The day after Amy moved, we were taken out for lunch by North Carolina friends who were here for a conference in Lake Junaluska.  It’s a wonder we were able to eat, because we talked non-stop.  There is always so much to catch up on.

Rus and Elizabeth had a time constraint, but we didn’t.  John offered to drive David and me on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Both rhododendron and mountain laurel were blooming.  This is the first year we’ve been up there at prime time, and it was glorious.

While standing at the creek, John turned to see a bird that was clicking as it flew under the bridge.  I recognized the clicking sound as that of a kingfisher, and I saw it quickly enough to identify it by sight, as well.  I used to see them occasionally on Long Island.  This was a first here.

Our new neighbors were very busy the first two days.  Several friends helped them carry things into the house, so we stayed out of the way.  We finally caught them outside to welcome them to the neighborhood.  Hopefully we can soon get a photo of them so that you can see them, too.  Their names are Dawn and Jeff.  I hadn’t thought about it before, but it’s great that we don’t have any duplicate names on the street.  It seems everywhere you go, there are multiple Johns and Davids.

An afternoon thunderstorm joined the sun to give us a rainbow in the backyard.  The photo doesn’t show it clearly, but the end appeared to be glowing behind the trees at the edge of the pasture.  I’m sure that is the closest I’ve ever been to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  When I looked at the photo again, I was aghast that the rainbow appeared to hover over the wicked wisteria as if blessing it.  No!  Please don’t encourage that greedy plant!