I may be exaggerating slightly, since melon is actually only from India. The karela, or Indian bitter melon, is usually served fried, mashed with potatoes, stuffed, or as part of a curry or soup. When I first saw this mound of frilly, green vegetables in a Korean grocery store, I thought they were straight out of a sci- fi movie prop department.
When I first started researching Körner’s Folly, a historic home in Kernersville, NC, I assumed that it was haunted. Or at least had a tragic history or an eccentric owner. A 22 room house where no two windows are the same, the ceiling heights have no uniformity, that was continuously renovated until the owner died and then sat abandoned for years deteriorating had to have some kind of macabre history. Alas, the home has no sordid past whatsoever. The trap doors in the floor are not for vanquishing enemies but for cooling the home in the summer months. The home’s varied array of design features and finishings are the result of its owner, Jule Körner, being an interior designer and decorator who used the home to show off his work to clients. The strangest thing about his family is that his children had a pet raccoon named Bob. Despite the lack of ghosts or tragedy, this is still a fascinating place to visit. It’s currently in the middle of of being renovated, so some rooms …
For a fleeting moment, I thought this broken piece of wood ensnared in a vine was a petrified finger. Fortunately it was a false alarm!
I noticed this large bird of prey circling overhead during an afternoon walk. I’m relatively sure it was a black vulture, as it was soon joined by three more. I’ve been noticing a lot more of them in the neighborhood my husband and I live in, possibly because the abandoned golf course a few miles away from our home is now being redeveloped for apartments and shopping.
Cedar planks for sale at the Gibson Mill Depot. The warm burgundy hues are gorgeous, but it was the scent wafting through the vender stalls that caught my attention first. If only a photograph could translate the wonderful smell.
A large leaf footed bug is something I would expect to find crawling up the side of my office building in August, not the end of November. I admire it’s resilience against the weather (only twenty two degrees outside!) but now that I know it will emit loud noises and a foul odor as forms of defense, I sincerely hope I never find one in my house.
I love taking walks right after it rains, and seeing raindrops still clinging to branches.
Snow and foliage from last November . I was in New England and got to experience a little pre-Thanksgiving snow fall. A treat since I don’t see much snow in North Carolina!
Vintage blow mold holiday decor spotted in a local antique mall. The name comes from the method of blowing melted plastic into a mold, which then hardens into a hollow, plastic shape. The most popular vintage blow molds to collect are made by Union Products, who pioneered the original lawn flamingo. I would have loved to take home the large gravestone seen here, but the $80 price tag was a little out of my budget!
