Table Rock

Legend has it that a giant used this mountain as a table; the legend persists today hence the name of this mountain remains as Table Rock. The mountains is solid granite and stands at 3100 feet in elevation. We took a drive in upstate South Carolina to visit the 3000 acre Table Rock State Park. With more rainstorms expected we had the park nearly to ourselves.

At the overlook I noticed many plants are growing right out of the native rocks.

I glanced down and noticed what looked like a pandorea flower, but I didn't think an Australian native would be here in the wild. It must be a native morning glory or wild potato vine. They are all in the same family. I should have examined the leaves more closely but with the thought of a snake lurking I didn't venture into the thick underbrush.

Picturesque Lake Oolenoy surrounds the visitor center. Bass, bream, and catfish abound in the lake. 

You can fish from the pier or boat, but only canoes, kayaks or boats with trolling motors are allowed on the lake.

The trail to the visitor center was lined with beautyberry, Callicarpa americana. I never would have thought to use this shrub as a hedgerow but it was quite effectively done here.

This is what the flower looks like. To see the berries which are quite striking, click here. The berry photo was taken at my former home in Florida.

The entrance to the visitor center is nearly obscured by these two large redbud trees. The Eastern redbud, Cercis canadencis, is much larger and more tree like than the Western redbud, Cercis occidentalis.

 Redbuds have beautiful heart shaped leaves.

 Here's a sucker with the new growth of the leaves.

 Outside the center there was a bed of purple cone flowers, Echinacea.

Several of the native trees on the grounds were labeled and these flowers are of the sourwood, Oxydendrum.

What a nice visit we had. Even though it was cloudy, it didn't rain till we arrived back at our RV. Thanks for visiting and for all your comments.

A Little Dab Will Do You

Are you ever hungry for a snack but don't want to make something elaborate? That's what happened the other day. So I fixed myself a rice cracker with some almond butter and a dollop of apricot preserves. The almond butter wasn't inexpensive, but at the rate I'm using it, it will last for more than a year. A little dab will do you. I keep it in the refrigerator and it doesn't get solid in there either.

These leaf dishes are perfect for serving a light snack and it turns out they are good for many other uses too. At the farmer's market one of the folks who purchased several of my leaf dishes came by to thank me. It seems the woman uses a leaf dish for her tea bags and one for tea lights and she said her husband uses a leaf dish for his teeth. Now every time I think of my leaf dishes I'll have more than visions of sugar plums in my head. Ha. That's the beautyberry above which is now in full radiant color. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Beautyberry

Sometimes a garish color is necessary to bring attention to something good. The first time I saw beautyberry, Callicarpa americana, we lived in Arkansas. I was walking in the woods and saw this vibrant colored berry on a plant. I wondered if it was real, thinking to myself it looked like a plastic berry. Then I looked around and saw lots of the berries and realized it wasn't plastic, it was real.

I like learning new things and find myself interested in so many topics I can barely keep myself on track much of the time. Today I wondered what the benefit of gaining all this knowledge could be? Then again, I thought, does there need to be a benefit to gaining knowledge, other than the fact it keeps a mind occupied with good things, positive things.

You see at times I am deeply affected with negative things, the state of the economy, all the people out of work, how I'll afford to live in retirement, declining health, disaster striking and not being able to afford to fix what breaks, health or house wise, and so on.

Just the other day we were going to the grocery store and I saw a dead squirrel in the road and another squirrel was standing by his side. As I got closer the living squirrel ran to the side of the road. I slowed down and drove around them and as I looked back in the mirror I saw the living squirrel go back to the side of the dead squirrel in the road.

I said to Gary, look at that squirrel standing by the side of his dead mate. Gary said, or it might be his mother, father, sibling, or friend. Then Gary told me about a bird who stood by the side of another bird all day long one day when he was driving his dump truck. He told another worker about the bird and the worker said the bird was a dove. The worker said doves mate for life. All around me there's positive and negative, happiness and sadness, life and death, happening all the time.


Today I learned beautyberries can be used to make wine and are a survival food for birds and other animals in the dead of winter. I also learned a chemical contained in beautyberry has been isolated and can be used as a repellent for mosquitoes.

Beautyberry grows in dappled shade with the berries ripening this time of year when the mosquitoes are thick and hungry. I wonder if the mosquitoes will leave me alone if I stand next to a beautyberry? Another glaze load is cooling today and I'm off to a local park, more about those two later.