Springtime on the Eastside

   The Daughter has a wonderful neighbor who in addition to serving as friend and surrogate grandmother is an author, photographer and artist of note. Sometimes she spies Little One and Brother in the yard and grabs her camera to capture some magic. Yesterday was one of those days. Beautiful. Balmy. Nearly summer but for the magnificent tulips and flowering trees still lending their colorful majesty to each day. Today it's another story altogether. Dogwood winter. Whatever. Just plain cold. But yesterday...see for yourself. Bare feet. Bare arms and lots of precious smiles to go around.

 Can you see the butterfly on her finger? 

Windy day!

A rock, a red tree and a carpet of flowers at your feet. It's spring in Tennessee!

 Ring around the rosie...this dress is one that I made for Little One's mother many moons ago!

 Peep Eye...

 My sweet girl with her boy

And one more for the road...

Brother checking out the neighbor's ride...

Thank you Marjie for sharing the love!

Beauty Everywhere

   It was a day like no other. The weather was nothing short of perfect. Brilliant sunshine. A cool but gentle tree-ruffling breeze. Temperatures in the sixties. The hint of fall in the air. Lots of golden afternoon light bathing everything in its warm glow. I know that I was not alone in thinking that heaven itself had bent low to create a magnificent day for this special Bride and Groom. There was beauty everywhere you turned. And none more lovely than the radiance of the Bride and Groom.

 
    It is obvious from these photographs that I am not a professional photographer. Below you can see the real photographer at work doing what she does best...capturing those special moments. I stayed out of the way but managed to get some sweet moments between the Bride and Groom.

Who doesn't love the way that a Bride and Groom look at each other?

The Mother of the Groom, my Baby Sister. Isn't she lovely?

The two Mommas...

 The wedding was held at the lovely Windermere Golf Club outside of Atlanta, GA

 No Auburn wedding would be complete without a Toomer's Corner Groom's Cake. 

Wouldn't you agree?!

More to follow!

Sanctuary

    I'm not exactly one hundred percent sure that I know where this place is. That's the downside of using a navigation system to get from Point A to Point B. You don't have to map out a course, read a map, or figure out the most economical or most advantageous route to your intended destination. You just turn your brain off and listen to the computer-generated voice as she gets you from here to there. And that's exactly what I did. With my eyes open, of course.
   But oh my. When I traveled the backroads of Georgia, I had no idea that I was on my way to another version of heaven. But I was.
   Lake Lanier. A house (thank you Polly and John) for a week with my sisters. Time to pull things together for an upcoming wedding. Time to unwind. Time to relax. Time to laugh. Time to cry. Time to pray. A few of my favorite things in the whole wide world.
   I've always thought I was a beach person. Now I'm not so sure.

 

For the Love of Green

    One of the things I love best about late summer is the lush panoply of green it offers as a visual feast to those who take the time to stop and look. All that green somehow leaves me satiated and satisfied. This year we have had so much rain that nature and her display of green are dazzling in both their intensity and variety. Even the grass in my yard has fared well. Instead of the withered stalks that August usually offers, I am finding new growth of verdant shoots poking up each day.

    In just a month or so, the leaves will begin to lose their chlorophyll, but today I am thankful for all that gorgeous color that greets me everywhere!

    Here's a pictorial ode to the magnificent lush green of summer. Oh how I will miss you when winter rolls around...

And this one of the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee

And here is lovely Radnor Lake, right down the road from me...

Another glimpse of Radnor's gentle green

How about this beautiful and symbolic ray of light

Or this one, where the sunlight seems to wink at you as it calls you to come and explore

And there in the midst of all that green are treasures untold...

Close up of the lovely wild geranium

You would have to look very carefully to find this friend

These tiny treasures won't last in the heat of day

But this little hideaway will stay cool all day long

In the words of William Wordsworth,

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth and every common sight

To me did seem

Appareled in celestial light

The glory and the freshness of a dream...

Such is the gift of summer!