I’ve made hundreds of pizzas from scratch. Every Friday night for years. So many pizzas, my kids were sick of them. Lately I have been trying a new method for the dough. Here’s how it goes: There are basically three ingredients for pizza dough, or for any dough, and they are flour, yeast and water….
These pictures were taken by Dutch Roth. The text from his journal below describes the fascinating history in the early days of Smoky Mountains tourism, when Gatlinburg was barely a destination on the edge of the mountains. “So many of our hikes used to begin and end at Gatlinburg. Back in 1929 the only thing…
Today we are miles away in Maine, down at the bottom of the Pemaquid Peninsula. I’ve been to the lighthouse at Pemaquid Point many times. In fact, for many years lighthouses were my special interest in photography. Way back in 1993 I launched Lighthouse Getaway, which was among the first 25,000 websites in existence on…
It’s Friday again. Time to ponder whatever comes to mind. Like walking in the Great Smoky Mountains with your head pointed upwards. Watch the squirrels jump from treetop to treetop. Appreciate the soft sunlight filtering down through the canopy. Maybe spot a woodpecker at work. This is a stand of poplars. Probably took over the…
The Smoky Mountain area is not known for its covered bridges. This one was built fairly recently. The bridge spans the Little Pigeon River just downstream from where it runs out of the Park in the Greenbrier section. It’s a nice, peaceful spot for swimming or fishing. You can find it by taking the road…
Albert “Dutch” Roth lived from 1890 to 1974, and left an astonishing collection of amateur photographs which document the early years of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Roth’s photos and journal of his hiking adventures offer a rare and intimate view of the Smokies from the 1920s through the 1950s. Up to 1958 Dutch had…
Sneezeweed, or Bitterweed (Helenium amarum) is a common and pretty roadside summer wildflower. If cows eat this plant, their milk will taste bitter, giving the plant one of it’s common names. From the name Sneezeweed, you might assume a summer allergy problem. The name actually comes from Native Americans practice of using the dried flower…
Several months ago I wrote a little thing about creating zen rock stacks near my home in the Smoky Mountains. There seems to be an almost universal relationship between man and rocks that is reflected in the creation of these zen stacks. Recently I traveled all the way up to the coast of Maine, to…
The cave pictured here is Sea Anemone Cave near Acadia National Park, in Maine. The photo below was taken by me in 1974, a 25-year-old camper with a brand new twin-lens Mamiya C330 medium format camera that I used for black and white landscapes. An Ansel Adams disciple all the way! I traveled to Acadia…
Say hello to Ulli. I gave him a ride from Gatlinburg up to the Appalachian Trail at Newfound Gap early this morning. Ulli is a television producer from Berlin. His plan is to hike for 10 days, then come out of the woods and make it somehow up to New York City where one of…
Philosophical Friday here again. Always something to think about. For example, once upon a time the problem was finding a needle in a haystack. Now you can’t find the haystack. When was the last time you saw one? Do you know what a haystack is? These haystack pictures were taken at the Mountain Farm Museum…
Along Glades Road, in the heart of Gatlinburg’s historic Arts and Crafts Loop, you will find Morning Mist Village. Take a break from your Smoky Mountain exploring, and head out Rt. 321 at stoplight number 3 in Gatlinburg. Just past Food City, and then McDonalds, turn left onto Glades Rd. Morning Mist Village is about…
Today’s miles away pictures are from a recent trip to Bar Harbor, Maine. Bar Harbor is to Acadia National Park what Gatlinburg is to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A tourist town on the edge of great beauty. In the picture above you can see the little village nestled against the harbor. See the…
Pink turtlehead (Chelone lyonii) favors wet areas like seeps and stream banks. The image above was taken along the Clingman’s Dome Road in the Great Smoky Mountains where water was draining from the steep bank above it. The botanical name Chelone derives from the Greek word for turtle. If you examine the bloom closely, it…
False Dragonhead (Physostegia viginiana) is also called the Obedient Plant. Notice the way the flower buds line up perfectly in a column. If you twist the bloom, it will stay put, being obedient. For this reason, and because they are long-lasting, the plant is often cultivated for cut flower arrangements. False Dragonhead blooms from July-October,…
I live in Gatlinburg TN, on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. The Smokies are a very spiritual place, and I attempt to capture some of that spirit in each of my photographs.
If you are in Gatlinburg, please stop in at my gallery .
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