Pineville, NC, a suburb of Charlotte, NC, was our home from 2001-2018. We commuted from Pineville, NC to our public school teaching jobs in Rock Hill, SC, a 30 mile commute. Driving through the big city traffic after teaching all day was grueling. We celebrated arriving home in one piece by sitting on the back deck, sipping on some wine and watching the birds. We looked forward to this peaceful time of day together.
I have uploaded several videos taken from our back deck overlooking Little Sugar Creek. The creek is a tributary of the Catawba River. A narrow strip of land along the creek is protected from development. Over the years we watched from the back deck as the open fields across the creek became filled with housing developments. The narrow strip of protected land provided just enough habitat to support the local wildlife. Migratory birds traveled through the area each fall and spring. A nature trail from downtown Charlotte to the NC/SC state line along the creek was under construction when we retired and relocated to Arkansas in late 2018.
We built a fence around the tiny garden below the back deck. Patricia developed the garden into a beautiful refuge over the years. Whenever we were off work, we spent many hours gardening along with wood carving and cutting and shaping stone. The back deck and tiny fenced in garden provided just enough habitat for us to maintain our sanity.
