzero temperatures of winter. I actually took these on my little Sony Cybershot, which never fails to give me great pictures for a point and shoot.

As I walked home from class on April 15, I found that there were carloads upon carloads of people flooding the Hardees parking lot. I grabbed my camera and wandered over to find a modern-day Boston Tea Party-esque protest taking place. These tea parties took place all across the country to speak out against what some deem unfair taxes and the new government and it's policies, specifically the stimulus package. Though I couldn't stay long due to inclement weather, I did stand and listen on the porch for a while before finding myself in too much discrepancy to linger and hear more.