SUMMER NOTES (MUSIC NOTES, THAT IS)

Music's in the air, and it's not just our big bullfrog serenading guests with the whippoorwhills singing backup:


[Not one of our whippoorwhills, but one that looks just like them!]

Bluegrass Music Jam every Thursday. Open to all musicians, no scheduled performers. Outdoors, bring chairs or blankets. 7-9pm, Marion Depot, Marion. Free. For more information, call 828.652.2215 or visit www.downtownmarion.org/.

Old Fort Mountain Music. Every Friday evening for more than a decade, folks have gathered to hear and play bluegrass and traditional mountain music. Nobody’s paid, everyone’s welcome and coffee and sodas are still just a quarter! Friday evenings; 7:00pm; Rockett Building, Main Street in downtown Old Fort; for more information call 888.233.6111.

Acoustic Guitar at Trainwatcher Cafe every Friday evening while enjoying dinner. The cafe is open for dinner from 5-8pm in downtown Old Fort. For more information, call 828-668-7941.

Live Bluegrass music at the Front Porch Grill. Every Friday and Saturday night (306 East State Street in Black Mountain).

UpBeat! Celebrating our Mountain Music Heritage. UpBeat! is a concert series presented in collaboration with the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, Acoustic Corner, and North Carolina Mountain Acoustic Music Association (NCMAMA.) Performances are held the fourth Friday of each month at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W. State St. 7:30 pm. $10 at the door. Upcoming concerts: July 27 and August 24. Call 828/669-0930 or visit www.blackmountainarts.org/ for more information

Shindig on the Green (Asheville). Shindig on the Green gets underway “along about sundown,” or for those using a watch- 7:00 p.m., and usually runs until 10:00 p.m. Concessions are available. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and enjoy the beautiful music and dance traditions of Southern Appalachia on a summer evening in the mountains. This mountain tradition features an always-enjoyable variety of big circle mountain dancers, clog dancers, bluegrass and old time string bands, ballad singers and storytellers.

CSABA PUGGA FULL STEAM AHEAD

Today was a hot day. Okay, so it only got up to 83 degrees, but that's "hot" here in the national forest and mountains (we're at about 2600 feet above sea level). We were really surprised to hear that it was hotter this week at the higher elevations along the parkway. However, we do know that the moment you drive into the forest to reach us on what we like to call our 2-mile tree lined driveway, the temperature drops by about 9 degrees. Nature at its best!

With a break from this week's thunderstorms, it was the perfect day for a spin on the paddleboat, so Brigette and Csaba hopped aboard for a late afternoon trip.

Csaba, being the paddleboat afficionado and spoiled pug that he is, relaxed on Brigette's lap while she toured him around the lake. It never fails...no matter where he is, the always laid-back Csaba will find "The Lap", which is his favorite place to be.

NEW RESIDENT

We've been having thunderstorms this week. We desperately need the rain for the flowers and trees, and the lightning has been spectacular some evenings, lighting up the ridges like an early 4th of July. We even had some hail one night! Not big hail, but it sure surprised us. Another surprise we got was the observance of a resident we haven't seen before. A gigantic turtle. Now, he's probably not new to the lake, but he's new to us.

His shell alone looks to be about the size of a small car tire. We'd love to know how old this big guy is (he's huge!), and what kind of turtle he is. He seems to be a very calm fellow and his movements are very slow. He s-l-o-w-l-y submerges when people are nearby. But not before he gets a good look at the paparazzi:

EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES

We've got clay soil, which it appears, roses just adore. We have about eight small rose bushes, all different colors and types. Here are Brigette's three favorites (the favorite this year is the second one pictured):

LANDSCAPING BEGINS

What are these, you ask? They're baby burning bushes (otherwise known as Euonymus alatus Rudy Haag) and we'll be planting 30 of these little guys in hedge-row along the sunny embankment between the Main House and Lake House. The leaves turn a vibrant, fiery crimson in the fall. Here's what we hope they look like in Autumn a few years from now...