Sierra Nevada... the tap room and beyond

I hadn't really planned on doing a blog posting, but I thought this was interesting and new to me, even though I have been to the Sierra Nevada tap room several times.

A rather last minute change in plans gave us the opportunity to take our house guest to the tap room for dinner last night. Even if you don't have time or couldn't manage to book a brewery tour, the Sierra Nevada "campus" is a great place to take visitors. 

The winding driveway leading to the brewery, landscaped with native plants, decorated with brewery "art" and boulder retaining walls, is much shorter, but still reminiscent of the anticipation-building road into the Biltmore Estate. And then when you see the expanse of the brewery, it's pretty architectural details and the gleaming copper tanks inside the window-paned building, it's obvious that no expense was spared in constructing this brewery. It's like the Taj Mahal of breweries!

The entrance to the restaurant is also impressive.

We were escorted to a table in the furthest back room of the restaurant, which actually has the exterior walls open to the outside during good weather. So it was sort of the best place to be eating and enjoying a pint on a warm spring evening... indoors, but then also sort of outdoors.

As usual we enjoyed a selection of interesting and delicious tapas along with our choice from the 29 or so taps available. There are wine options as well as non-alcoholic options, too, so you don't really have to be a beer lover to go here and enjoy yourself.

As we were dining, I had a view of the outdoors and I could see several people leave the dining room after eating and wander outside with their half full glasses to enjoy the rest of their beer. So when we were done eating, I suggested we explore the "back yard."

 First of all, there is an extensive organic garden which couldn't have looked more perfect. I took some photos of the strawberries which were in blossom to give you a sample of how perfect the gardens looked.

Here is the outdoor stage.

My back was facing the tap room as I took this photo and there is a fair amount of lawn space and other seating available. We were told that if you go to the sierranevada.com website you can see the line up of performers who will be on stage Sundays from 2-5 PM throughout the rest of the spring and summer seasons. The concerts are free, and if you wish you can purchase beverages and food. 

There were play areas for all ages... corn hole... a gated young children's play space... courts where you could play something like bocce ball (they called it something else and had the easy rules posted)... and just room to run around... and spaces to relax.

This SN truck was on display.

I wished I had taken a few more shots of the hops plants, at least I think they are hops. I believe my camera was trying to focus on the people in the background and so the hops flower got a little out of focus.

And this nice dogwood tree caught my eye.

The grounds are really beautiful and designed to be enjoyed. I'm so glad we got to explore a little, as we are now eager to return and enjoy one of those outdoor concerts!

Significant Local Art Unveiled This Week!

Yesterday, late afternoon, we joined the Folk Heritage Committee and several other organizations and individuals for the unveiling of the mural "Golden Threads" which is now permanently displayed on the north facing exterior wall of Pack's Tavern.

 After appropriate messages from the involved parties and acknowledgment of the cooperation of many, the triptych was ceremoniously unveiled.

Measuring about 6 x 12 feet, this interpretive mural was designed and painted by Doreyl Ammons Cain. Appropriately, it portrays many familiar performers at Shindig on the Green, both past and present. Those of you who have followed my blog recall that Shindig is the free outdoor summer series that celebrates the local, traditional music and dance of the Appalachian region.

After the mural was revealed, several performers delighted us with a short performance.

 About the same time this evening, Russ and I were at the North Carolina Arboretum for another important unveiling, which happened, appropriately, on Earth Day.

After a welcome reception at the Baker Center, again with appropriate folks making all the appropriate remarks, the crowd was escorted into the center of the formal gardens in rather misty weather to see the impressive new sculpture of Frederick Law Olmsted.

In the crowd were some descendants of Olmsted, many members of the Siddall family who were major donors, administrative directors of the Arboretum, and Zenos Frudakis, the artist who designed and created the sculpture.

 The veiled sculpture was unveiled! This larger than life Olmsted has his back to the mountains and faces the reworked fountain and quilt garden.

The gentleman the the right of the sculpture is artist Zenos Frudakis.

As soon as I could, I worked my way around the sculpture to capture it a bit closer.

 Flanking the bronze sculpture are descriptive plaques with information about Olmsted and the sculpture. I was really only able to get close enough to this one to take a picture, the other one identifies that it is bronze and indicates the year and artist.

 With some clever cropping, I was able to get an image of Olmsted without a lot of random, distracting people.

 The Arboretum really made sure that the grounds were in great shape, even though the weather did not encourage us to linger in the gardens. There were magnificent containers of perfect tulips, even though most of the other tulips around town are finished blooming.

And the quilt garden, which a couple of weeks ago was roped off and torn apart so that the infrastructure could be reworked, was put back together and prettier than ever.

 The photos taken from the overlook show a beautiful pattern of butterfly blocks in yellow and shades of lavender and purple pansies.
Though it's hard to see that tall statue in this shot, if you enlarge the space between those two vertical trees, there is Frederick Law Olmsted!

 A slightly different shot shows the statue up a bit better, but you can also see the umbrellas, which signaled that it was time to head back to the car!

Now maybe this last revelation isn't quite as historically significant as the first two, but it is special to me.

The mural event at Pack Square gave my quilting collaborative, Mountain Jam Circle, an opportunity to give the quilt we made to the Folk Heritage Committee to use for fundraising. 

This first picture shows my friends Alice and Cheryl with the 2016 Shindig quilt. It's hand-pieced by Alice and I, and then Cheryl did the exquisite quilting and finished it up by binding and labeling it. It's large enough for a single bed.

 This next photo shows our friend Linda, who is a member of the Folk Heritage Committee, accepting our donation. During the Shindig season, raffle tickets will be sold and someone will win the quilt at the final Shindig performance. Hopefully, as our quilts have in previous seasons, the quilt will generate several hundreds of dollars for the volunteer organization which puts on Shindig and the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival each year. (www.folkheritage.org)

Just to brag a little more, I have a few other photos that Cheryl provided to show off the quilt in more detail, including her quilting and our label and logo.

So, if you are in Asheville this summer on a pleasant Saturday evening "along about sundown," come to the Bascom Lamar Lunsford stage in front of City Hall, enjoy some local music and dance, see the Shindig quilt in person, and a buy a raffle ticket!

Biltmore Blooms... Tulips!

So, I am a week late in posting this. It was a week ago today, on 4/10, when we took a walk in the Biltmore gardens to see the tulips. It seems we often miss the tulip season and tend to visit when the azalea garden is in full bloom, but this year we timed it just right!

 Just so you know, it's not all tulips, here is a nice shot of the ground phlox which is also prolific this time of year. Oops! I see I have my hands holding my phone in the shadow on the walkway. Obviously I'm not a professional!

The gardens were full of thousands of tulips in waves of color.

 I love this view from the walled garden looking toward the house, especially when the sky is such a nice Carolina blue!

 But this visit the tulips were the stars. I have quite a few photos for you to see, so I will keep the chit chat to a minimum.

 I don't often include a personal photo in my blog, but I just had to pose with that nice background.

 I keep thinking that I won't see another daffodil until next spring (or late next winter), but here the daffodils were planted among the yellow tulips and they were still quite fresh!

 The border under the arbor was lined with these regal plum and white tulips.

 This is a view toward Mt. Pisgah, and you can see that the trees are just starting to get leaves.

 I took a selfie with the house in the background... just look at that sky!

 It's a little early for the wisteria, but right next to the house, a few were in bloom. We had actually had a light frost the night before and I thought the early blossoms on the wisteria looked a little shocked.

 We don't usually walk in the Italian garden, which has a promenade with several rather shallow pools. So I was intrigued by the rather large and colorful carp that live in the pools which have yet to develop much lily pad growth.

 In just a couple of weeks the tulips will be at their end and the azaleas will be the stars. Here's a nice early showing with a backdrop of flowering trees.

Perhaps I will get back to see the azaleas this spring. If I do, I probably will take some pictures!
I hope wherever you are, you are enjoying a colorful spring.

A Walk in the Woods

 Yesterday we took a spring walk at the NC Arboretum. Somehow, I missed the turn in the trail and we ended up on a woodland trail a bit above the riverbed where I had hoped to see some early wildflowers. No problem, as there is much to see no matter which trail you are on.

We started just to the side of the Baker Center. I especially like the "natural" signage at the center which frames this red bud in bloom. In fact, throughout the grounds the red buds were at their peak.

 Above is a nice solitary example and below you can see the magnolia blossoms against the red bud.

Since our walk took us through a forested area there was lots of moss, but we didn't really see any of the wildflowers which require more sunlight. At the end of the walk is a small sunny area and I did see some violets.

 In contrast, there are some showy pansies planted in the more formal gardens.

The dogwood are just starting in our area and this particular dogwood tree had only a single blossom!

 There were also several different magnolia varieties in bloom and the walkway through the Garden of Promise was "littered" with discarded white and fuchsia petals.

I have quite a few photos to share today and many of them I couldn't really identify by plant name, but they are pretty, so I will post them for you to enjoy.

There was lots of butterfly and bee activity as you'd expect with so much in bloom.
Here is a butterfly enjoying the ground phlox.

The container gardens are changed out each season and I wanted to document what is probably the last of the daffodils... they are definitely on their way out this year in our area. I especially like these cheerful flowers!

And next to them was a colorful display of crocuses, another flower that is pretty much finished with in this area. They were a treat to see!

And let's not forget the tulips, which are currently in their glory!

Here's a view of some flowering trees...along with that blue Carolina sky!

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the things I saw in bloom yesterday and maybe it will motivate you to take a walk in the woods or in a garden or just around your house to see what is waking up this Spring.