Cobble -

There is a waterfall not too far away from me where one can hike on a moonlit night and see a "moonbow." It is quite popular, but can't immediately think of the name of it. And, I don't remember if it is in East Tennessee or western North Carolina, but it is in the Great Smoky Mountains and well worth the walk.

As for unusual lifeforms: Although I knew what it was at the time, the size made this creature unusual. I was 8 years old and attending a girls camp in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas (1949). About halfway up a mountain, there was a pavilion with only an old upright piano and bench as permanent residents. Quite often local musicians would come in the evening and play square dance and old-time music for us. One evening, a couple of my friends and I were practicing square dancing. One girl, who could play piano a bit, wanted to try to play one of the songs. She called to me to look at the "funny looking tree limb" on the keyboard. It was a curious brown color and had oddly placed "branches." I reached out to pick it up. My small hand did not fit around the girth of the "limb." As I closed my fingers, the "tree limb" writhed and began to crawl away. It was a common "walking stick" insect, but was about two feet long. Neither before nor since have I seen one that was more than, oh, maybe 5 inches long. Summoned by screams of one of the "city" girls, a counselor ran up and beat it to death and beyond with her tennis shoe. How I wish we could have preserved it.

Mary