On the Porch
Onisha Ellis
We are blessed to spend part of the year in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. The mountains are beautiful in every season drawing visitors from across the globe. But the two weeks of peak fall color entices a steady stream of visitors to view and enjoy the foliage.
Fo that reason, we tend to not venture onto any of the well known scenic drives until “peak” is over. We are not fond of heavy traffic and since we are privileged to enjoy the whole Fall season, we are content to leave the scenic drives to our visitors.
But this year we did it! Monday we packed a lunch and joined the “leafers.”( My pet name for our Fall visitors.) The Parkway is 469 miles in length going through North Carolina and Virginia. We accessed the Blue Ridge Parkway at Balsam Mountain and exited at the city of Ashevile, North Carolina, about 50 miles. It was fun, the colors were gorgeous and since it was a weekday, the traffic was light.
The squiggly yellow green line is the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The abrupt explosion of color as we joined up with the Parkway was surprising. My theory is that the Parkway winds through forests undisturbed by urban sprawl. I quickly recorded a short video to share with our daughter in Florida.
Here are some random photos. The Parkway has a lot of tunnels. Honk, honk!
When I packed our lunch, I included a plastic tablecloth as some of the scenic overlooks have picnic tables. The temperature was in the 50s with some wind. A bit too chilly for us so we decided to choose a pretty view and enjoy our picnic in the car. We were very happy to have hot coffee in a thermos bottle to warm us up.
Hubby stayed in the car, but he agreed to let me take his picture.
With health issues, all of our days aren’t good. Thankful we can create memories on the good days, that warm our hearts on the not so good. I’m glad we did it.
After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience. Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites, Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix
In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books
My 2022 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.
Old Things R New 
Absolutely gorgeous this year!
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