Weekend of Camping and Photography

Path through the woods leading to my camp site.

Friday night I spent the night in the woods, by myself except for my dog Duke.  I, the 'fraidy cat.  It was really dark out there.  The bugs were loud, and some lights kept going off -- bright enough to shine through the roof of my tent.  At first I thought it was a plane going overhead, but it was really fast.  Growing up on UFO stories, that was my next fleeting thought.  Yep!  Then I realized it was only lightening bugs, and a lot of them.  Wish I would have thought to try to photograph them.  

Anyway, this was my first experience camping alone, and I wanted to do it somewhere safe. So I asked my parents if I could borrow their woods (unknown to them, if I got scared, I could make a five or ten minute run through the dark to their house!  Except they let me borrow their chuck wagon that has headlights, so the trip wouldn't have been so long or so bad).  Really, I wanted to make sure I was in a semi-familiar area where it would be okay if I forgot something. And yes I forgot something -- my bug spray!  It fell out of my bag in the car, and today I am feeling the after effects.  Ouch!!  I think the next time I go camping I'm going to have to pack an air mattress.  I kept tossing and turning, but I did sleep.

Yes, I really camped here.  By myself.

Camp site in the woods.

My camping buddy, Duke.

One of the benefits of camping at my parents' place is feeling safe to walk through the woods.  There is no chance of getting lost back there.  And although they have seen coyotes, foxes, deer, turkey and bob cats, it's still relatively safe.  Unless you want to count the snakes we've seen (Mom and I killed a big one earlier this year -- I held it down and she killed it).  Hence, my dog/warning system.  Unfortunately, because of my dog there was little chance I would see any wild life, but that can be saved for another time.

Beautiful weed in the woods.  So -- who determines if something is a weed?

Along the edge of the woods.

Tissue thin mushroom in the woods.  Perfectly pleated.

One of the things I enjoy most about my parents' place is being able to take and share photographs.  I can take pictures of the woods, the fields, and the flower beds around the house, as well as the pond and the creek.  The choices are almost limitless.  And early Saturday morning that's just what I did.  You know, I find it hard to understand that some people believe everything happened by chance.  When you are out in nature it's quite obvious that there is a master design going on!  As an amateur photographer, all I do is try and capture what He designed.  

There was a path of morning glories growing in the woods.

Love the design -- perfect star shape.

Morning glories.

In the woods.

Mushrooms growing in the woods.

Fungi growing behind a tree, alongside the road.

Saturday morning I took my grandmother (who will be 85 this fall) for a ride on the four wheeler.  We had to stop for a gaggle of geese crossing the road.  She pointed out the geese on both sides. There were forty or fifty geese spread from the field, across the road and into the neighbor's pond.  My dog soon found the geese, and off they flew.  Too bad they don't come with a warning system to tell you they are about to fly away, I would have loved to have gotten some better pictures!  

My grandmother and I saw this gaggle of geese.  So did my dog...

This is the result.

Thunder storms had been predicted for Friday evening and again Saturday evening.  And although we didn't have any, there was a lot of cloud cover.  Which made for beautiful skies.

Clouds equal a beautiful sky.

My mother is an excellent gardener.  She likes fullness and variety, as evidenced below.  She takes after her grandmother who was also an avid gardener (she always saved strawberries for me).

Lantana, salvia, and roses.

Mom asked if I had any butterfly pictures.  I told her I didn't have many because the butterflies flew away too fast.  She made a suggestion, and this is what followed:

Butterfly in the lantana.

I can't get over the color of these day lilies!  I love them mixed with the mini roses and grasses.  The best part is that when it's time to divide the day lilies, some of them go home with me!

Mom's day lilies, with mini roses and grasses.

My parents know the importance of taking a break every once in a while.  This is one of the shady spots they created by Daddy and my brother's building the arbor and hanging the ceiling fan, and mom's use of plants to make a cool, inviting place to relax.  It was nice to sit here and work on the computer some.

Wonderful place to relax anytime of the day.  Here in the steamy hot South, it's better with the ceiling fan on!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend yourself!

Reese

Photo Story -- Simple Things

Sometimes the simple things get our attention.  Like these daisies growing alongside the road.  I was on my way to my parents' place in the country Friday evening, where I was going to spend the night with my grandmother and then help my mother do yard work on Saturday.  I had noticed daisies out in the fields and thought it might be good to ride back out Saturday morning withMom to get pictures.  When I came to my parents' road, I pulled in and got out of my car -- with my camera.  And there, on the side of the road with my backside to passersby, I knelt down and took pictures of these daisies. 

Saturday morning I was awakened by a downpour.  Thunder was rolling and lightning was flashing, and you could hear the rain pounding on my grandmother's roof and windows. It was only 5 a.m. and I am not an early riser, so I snuggled down under the covers and dozed until time to get up.  I figured with all that rain Mom and I would have a mess working in the garden. 

 What we did was get up and roam around taking pictures.  I am a shutterbug, but Mom is the QUEEN shutterbug in our family.  Not to leave her out, my sister is the QUEEN of taking Mom's photos and turning them into awesome photo books (check out BLURB for ideas for yourself or your family and friends).  Mom had a new lens she wanted to try out.  A macro lens so she could get great close ups.  She normally doesn't use a tripod, but for Saturday's photos she did.  I on the other hand almost always use a tripod because I can't seem to hold my camera steady.  And I forgot to take it with me for the weekend!  Back to the rain -- it made for some beautiful photos!

I told Mom about the daisies and we loaded the chuck wagon with our cameras and camera bags, and up the road we went.  Mom saw thistle alongside the road and said we needed to make sure to go back and get some shots.  It's amazing how you can just lose track of everything else around you when you are taking photos. 

On our way back we pulled over to the side of the road and here are some of the shots I came up with.  Remember I mentioned I forgot my tripod?  I sure was wishing I had it!  But I like to get ground level shots, so it really wouldn't have done me any good.  In any case, I kept kneeling down, and once landed on thistle.  I came up in a hurry!  Probably just my imagination, but I itched and burned for a little while... But look at these pictures.  Some of these plants had both solid purple a yellow/purple blooms on the same plant.

Across the road from the thistle was a stand of grass Mom was interested in.  I was fortunate enough to be able to get this shot with the stormy sky as a backdrop.  But I had to get down almost into the ditch to do it.  Oh well, I had planned to get dirty in the garden later on, anyway.

Again, sometimes the simple things are what catch your eye.  Like these blackberry vines growing alongside the road.  Mom said she needed to have Daddy get rid of them, but first she wanted pictures!  She's right, they were pretty.

Mom's azaleas are in full bloom right now.  She has the reblooming kind, the kind with large blossoms.  Mine bloomed a few weeks earlier than hers.  Mine only bloom once, and have very small blossoms covering the plants. 

Some of the irises have started to bloom.  This variety is very tall (3' - 4' tall, maybe a little taller), with slender leaves that look more like grass than the traditional fan of leaves a lot of irises have.  I think this is called a flag iris.  The irises in my grandmother's yard should be blooming soon.  I believe hers came from her sister.   

Another knock out rose.  I finally figured out how to get closeups with my camera.  I had tried to get physically close to the subject, but all I got was blur.  I couldn't seem to get the camera to focus.  I finally discovered that I could back up a good distance, then zoom in 50x - 80x and get a good closeup.  Now I'm excited and want to do everything closeup.  Maybe I really should sit down and read the book that came with the camera...

Wigelia shrub growing in my grandmother's yard.  It's almost bloomed out, and a lot of the blossoms were becoming spotted, but they still made a good subject.

At the privacy fence between my parents' yard and my grandmother's yard sits this church birdhouse.  I couldn't resist the shot -- I love how the spiderwort sets off the gray of the wood.  By the way, my mother planted and takes care of the extensive gardens in BOTH of these yards.  I spend my Saturdays (and my sons when they are with me) helping out during the early months of the year.  After the end of April everything will be pretty much finished until next year.  My Mom is a big fan of perennials (they come back every year) so a lot of what we do is transplant or divide, etc.  The plants do the filling in for themselves.

You know, my sister, Mom, grandmother and I were downtown after church yesterday afternoon.  We went to the Greater Montgomery Home Builders Show (my Dad had a booth for his business).  Once finished, we decided to tour the downstairs of the Renaissance Hotel which opens into the convention center where the GMHBA event was held.  On the walls of the hotel are hung photos and paintings, and collections of fine porcelain, etc.  I noticed under one nature photo this caption: "Designed by Nature".  How about this caption:  "Created by GOD"?

Hope you have a great week and a wonderful Easter this coming Sunday.  Don't forget why we celebrate.  Just like Spring brings all things new, so does a new life in the risen Christ!

Reese
 

Weekends in the Country

Before my sons and I moved to town, we had five acres of land in the country. We had a barn, horses, dogs, cats and even donkeys at one time.  A pond was in the front, we had lots of oak trees, plenty of shade, and peace and quiet.  I thought I would live there forever!  Then came divorce, extreme tension between parties, and it was advised by my dad that we move to a safer area, along with a better school system.  What I thought I was giving up, I found was made up in many ways.  I no longer had the sole responsibility of keeping up a large piece of land.  I was able to focus on maintaining a much smaller lot in a subdivision, and have been able to do extensive gardening and landscaping.  What was once a chore has now become a pleasure.  And I still get my jaunts into the country any time I please.  I just get on the Interstate and travel about 30 minutes south to my parents' place.  There they have everything we had, plus more!  I love sharing photos and tales of goings on in the country, and I hope you enjoy them, too.

This past Friday night I spent the night with my grandmother, whose home adjacent to my parents'. Mom called and told me to be up at 7:00 so we could go take pictures. We both woke up late! I couldn't imagine what we were going to photograph so early in the morning, but I was ready before she was. We climbed in her car and set off down the road in search of -- something. She was looking for a field of wild lilys that was growing near the railroad tracks. We never found them, but I found lilys in her garden and in the pastures surrounding the house, which I photographed later in the afternoon. 

This wisteria is only a few years old. But it has grown so well over mom's pergola covering her patio. Wish you could have smelled it this weekend! And the bees -- constantly humming... 

While I was waiting on Mom I took pictures of the sunrise.  There was  a soft glow coming from behind the woods to the east, and I wanted a picture of that with Mom's garden in the front.  I got several, which I might share later.  


I also wandered around the house and took in the sights and smells, especially the smells coming from the wisteria that grows up, on and over the huge pergola over the patio.  There was an intense buzzing going on from the countless bumble bees.  The smell was incredible!  And not only was there beauty from above, the fallen petals on the patio floor were pretty, too.  I picked up a handful to see if there was any scent left to them, thinking if there was they would make a nice potpourri, but the smell was gone.  Every time I walked anywhere close to the wisteria that day the scent was amazing!


Of course I didn't take pictures all day!  By 8:30 after sharing morning coffee with my parents, my Mom and I were out in the yard.  First on the list was a wheelbarrow full of compost.  If you live on a farm you know you can get some really good compost.  Such excellent dirt!  And it's needed in Mom's garden, because she has CLAY, and nothing you want to grow will grow well in clay.

Mom not only likes the traditional flowers you see in a garden, but wild flowers as well. Her garden is not formal, just relaxed and inviting. 

After Mom and I finished the yard chores for the day, I grabbed my camera and wandered around taking pictures.  

Lilies of the field -- doesn't that remind you of verses in the Bible ...(Luke 12:27)?  Mom brought it up, and she's right.  Lilys were  growing in the wooded area of the flower beds, where I took pictures of them nestled against an iron rabbit. Then I walked into the pasture.  I was specifically hoping to get some shots of the horses and ponies in the middle of the lilies, but they wouldn't have  anything to do with it.  So I took shots of what I had.  

I had to keep moving so this little pony would be far enough away to photograph.  
Curious little thing!

I was tired after working all day in the yard with mom, so I just plopped down on the ground and decided to get some ground level shots of the horses and ponies. Quite a different perspective.  The dark pony was inquisitive, probably wondering what I was doing sitting on the ground.  I turned my back to him once to get the above shot of the single lily, and felt something woofing and nibbling on my feet.   

This is Cherokee, mom's horse. She is absolutely beautiful, with a personality to match! 

I'm looking forward to what I might see in the upcoming weeks.  Hope you have an enjoyable and relaxing weekend!

Reese

Photos from Mom's Garden

Mom's daffodils

As you may have read previously, I live in Central Alabama where Spring comes very early.  I have had daffodils in my garden for a month now, and tulips are coming up.  The fragrance of hyacinths blooming by my front door is heavenly.  I have had a few azalea blossoms, but nothing like three years ago when my shrubs were covered in pink.  Of course pansies, the Winter standby,  have been in bloom since last Fall.

This past Saturday my sons and I went to my parents' place in the country.  I never go without my camera because there is always something to see.  And sure enough, mom had flowers blooming everywhere!  Jasmine was draped over and hanging off trellises, giving off their vanilla scent.  Roses were not blooming, but were putting out new leaves.  Azaleas were beginning to show flowers.  And the vinca!  Wow, it was growing everywhere! 

And look what was poking up through the mulch -- new ferns. 

It really looks like a miniature forest when you get down on their level.  

Isn't it amazing to see how "tied up" the new leaves look? 

You know, my mom transplanted this vinca (pictured below) a few years ago from a hidden cemetery not far from their home.  Now the area beside her patio is a blanket of blue and green.  

You can't say that God doesn't love design...

Hope you enjoyed the new Spring photos!  Oh, one of the best parts of going to the country is that I get to work in the garden.  Saturday was spent moving cannas from one area to another.  Plus I got to take home rose clippings which I potted Sunday afternoon, and elephant ears that mom no longer wanted. 

Reese

So glad that God makes all things new...