In unmown yards and along roadsides across the mountains, there will sprout a delightful fall treasure that is among the last native wildflowers to bloom in the season. Ladies’ tresses orchids (Spiranthes spp.) spiral their way out of the ground to grow in full sun, even as the seasonal changes bring lower and less intense sunlight. 

Hello from the Cantina Laredo in Terminal T of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. It’s Sunday, 8:29 p.m. I’ve just consumed two overpriced Michelob Ultra drafts and one giant chicken quesadilla (hadn’t eaten all day). In this moment, I decided to use my layover time to write this here column for you readers (yes, you).  

To the Editor:

In compliance with Executive Order 14253, an official sign has now been posted in the Oconaluftee Visitors Center of our beloved (and already beleaguered) Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and, I presume, at all of the hundreds of other sites overseen by the National Park Service.

More than two centuries after William Bartram explored the Southern Appalachian foothills, his words, like his footsteps, still echo through the ridgelines and river valleys he once traversed.  

If you are driving or walking in the woods in the higher elevations of Western North Carolina at this time of year, you may be treated to the most beautiful explosion of deeply pink azalea flowers blooming in profusion all throughout the woods. And it’s not just any old azalea, but it’s a special and rare species that are often be taken for granted. 

Early October, and these mountains are already beginning to put on their glorious garments of autumn. A splash of red here or orange there, the green sleeves of many trees shading to yellow. In just a few weeks, we will be treated to that familiar splendor that beckons tens of thousands of people to get in their cars every year and drive for hours or even days just to get a glimpse of it. 

The Haywood County Arts Council’s (HCAC) latest exhibit, “Textures,” will run through Sept. 1 at the HCAC gallery on Main Street in downtown Waynesville. 

The Haywood County Arts Council’s (HCAC) latest exhibit, “Textures,” will run through Sept. 1 at the HCAC gallery on Main Street in downtown Waynesville. 

Please don’t get me wrong, I love the orchids of springtime. Love them. They tend to be as big and showy and beautiful as springtime itself.  Ladyslipper orchids, both yellow and pink (Cypripedium acaule and C. parviflorum) and showy orchis (Galearis spectabilis) are certainly beautiful and fun to see blooming in the woods in the spring.  

It was another ordinary day when I swung by the public library on my way to town. I picked out a couple of DVDs I needed — “Groundhog Day” and “Ghosts” — and then drifted along the “New Arrivals” bookshelves, browsing the authors and titles.