Category: Knoxville
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My Favorite Mushrooms!
Walking in the neighborhood. About a block and a half from my East Knoxville house in Tennessee — these bodacious mushrooms: Almost couldn’t believe the brazen boldness of these fungi! Just to capture the sense of scale, I plunked my hat down amongst them, along with the red hand-weights I was pumping. For anyone curious,…
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Synchronized Fireflies of the Smoky Mountains
Just saw my first summer fireflies within the past week or two. They come out, here in East Tennessee, sometime in June. Now that July has arrived, so have they, in full force. This fractal picture I drew may be stylized, but it does depict the way these beautiful insects cluster around vegetation. In the…
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Heron Now! a magic photo moment
Not every critter associated with the Knoxville Zoo resides there in an official capacity. There’s a large gray heron I’m pretty sure nests on or around the zoo property. Apparently in the wooded buffer that surrounds the exhibits. UPDATE: More bird magic! See below for my mourning dove image capture! The heron hangs out at the Chilhowee…
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A Knoxville Springtime
With winter receding, I spring to my camera to catch the first flowers. Although Cheri and I work hard at surrounding our house with flowers, the biggest and best displays involve no work at all. They just happen, courtesy of our trees: a Bradford pear along the street, and two large apple trees at the…
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Knoxville Snow: First of 2014
Knoxville got hit this week with its first real snow of 2014. Shutterbug that I am, I couldn’t wait to document it with photos. Here they are! UPDATE: The snowfall pictured above, the week of January 29, was followed on February 12 by a much deeper and heavier snow. For comparison: Except for the animated…
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Happy Valentine’s Day
Dear friends and readers, Happy Valentine’s Day to you all. You are one and all loved by at least one very Astonished Tamale! Here’s hoping every one of you also is loved deeply and intensely by someone you love just as much. Speaking of astonishment: We’re pleased to note that for the second year in…
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Where We Left Off
“What’s going on with the Tamale?” Thus inquired my friend Patricia, just last night. As a subscriber to The Astonished Tamale!, she no doubt was puzzled at not having gotten any updates for the past four-and-and-half months. Okay, fasten your seat belts: It was May 8-9 when Zabine Van Ness and I returned to Seattle…
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Knoxville: Lover’s Lane for the Prematurely Old?
Can America’s most geriatric city top our nation’s “hot to trot” list? Yes, we can! Let’s contrast two hot-off-the-press news flashes: ITEM ONE: It’s official: During the run-up to Valentine’s Day 2012, we learn that America’s most romantic city is Knoxville, Tennessee, home of the famous Astonished Tamale! (Also the University of Tennessee Lady Vols, manytime national…