Mark's Photo Travels

With September comes meteorological fall and cooler weather, and the area experienced just that for a few days around last Sunday. My original plan last Sunday was to spend time with my ailing 14 yr old cat, Princess, but she didn't even make it past Monday. I changed my Sunday plan to a day trip and, after consulting my ever growing to-visit list, I settled on a paddling tour of Lake Summit in Tuxedo, North Carolina. I arrived there early, at least by my standards. The place wasn't very busy when I arrived. Permits are required to access Lake Summit for powered boats and personal watercraft like jet skis, but no permit is required for kayaks. Works out fine for me! However, to get a permit you must live in the Green River Fire District. The website of the homeowner's association has those details. The gate for the boat ramp was closed at the time, forcing me to walk through the pedestrian access with my inflatable kayak. I launched and headed for my first plann...

Here in the Carolinas, apples are in season from late August until early November, and my favorite kind, the tart Granny Smith apples, are currently in season. I like to buy my Granny Smith apples locally from Sky Top Orchard  near Zirconia, NC because of the ease of getting there from my house and the orchard's pretty mountain top views. In previous years heading up NC-225, I've seen some rather large roadside crosses and I've always wondered who put them up. I thought maybe I had my answer when fellow adventurer Tom Taylor recommended  reading  The Carpetbagger  blog by Flickr photographer Jacob K . One of the entries is about Harrison Mayes , a prolific religious sign maker until his death in 1989. Harrison Mayes planted many signs in North Carolina, but not those two. Here is an example of one of his signs from the same blog entry : The font is the easiest difference to spot, but also the two signs were made of wood while Mayes's signs were made of...