Madi: After the hoe down....

What a great time I had at the hoe down. Thanks everyone for coming by last night

to watch me demonstrate the hokey pokey. I hope you all have been practicing it today.

Who knew a barn had so much

dirt in it? Mom had to brush me good to get all the hay out of my fur.

My little paws never touch dirt so there is a lot of licking and grooming to do.

There are some creepy looking things between my tootsies.

Mom did you know about all the dirt in the barn?
Oh gross what is that on my heel?

Note from Mom: Our power has been off for 3 hours this afternoon. Thankfully

Mom had already prepared today's post. Good news is while the power was off all

the neighbors were outside talking. Mom had her camera. She needs to cook

supper so she doesn't have time to download the pictures but come by tomorrow to

meet some new furiends she met this afternoon.

New puppies are all over our cul-de-sac.

Madi and Mom

Madi is Back with a Cat-atude

I'm back from a blog hiatus. Mom took it over I had no choice. I'll be going to a hoe down this weekend so while I was gone I practiced dancing the Hokey Pokey. I've never been to a hoe down, but I hear it is fun, held in a barn, food galore, lots of places to hide, cute cat men and there could be mice....yippee what more can a cat woman ask for?

It goes something like this...

Thanks to Jack and TG for asking an interesting question about front or back legs. For safety reasons all puppies and kitties please only use your front legs when doing the hokey pokey

first you hold your tail high and shake it all about

put your tail as low as it will go...

put your left foot out and shake it all about while winking at the cute cat men...

put your left foot in to hide your toesies

put your right foot out and shake it all about
while watching yourself with laser eyes

you take your right foot in, close your eyes half way to appear very uninterested
in the entire dance

turn yourself around and shake what your mama gave you

That my friends that is what the hokey pokey is all about on a Friday night.

Afterwards, a girl acts very coy as she tries to attract all the cat men in the barn.

Yours truly Madi....
Mom says she promises never to take over my blog for 3 days again because all I do is get in to mischief.

Friday: Flowers and Gardens of Biltmore Estates

Biltmore Estate Greenhouse and grounds

The gardens are fabulous all year...obviously more variety and colorful in Spring and Summer

You may click on each picture to enlarge it.

Greenhouse roof line

Enormous trunk of a Purple leaf European Beech Tree

on the grounds of Biltmore

inside the greenhouse I found an assortment of plants I had never seen or heard of

below is a Lollipop Plant

Shrimp Plant

I couldn't find an id tag on this one but I LOVE PURPLE

Table of orchids

The outside gardens were filled with colorful mums

Madi: Mom has the blog a few days

The Biltmore Estate is breathtaking inside and out. My pictures only capture a little of the grandeur of the outside of the home and grounds. Photography is not allowed inside the home.

Biltmore is the largest privately owned home in the United States. It has four acres of floor space which include 255 rooms, 33 family and guest bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, three kitchens, indoor swimming pool and bowling alley. It sits on 125,000 acres of forests, 250 acre wooded park, 5 pleasure gardens, and 30 miles of roadway. It was built by George Vanderbilt. He and his wife Edith had one child Cornelia she married John Cecil in 1924. They had two sons. The home is still owned and managed by the younger son, Willliam A. V. Cecil's family. You may enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.

This picture was taken with my panorama function about 1/4 mile away from the home.

This is a side view


Front view of the left side the slanted windows are on the staircase, also note the observatory at the top. It is reached from a spiral staircase inside the library. Special tours included a bird's eye view from this point.


First hint of some color that will probably peak by early next week. I was actually very surprised by the lack of fall foilage. Many of the trees were already shedding their leaves.

Great Smoky Mountains taken from the back deck of Biltmore using my panorama function

Each morning we were there we awoke to thick fog and below freezing temps. By about 8 am

the sun was burning the fog away as seen in this picture of the sun just hitting the mountains

As we traveled from Bryson City (about 45 minutes west of Asheville) we would see very interesting cloud formations and fog

Below is a picture of what we thought was snow but it isn't. We were told it is 'rim ice'.

Neither my husband nor I had heard of that before. It is heavy fog over the mountains. It freezes on the ground and trees causing rim ice. October 17 the first snow of the season was reported on Mt. Mitchell. Parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway were closed. We were not able to go on the Parkway in the morning because of heavy fog.

Biltmore Winery opened in 1985. Although one of the youngest wineries in America, it is the most visited and acclaimed, having earned more than 700 awards since its opening

I found the champange bottling room to be quite interesting.

No matter how many times we visit Asheville we always take a side trip to The Grove Park Inn.

We've never stayed there many because we cannot justify paying the $$$$ for the room that we will only sleep in. There is just too much to do in Asheville.

This is one of the many fireplaces in The Grove Park. What you cannot see is this pictures is multitude of guests in leather chairs, on leather couches, in rockers and at the many tables enjoying a snack on a cold afternoon.

This is a picture from the back of the Inn. The front section of the roof is under maintenace.

The stone stairs you see lead down to their world class Spa. During Christmas each of the front windows of the Inn has a Christmas Tree. Each tree has a different theme. The public is allowed into see all the trees or dine. Our favorite place to have lunch is on the back balcony which is under the short roof below on the left.

Madi thank you for once again sharing your blog with me.

Madi will be back on Saturday.

Madi Reporting: Peeps are BACK from the Hills

Hi Friends....thanks so much for all your nice comments and concerns during my recent

"HOME ALONE" experience. I was able to cope quite nicely with the help of Miss Debbie from Pet Pleasers.

Here I am this afternoon, what is that I hear...possibly Miss Debbie. No it is my Mom and Dad returning from the hills after their 2 day R&R. They must have missed me because the first thing I hear is Madi, Madi where are you. Here I am Mom and Dad I missed you both so much.

I gallop down the stairs as best I can...you see I've eaten quite well in their absence..

In fact the last line of Miss Debbie's note went as follows: "Madi has been most pleased with her Fancy Feast". My motto is, live to eat not eat to live!!!

Mom says Madi we thought of you a lot while we were gone especially when we saw this

big 'kitty' sitting outside the grand and glorious Biltmore Estate.
Mom told me they saw lots of dogs while they were in the hills on R&R. Seems dogs get to go lots more places than cats. After several sightings of Bloodhounds in and around Asheville, Mom came to the conclusion that the Bloodhound was the pooch of choice in the hills. She said this one was the easiest one to take a picture of as they were stuck behind him and his peep for several miles. Mom said she thought he might have been on lookout for the hills...

I heard Mom talking to my 'grandma' on the phone about their trip. I really don't think Mom has much room to talk about my eating habits while they were away. Below are a few pictures of the first of many of the fine meals they had while they were away. The Stable Cafe is right inside the main entrance after entering the Biltmore estates. Originally it was home to all the fine horses owned by the Vanderbilts, now it is a fine cafe where all the visitors can dine

the interior design has not been greatly changed from when it was a 'stable'...but Mom did
assure me there were no horses insight. She said it was quite lovely now and very shiny and clean

I really don't see how Mom can say much about my eating habits while she was away...below is a picture of the lunch she and Dad had after touring the Biltmore House. She tried to justify all the calories by saying, 'but Madi we walked all over the Biltmore Grounds after we ate.

I said well Mom I ran up and down the stairs several times a day while you were gone so there.

The below is a picture of the lunch they 'shared'. It was a Carolina Platter for two (??).

Mom said the platter had the most scrumptious rotissiare chicken she has ever eaten, bbq pork ribs, pulled bbq pork, collards, green chile corn pudding, cole slaw, homemade bread and butter pickles and fabulous cornbread. You would think the two peeps would be STUFFED....

NOPE.......

They also ordered dessert!!!! Normally they share but Dad said we're in the hills getting some R&R lets each get a different dessert...so they did. Mom ordered pumpkin cheese cake and Dad ordered Apple Struedel with homemade vanilla ice cream.

As you can see, a good time was had by all the first day of their visit to the hills.

Mom will post pictures of 'the hills' and of their visit to Biltmore Estates and Gardens over the next few days.