Despite it raining all day, I didn’t allow those Monday blues to swallow me. Music always has a happy effect on me, and if you stopped by for the A-Z Challenge yesterday then you got a chance to boogie with me. What’s that? You missed out! No worries, there is always time to for a little one-on-one with me on the dance floor!
Tuesdays are my day to go random. I am a member of an élite group of bloggers who like to sit around in Blogosphere chatting over a cup of coffee. Oh, you belong to this group, too! That’s fabulous, then you know this morning, I am throwing together a montage of my life through photographs lately.
Good news! Motivation and moving is a paying off. In the past 3-weeks, I have lost 4-pounds. The scales read 113 yesterday. Yay, me!
I would love to shed two pounds this week, but as long as the number is dropping then I will happily take what I can get. 
How was your weekend? Ours was quite nice. In fact, the past two Saturdays we spent in the mountains.
Cades Cove is an isolated spot nestled in the Smoky Mountains, settled by Europeans in 1818 and families lived in the Cove up till the 1930s.
The 11-mile loop road is one the most popular parts of the park for motor tourist and bicyclist to visit today.
Remnants of the past dot the valley ~ log cabins, churches, and graveyards. My FIL always referred to Cades Cove as a piece of heaven.
I think he’s right. I know the way of life in the cove was a hard one for those early pioneers. A way of life I am not accustomed to or want to know. However, I know they loved the surroundings ever bit as much as each person who passes through the valley and secretly I am sad they gave up their land for people like me to soak up.
It is not uncommon to see horses grazing in the field at the loop road entrance. The first Saturday, we saw plenty of deer and horses in this same spot, but none were close as this past weekend.
These two were curious to see what people were doing. I made a little small talk with the blonde beauty. I asked if she knew my friend Patrice’s horse Wendell from New Jersey and all I got was, “Neigh! Translated: my mother’s, cousin, sister, daughter’s son was a Wendell…but New Jersey? Blustery exhales! Translated: I don’t think so.” That’s when the solicitation for carrots followed and I knew it was time to leave.
Usually, you see a traffic wad before you see the wildlife and you know it will be something big. and that’s precisely what we were fortunate enough to come upon.
Spotting black bear in the mountains is a rare and spectacular event. This is the first sighting for us in a three or four years. I was so thrilled! This guy was way back in a field. I had to use my 300mm to pull him in. I am always amazed to see the number of idiots eager to run headlong into the field to see how close they can get to it. What generally happens is the animal runs off spoiling it for the onlookers from a distant.
We saw many deer enjoying the fields two Saturdays ago. I think the cooler weather (48°) contributed to our sightings but this past weekend it was 20 degrees warmer. Luckily, a small herd of deer was feeding right next to the road and I captured this little lady just as she looked straight at me.
I will be looking forward to our next day trip to the mountains. Next outing, we plan to take in the views higher up. Perhaps, Clingman’s Dome, as well as enjoy the south end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
I hope you enjoyed my little photo essay. You may want to come by mid-week for my Wordless Wednesday post to see more pictures taken in Cades Cove. Now, grab a cup of coffee and join me as I visit that élite group of bloggers I spoke of earlier: Les for Tuesday Coffee Chat, Patrice’s for Chats on the farmhouse porch, and Stacy for Random Tuesday Thoughts!
Have a terrific Tuesday!
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Great photos!
Ahh your pictures make me so homesick. You are so blessed to be able to see such beautiful sights so often and blessed to be in what my husband and I call “God’s Country”.
Thank you for sharing these bits of back home with me. How cool that you saw a bear!
Seeing a bear is really cool, but not a frequent occurrence. It’s always a pleasure when we spot one. Thanks for stopping by!
I would love to be able to see a bear out in nature. I have seen deer fairly often in the past. They love to congregate near the freeway and scare the life out of drivers that are surprised by them at 70mph. Thankfully, we haven’t hit any of them or seen any accidents caused by them running across the freeway.
You’re welcome and thank you for your visits to my blogs (here and at PS Annie!, too. Have a great week.
Okay…I thought I knew you. lol Deer have no place near busy roads, but yet they are there. Be careful in areas where they are known to gather. They use can cause a mess to you and your vehicle.
That’s for sure. Although I’ve never witnessed a deer-related accident, I have heard of plenty. One man had a sunroof on his truck and a deer ended up coming in through the sunroof and nearly kicked the man to death in its attempts to escape the vehicle.
I’m posting the challenge posts here and at PS Annie! because some of the others are on WordPress, so when I clicked to follow them with my WP account, they started following me here at WP. I’ve gotten about 15 followers here at WP thanks to the A to Z Challenge. PS Annie! has gotten 3, I think. haha
Have a great week!
Beautiful pictures. Happy Wednesday!
Hi, I’m visiting from RoryBore’s coffee chat. Your pictures are lovely. We live out in the woods and have some new neighbors who have a few horses. It’s very fun.
I am so glad you stopped by from RoryBore’s coffee chat. Believe it or not certain parts of Knoxville there are homes that have horses. That sort of blows my mind a wee bit. I like watching horses from a distance,but I have no desire to ride or pet them. Talk to them, yeah! But, they are very pretty animals.
Oh, I would love to have been there for all of this! Beautiful shots!
Oh wow, those photos are beautiful! Now I want to go traveling to take some new pictures, haha. Really gorgeous, I love it!
What a beautiful photo montage, you made me long to visit there, Cathy! The scenery and animals are so lovely, and very much unlike what we have here in West Texas with tumbleweeds and dust, longhorn cattle and coyotes!
Your whole post had such a peaceful feeling and your reverence for Cade’s Cove is evident throughout. Thank you so much for sharing this piece with us at Two Shoes Tuesday, it was nice to see you back! 
I just loved this photo tour!! Such a beautiful, beautiful spot of nature. I have snow on the mountains today too. except, I don’t have mountains – just snow. LOL
How lucky – horse, deer and a bear! We had a black bear come to our campfire one night. Needless to say, I did not think to grab my camera! LOL
Your mountains are fabulous too, and you have bears!
Oh Cathy! I want to go on one of your road trips – such beauty! You got amazing shots!!
I loved sharing your trip to the mountains.
What a delight your photos were. It was a real treat to visit your blog.
All the photos are breathtakingly beautiful and I especially like the picture of the bear.