Blue Ridge Parkway, Cascades paintings, and Blue Ridge Discovery Center News!

 

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist

Be sure to click on my newest video about The Cascades and other beautiful scenes with water!

I took a break from my new Pawleys Island series to paint the gorgeous Cascades waterfall in Giles County, VA.  This beautiful site is one of the most popular attractions of  The Jefferson National Forest and I have made the two mile hike to the falls many times .

The hike is two miles and it is mostly up so I know I will be tired but it is worth it.  The pool below the falls is icy cold but that never stopped me from swimming in it.   I spent many summers vacationing at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and the water there is always cold.

I am very pleased with the painting!  I think I captured the energy of the falls and the beautiful, serene setting with a subtle light effect that emphasizes the warm/cool color contrast. 

Cascades in Giles County     Original  24"x20" Oil Painting    $960

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

Here are the latest Special Promotions!    40% off with a 30 day money back guarantee that includes shipping fee! 

 

Cloud Swirl over The Peaks of Otter is on special all September! Click on KENDALL KESSLER ART and then on Mountain Landscapes.  Click on Cloud Swirl over The Peaks of Otter and on the 24" x 36" Canvas print selection for the special rate!

Peaks of Otter     Original  18"x 24"  Oil Painting    $864

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at     KENDALL KESSLER

Burning Shore  Original painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at     KENDALL KESSLER

Eagle Fire    Original 16"x 20" Oil Painting       $670

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at     KENDALL KESSLER

 Life with The Bird and Word Man - Clyde Kessler

Clyde is traveling to Independence, VA today to meet with the Board of Directors of The Blue Ridge Discovery Group!  Lots of great events to be planned!  Don't miss tomorrow's hike! 

Blue Ridge Expeditions: Hike Brushy Mountain North of Crandon

Sat, September 13, 12am – Sun, September 14, 12am

 

 

Where	Applachain Trail, Brushy Mountain north of Crandon map
Calendar	BRDC Web Calendar
Created by	aaron@blueridgediscoverycenter.org
Description	September 13th on Brushy mountain north of Crandon. All hikes are on the famed Appalachian Trail, a 2,200 mile footpath from Georgia to Maine, completed in 1937.

I hope you enjoyed by painting of The Cascades in Giles County by an artist of The Blue Ridge Parkway!

Blue Ridge Parkway Ghost Story near Asheville and Our 24/7 Ant Diner

My Artwork

Pawleys Island Cormorant Morning   Original 30"x40" Oil Painting     $2430

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

Before I married Clyde I didn't know a cormorant from an osprey!  He has taught me a lot and I am proud of this latest shore painting!

Cheers    Original 9"x12" Oil Painting      $226

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

A Cheerful Still life!

I found another great ghost story on  Local Asheville Ghost Stories website!                             

Battle Mansion is located near The Grove Park Inn.  Supposedly, it is haunted by a servant girl named Alice.

They say she either fell or was pushed down the stairs.  The mansion is also haunted by the former owner, Samuel Battle.  He has been seen wearing a top hat and formal attire.

When the mansion was the location of 13WLOSTV Alice was often seen by employees.  She wears a long, old fashioned dress.  Sarah Harrison, the writer of this report talked with two employees of Grove Park Inn and one of them swore that some wires hanging from the ceiling were swaying back and forth on their own.  

The other worker said he was grabbed when he walked down the stairs. The man that grabbed him fit the description of Samuel Battle.  He was presented a picture of the doctor and is sure of his claim. 

SPOOKY!

The mansion was demolished in 2006.

Life with The Word and Bird Man - Clyde Kessler

Kessler Ant Diner -  Open 24/7!

Every year when the weather gets warm we have hoard of ants in our kitchen.  We have tried everything to get rid of them without success.  Ant traps don't work and we have tried a number of safe remedies that work at first and then the ants are back in full force.  

One summer talcom powder did the trick for a while and then they were back.

This summer we have a remedy that consists of putting a few drops of a glucose solution with poison on small squares of paper.  The ants eat the solution and take the poison back to the nest.  This one was working great for a while!

Now they are all just sitting in a circle around the drops having a great time!

Blue Ridge Parkway Terror Town and How Many Poets does it take to Change a Light Bulb?

 My Artwork

Summer Path at Rock Castle Gorge   Original 30"x40" Oil Painting   $2425

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at  KENDALL KESSLER ART

Violet Rocky Knob Evening   Original 16"x20" Oil Painting     $640

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at  KENDALL KESSLER ART

Wildflowers by a Blue Ridge Sunset  Original Painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

Blue Ridge Parkway Terror Town

Located 1 mile past Zooland Campground on Pisgah Covered Bridge Road outside of Asheville (.5 mile past Forest Hills). There is old farmland there with a number of hauntings that have been reported over the years. The farm is made up of about 18 acres with several farmhouses scattered throughout.

A little girl's voice is heard deep in the forest. A boy who hung himself there haunts the upper farm.
An old lady and her husband haunt one of the houses. Her brother died in the woods near the house and can now be heard singing at night while he makes moonshine.

A shadow of a black horse has been seen running through the woods and then vanishes.

There is a company who uses the location now for a haunted attraction called Terror Town so it is very easy to access during hours when they are there working. One of the staff lives at the park so don't try to visit this one without permission.

I found this story on The Blue Ridge Parkway Guide online publication

Life with The Word and Bird Man -Clyde Kessler

THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A SLUR ON MY HUSBAND OR OTHER POETS!  IT IS JUST A FUNNY INCIDENT.

How many poets does it take to change a light bulb?  In this case  - none.  An electrician was called in to do the job.

The other day my husband replaced the bulb in our porch light.   Later, he turned on the light and it didn't work so he turned the switch off so he could see if the bulb was broken.  As soon as he touched the bulb it shattered into a zillion little pieces.

As luck would have it we had already arranged to have an electrician over to work on a broken ceiling fan so he checked the circuit to make sure nothing was wrong with the light fixture.  It was just a faulty bulb!

Blue Ridge Parkway Pink Lady and Apple Turnover...

My Artwork

Evening Peace    Original 18'X23" Oil Painting     $843

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

Country Sunset  Original 8"x10" Oil Painting      $168

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

Huckleberry Line Trail  Original Oil Painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

The Pink Lady of the Grove Park Inn

Asheville's Grove Park Inn has a reputation as one of North Carolina's premiere hotels. First opened in 1913, the Grove Park was built by Edwin Wiley Grove and his friend and Son-In-Law Thomas Seely. Grove had made a fortune selling Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic throughout the South. Asheville and the nearby towns were popular health resorts at the time, and when grove visited Asheville on his doctor's advice he decided to stay.

Soon, he and Seely began construction on the inn, designed to rival the finest hotels in America. George Gerhswin, Harry Houdini, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and even President Obama have all stayed at the Grove Park. Known for its elegance and comfort, the Grove Park hosts several world-class restaurants and a superior spa on site.

It's a beautiful, relaxing, romantic inn that you would never want to leave. And, according to legend, one guest never did.

The Pink Lady is the Grove Park Inn's resident and much-loved phantom. This kindly spirit has been seen and felt in the halls of the Inn for nearly a hundred years. She is said to be the spirit of a young woman who fell to her death from a balcony on the fifth floor of the Inn in the 1920s. She is usually seen in the form of a pink mist, or sometimes as a full-fledged apparition of a young woman in a pink ball gown.

There are various stories about who this young lady was and how she met her end. Some say that she had come to the Inn for a clandestine evening with married lover, and who threw herself from the balcony when he called an end to their affair. Others say she was a young debutante who accidentally slipped and fell to her death.

Whatever her origins, The Pink Lady is agreed to be a good-natured, even a kind spirit. She seems to particularly enjoy the company of children, and seems a little more willing to reveal herself to them than to adults. She has been seen by the beds of children who were taken ill during a stay at the Inn, speaking softly to them and gently stroking their hands.

In one famous case, a doctor who had been staying with his family at the Grove Park left a note when he checked out asking the staff to thank the lady in the pink ball gown, and that his children told him how much they enjoyed playing with her during their stay.

The Ghost of the Pink Lady is also said to enjoy playing small pranks. She's been blamed for lights, air conditioners, and other electrical devices turning on and off by themselves. She seems to enjoy rearranging objects in the rooms.

It's also been said that she'll occasionally wake up a sleeping guest with a good tickling on the feet.

While she has been seen all around the Inn, the spirit seems particularly attached to room 545. According to tradition it was from the balcony off of this room that the young woman fell to her death.

The Inn's employees are used to the presence of The Pink Lady, and treat her as just another part of the tradition of the grand old hotel.

How to Get There

The Grove Park Inn is located at 290 Macon Avenue in Asheville. The Inn is open year-round, reservations are recommended.

I got this great story from Stories from the Mountains. I usually paraphrase what I find, but this time I printed the whole tale!  It is such a great one!

Life with The Word and Bird Man - Clyde Kessler

When you live with a writer, word play is the order of every day.  We were watching the news when a commercial came on about apple turnovers.  

Of course, my husband couldn't resist saying, "Why did the apple turn over?  That cracked me up and I wanted to include it in my blog but, as always, he checked the internet to see if this joke was already around.  

 It is and the answer is great!  The apple turned over to see the banana split!