Mountaintop Retreat

After the wedding on Sea Island, I retraced my steps back to Chicago, following the bread crumbs home through Atlanta. This time, with no traffic to piss me off, I whipped through in half an hour. On a whim, I called friends from my advertising past to see if they might want to get together for lunch or something, when I got to Chattanooga. They've lived all over, the North, the South, the Midwest, even Australia, but now they have an 80-year old stone house on top of a mountain in Tennessee. 

Here's the view from the back patio of the house, looking out at 

the Tennessee River and a profile of Lookout Mountain

 This bird is perched on top of an antique cage

This was the view from my room just after sunrise, 
before the cloud cover lifted from the valley below.

Here's several pictures from inside and outside the house. 
This is a collection of birds' nests, preserved under bell jars in many cases.

 My friend was an advertising art director when we worked together at a "large, multi-national, full-service agency." Like most ADs, she's also an artist.

This is one of her rescue dogs, which is half Chinese Sharpei.

 This determined ground cover found a place to live outside the door to my room.

This is a great room off the kitchen that looks over the patio and down into the valley.

The front door to the house is to the left. 
This is looking up to the second floor from the foyer.

This is the hallway to the guest wing where I stayed.

Just one of the warm and cozy bedrooms throughout the house. 
I lost track of how many there were.

This is one of several items going to an antique shop to be sold. 
I thought it looked interesting on that ledge. I shot it from behind 
because it has a cartoonish Rudolph-the-Red-Nosed-Reindeer nose.

 There were wonderful sets of antique dinnerware. These plates and 
cups were in the kitchen off my guest room.

 I loved the detail of the stonework. 

You need a personal water tower when you live on top of a mountain. 
That's my rental car giving the neighborhood a bad name.

 Detail of the back of the house, which goes on forever. 

The candle chandelier is a nice touch, don't you think?

 Even more detail of the back of the house. 
I think these steps lead to one of the bedrooms.

 These are just some of the antique maps and books on display.