Spring is coming along, and last weekend we had a lovely day for a drive with the car club. It was a bright and sunny day, and we met up at a local grocery store for the drive. Usually we meet a bit early so we can look at the cars, and enjoy some coffee while chatting with friends. Austin Healeys, MGs and Jaguars got there first.
We have a wide range of mostly British cars, as it is a British Car Club after all. There are a few other European cars like our Fiat and a Porsche. Here the green 2002 Jaguar XK8 is parked next to a white 1992 Jaguar XJS.
We are more focused on the people, so the little BMW roadster is welcome too, sandwiched between an MG and a Triumph. There’s a white Sunbeam Tiger on the left. The black car on the far left with the tan top is a 1987 Rolls Royce.
This was a hugely popular event, with 20 cars on the drive.
We started off east, going through the early spring countryside on a lovely warm morning.
Driving in the mountains is beautiful any time of year. This drive route would take us past many of the apple orchards in the county, a major contributor to our local economy.
It was too early for some varieties, and maybe too late for others, only a few of the orchards were in full bloom. With the crazy weather, warm then cold again, over and over, I think the trees are confused.
Still, the countryside is turning green.
Trees are finally beginning to show signs of leafing out, although later this year than usual.
We stopped mid-way to visit a local ranch and apple orchard with an old west town near Bat Cave.
I took the opportunity to get some close photos of the beautiful apple blooms.
The sun came out again just at the right time. You can see more mountains in the background between the branches on the right, with rain clouds gathering.
The rain held off until much later, so we could enjoy the day. The pale pink of these apple blossoms were so pretty! All the trees in this orchard were the same variety. I do not know which it is. Most apple blossoms are white.
In the pasture next to this orchard, a large bull sits and ponders the world around him.
The cows were all headed toward the barn, like some silent gong was calling them to supper. One moment they were milling around as cows do, then for no reason, they all started walking the same direction, towards an open gate to another pasture. I suspect their grain bins were about to be filled for the day.
So, back on the road for more driving fun.
I find the architecture of the twisted branches of the apple trees interesting. These were just coming into bloom.
I think that by now they should be covered in blooms. We ended at a restaurant and had a nice lunch, then on doing errands before going home. Mountain living is wonderful, with so many ways to see beauty all around us, and taking a relaxing drive in the country is just minutes away.
Today is Earth Day (setting aside the incongruence of using gasoline) and it is the perfect time to make a pledge to help our planet by reducing our use of plastics. It is not well known that plastic never degrades, it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, working its way into the food chain. Plastic in the ocean is ingested by fish, which is then ingested by humans. Tiny particles can make it into the bloodstream of animals, fish and humans, and it is never excreted. Marine life is threatened by the amount of plastic floating in the ocean trapping and killing sea life like turtles. Plastic in the landfill is just as much of a contaminant. Washing clothes containing nylon or polyester puts micro fibers into the local water supply that cannot be filtered out, which then work their way into our food supply. Recycling helps, but not every community has recycling, and not all plastics can be recycled. So what can you do? Visit EarthDay.org to see how you can reduce the amount of plastics that you use by downloading the pdf file Action Kit. Simple things like refusing a straw, or using paper plates instead of plastic ones can help. Buy and use recycled materials when you can, especially for things like trash bags. Use your own bags at the grocery store. Consider recycled batting in your quilts like Quilter’s Dream Green. Buy clothing without plastic fibers. Use refillable water bottles. I am not advocating to get rid of plastics altogether, they are useful in many applications, but I am advocating to reduce the use where possible, and recycle all we can. Buy only recyclable plastic items, BPA free, and advocate for others to do the same. Use products made from recycled materials to increase the market so more can be re-used instead of making more plastic. Lobby your restaurants to stop handing out straws to everyone, only giving one to those who ask, or switch to paper straws. Make sure your community has recycling.
We live in a beautiful world, and it is the only one we have. How can you help reduce our dependence on plastics? What springtime beauty surrounds you now?
Sharing
From My Carolina Home 
We were at the car show yesterday too! Not showing a car, but enjoying all that were on display. I love reading your blog! ~ Laura
Such beautiful photos!
The biggest change for me this year is how I buy products at the grocery store, and trying not to buy items that have huge plastic packaging (ie. orange juice in a carton vs. a large plastic jug)
I have also stopped using the plastic bags in the produce department, just placing all my veggies in a reusable bag together. Then I lay them out on the checkers area, and they can put them back in my shopping bag.
Hi Carole,
I love reading your blog. All of the topics, but started with the quilt area. Today you wrote about the car shows!! I have had such a good time this morning reading about all the events and clubs. My husband and I have a 1996 BMW Z3 which we love to drive. The car show events in N. Carolina look so nice. Hopefully we will come down from Northern NY and attend one of the shows. Keep writing….you are so inspirational. Have a great day, Stephanie
very pretty scenery – you mention earth day and the “green” batting – have you tried it and how does it wash up – any shrinkage and crinkly look?
It is soft like a cotton batting, and quilts beautifully. The website says it does not shrink. I haven’t washed a quilt with it myself as all the ones I’ve used it in have been given away. Click on Dream Green to see all about it.
Good morning and happy Earth Day I enjoyed your lovely post-and what a very fun club to belong too. those pink blossoms are beautiful
Oh and good tips for earth day I try really hard to recycle and I use allot of my own bags when shopping
It looks like a beautiful drive on a lovely spring day.
What a beautiful part of the country! Thank you for reminding us on how to protect our Earth.
Hello Carole; I once again, have delighted in your pictures and your writing of your adventures with the car club. Our apple tree is in full bloom right now, as are the pear trees across the road from us. Yet, just as you have written, so many of our fruit bearing tree are most likely in shock and just do not know from day to day what they should do. LOL. We have actually had two very lovely days, yet it is still dropping very low in temps at night. But, I do finally think Spring has made it to my neck of the woods. Yeah…!
I agree with recycling and trying to use less and less plastics whenever we can. It really is a shame that when it first began being used that the world did not know that it was going to begin killing our world with the use of it and just not invent it. We do recycle every thing that our city recycles and we also try and find ways to reuse items to cut down … an example.
I use a plastic garbage bag then I get a paper bag (the ones from the grocery store) and put two or three of the plastic bags (the small ones from the grocery store) and place the paper bag in it, next put that in the garbage can that is lined with a plastic trash bag. I then do this for as long the main trash bag does not begin to smell or rips and so forth. It really helps in so many ways. Hee-hee-hee, I have went and took up an entire page myself. So I will say, Thank You for a wonderful blog post and have a great day!
It’s odd how we changed over to plastics to save the trees and are now causing more harm than good.
So true!! But I think going back to paper might not be the best idea. We should strive to use reusable tote bags to carry our purchases, and buy bags made of recycled plastic to line our trash cans to help create a bigger market for goods made from recycled materials. Thanks for commenting!!
Carole
We recycle almost everything, plastic, tins, paper, cardboard, and I use fabric bags at the supermarket.Where we live, both supermarkets will stop having plastic bags at the end of this year. So when I do get one, save it, for use when I buy meat later on.Lovely drive photos, the blossom is so delicate, and views between the leaves, perfect day out.
Carole, I so enjoyed the drive! The apple blossoms are stunning!
What a wonderful day out and drive, the apple blossom is beautiful. Do the English cars come to the US alrrady with left hand drive? Or do the owners have them converted? With cars like Mustangs , that come here form the US some stay left hand drive and some are converted over. Thank you for sharing your lovely day.
I am a Canadian who is fortunate to winter in Arizona. I bring my own bags to the stores I visit—people look at me like I have two heads when I ask to NOT have my clothing purchases wrapped in paper, then placed in another paper bag, as I have my own cloth bag I made from remnants from Joann’s decorator fabrics, and I also use a variety of recycled bags for groceries. On the odd chance that I don’t have my bags with me, I accept a plastic bag, then play a game with myself to see how many times I can bring it back for re-use. I am appalled that pop cans and bottles aren’t readily recycled here. I also use Norwex laundry products (no huge plastic bottles, just a small bag, as you use only 1 TSP (that’s right!) of powder per wash. We can all do something to help keep our planet alive for our grandchildren, but often, convenience overpowers the thought process.
Thanks for sharing! I live in the northwest county of NC, Ashe, and we still have very limited signs of spring!!! The cold and then warm and then snow sequence has really confused our trees!! Thanks for showing that spring is really around the corner!!!
What a gorgeous drive and I bet it smelled marvelous too!
Good morning. I too hate using plastic for so many things and have been trying to cut down. Recently another blogger talked about recycling our dog/cat food bags into reusable tote bags. I’ve been collecting my dog bags all winter because step one is to clean these bags out and I’ll want to do that outside. Anyway, if you Google “pet food totes” you get all kinds of links to sew them up. You know, some of these bags are awfully cute too!
I love reading your post! I’m so happy you enjoy photography as much as you do quilting!
We’ve always recycled, I’m thankful now our recycling is picked up weekly whereas in MD we had to do take our items to the landfill and only went once a month which I hated. For a while I stopped using plastic bags from the grocery store but have found a group here who use the bags in crafty projects for animal shelters!
The apple blossoms are so beautiful Carole, and I always enjoy your car club rides! Such wonderful cars! Great info and reminder about the recycling, such an important issue in our disposable culture.
Jenna
I’ve been recycling the milk jugs long before it was necessary. We do not have garbage pickup and always burned our garbage for years. We didn’t have to worry about disposable diapers as they were seldom used for our kids…and when they were, what a mess! Especially since they would not burn and the dogs would drag them out of the burn pile. So I hauled the many milk jugs to the one and only recycle place 25 miles away. After some years, recycling became mandatory in Minnesota…at least in the towns, but not in nearby South Dakota. Our little town has a recycle shed which is overflowing every week. We should have more than one. I am still working on my farmer husband to be more diligent but everything that’s possible is recycled at our home…including can labels. Even the food scraps get thrown into the cattle yard for the animals or the cats. The plain white backs of junk mail paper are used to make printer copies. Might as well save a tree!
Right now, we are finally seeing the end of our snow and in the midst of calving. We have had a few gorgeous days and yesterday I was able to kayak with friends on a small lake. The mud is gradually drying up and it will be time for gardening and hopefully sooner than later, the farmers will be busy planting corn and beans once again. It is lovely to see your beautiful apple tree blossoms. Driving in the mountains on a lovely day with open top would certainly make me smile.
Lovely country roads. We must get a pattern with Apple blossoms on a branch like one of your pics. Even in FL were are still getting days in low 70’s with very low humidity. We are getting less of them but thru are great. Enjoyed pretending to be in the car with you.. On recycling we are strong believers from the beginning of our marriage but what/why do they take only green bottles for instance or no greens bottles. I do not understand how it can vary so much from small town to own when we are all in the same county. So many questions and no reliable answers…..:(
I always love seeing where you go with your car club. My boys are so into cars lately and I am sure they would just love something like that. The scenery is beautiful and I am glad you wrote about plastic awareness. We have become such a throwaway society and plastic has polluted so much of our environment. Thank you for the reminder to use less and to recycle! Thanks also for linking up to Take Me Away this month!
Shelley