The boathouse at the Bass Pond is a particular jewel when the wind is still and the pond becomes a mirror. 

Even as it becomes late in the season, color is still pretty vivid. The rest of these shots are from recents walks on the estate.


 

One day, John and I took Abner up the Blue Ridge Parkway for some hiking. On the way, we stopped at one of the overlooks and encountered not only great views, but a group of high-tech hunters who sounded like they were straight out of the cast of "Deliverence". I'm certain this reinforced any fears John had harbored about my moving to this part of the country.


 

Last year the weather in the fall was very warm and mild so we didn't get nearly the vibrant display that a colder October gave us this year. We seemed to alternate between surprisingly cold nights and days that occasionally hit 80. Even now, we have had 3 days in the 70s and one in the 80s in the last week. The color is not for the feint hearted.


John Ballenger came for a week and seemed to be cold the whole time but had a good time anyway. In spite of his reputation for buying real estate when he visits, he bypassed making an offer on this house. 

This year has proven that Asheville is no place to spend the autumn if you don't like reds and golds and lots of them. This is a collection of photos I took over about 5 weeks this fall.

In the walled garden at Biltmore, they featured thousands of mums. On billboards around town, they had photos of the house with the caption "mum's the word". Subtle but clever and the subtlety certainly didn't reduce the size of the crowds. 

I think this is my favorite photo ever of my friends George and Marrie. They won't even get to see this since neither of them owns a computer.

Ann Jackson organized a party for me that was really fun and allowed me to connect briefly with the old dog group crowd. This photo probably isn't as memorable as her recent shot with Warren Buffett, but I think it is special.







Phil keeps threatening to come for a visit but for now this short get together will have to do. 

I just loved this shot of Dan after going out on the boat one afternoon.


This is a picture of Joe Scarpa's big sculpture in Southside Park at the kids' play area. It is really phenomenal and you should all go see it. 

 

 

 

Elaine is one of Abner's biggest fans. She runs the bookstore at Biltmore where Abner doesn't read much, but he is a frequent visitor.

When I was in California this summer I went to Winesong again with the usual suspects. I am posting a bunch of pictures from that wonderful reunion of friends.