Flowers Two (Too)

30 July 2007 - More of my flower collection. I am really not desperate for photos to post - just wanted to share some more of these in hopes you might have some helpful thoughts on the subject.



 
 
 
 

Just Some Flowers

30 July 2007 - I mentioned earlier my interest in flowers. These are a few I have captured I hope you enjoy them. I am still learning about capturing them in the way I would like as background, light and, of course, subject continue to challenge me! Suggestions appreciated.





 
 
 

Dahlonega Georgia

30 July 2007 - The nearest town to our anniversary retreat was Dahlonega. It was only about 20 minutes away so we went over to check the place out. Very interesting town. It was the site of the first gold strike in the US and is now a popular tourist area. They have a museum for all the old gold history and a 'living museum' of bluegrass music. They have bluegrass on the lawn every Saturday and name bands at locations around the town approximately once a month. In addition the local Methodist Church makes one of the best usages of their fellowship hall I have run across - hosting the local chapter of folk music. We attended their 'session' (donation of $2) and enjoyed three local groups (if you include Atlanta as local) who where all very distinctive and most talented. Two of the groups performed their own music and the third did more traditional things. I have to think the church managed to bring a few of the folk music crowd back on Sunday.

The photos are all of the 'own the lawn' variety as the light in the church was not good for photos. I found these to capture the spirit of the day. The lady with the fiddle was standing alone a distance from the group and was obviously still on the learning curve as she tried to play along. She soon put her instrument away and just listened with the rest of us. The other end of the spectrum was the young man with the flat hat and oldster sitting down. They had been at this for awhile!!!




 
 
 
 

Dining Out

27 July 2007 - One of the other nice features of the place was its restaurant. Breadfast and dinner was included in their rates and, although there were facilities for families, they had a separate 'Couples Only' restaurant. We do love children and remember the time in our lives when we looked for places to take our kids, but it is also nice to have a place where you are only with adults. Fortunately, the 'adults' we encountered here acted like adults; we did, however, have to accept the fact we were in the 'hills' in the summertime and some folks wore shorts and tee shirts to dinner. We were in-the-middle of the dress codes so perhaps those who were almost in tuxes wished we too would have been more formal. All in all, very satisfactory.

ps: The restaurant is inside - not where Becky is sitting with the 'local'.


 
 
 

Our Cabin Interior

27 July 2007 - This is the cabin. Really nice hot tub! It was not exactly cold (it is summertime) but by keeping the AC on high we could still use and appreciate the hot tub.


 
 
 

Cabin In the Woods

27 July 2007 - The log cabin we were in was great! Remote setting, well separated from other cabins (only some 6 or so anyway) but with a nice living room with firplace, fully furnished kitchen (but who cooks?) and hot tub in the bedroom. Next entry shows interior (hate the limitation of 3 or 4 photos only). We had a great time.



 
 
 

Anniversary Weekend

27 July 2007 - Time to get away for a few days!! Becky did her usual Internet search and came up with a great little placed in the North Georgia mountains for us to go for our anniversary. It was only about 2 hours or less away so locals wanted to know why we were not going farther for such a significant event. Answer - if you have never been there and it is a great place (and if you pretend we are still living in Missour) it IS like going far away!! On the way I had to stop and take a few photos of flowers as this is my latest 'thing' to photograph (along with old barns). The odd-one-out has a story to go with it. We passed a handwritten sign on the side of the road saying 'BOILED PEANUTS'. Well we had tried this so-called delicacy several years ago and were not impressed. Also, our brother-in-law, Tommy, had tried to interest us in them. This setup was unique enough to make us decide to give them one more chance. The old guy had his old cast iron pot, wood fire, fresh peanuts and quart jar of clear liquid (Becky thinks it was not water) and was out there plying his trade. Well, we are now converts!!! They were really good and we take back our previous comments as they apply to the 'real thing'. Lesson - don't make a hasty judgement on new things until you have given them a good fair chance.


 
 

Becky and VW's

25 July 2007 - The owners of the farm are interested in old VW's (Frank restores them and Sam makes and sells 'stuff'). They go to the various VW shows in Georgia and surrounding states during the year and buy/sell things as a getaway and also make a little money at it. Sam had bought up some old picnic baskets and was painting VW's on them in a 'craft' sort of way but when she saw what Becky could add to the project asked that she take them and add the 'artist touch'. I'll put one of the non-Becky ones on the next entry.

These are a few of the ones Becky had fun with and as a fallout, she got back into painting. So, even though this started out as more of a craft thing, it turned out to lead Becky back to something she had trouble getting started with. Remember, God does not always lead us in what we see as a straight path! More on her new projects in future blogs!


 
 
 

Riseland Farm

24 July 2007 - This is our home until the middle of August. The small house is where Becky does her art work and the building behind is the barn where all the female llamas 'hang out'. The farm house is the one pictured through the pine tree and is about 150 or so yards down the hill from our trailer. The view out the front of the trailer and our 'patio' is of one of the pastures and then wooded. It is not developed as of this date but looking around at the area it will likely become another subdivision one of these days.

The little house is working out pretty well for Becky although she shares it with the owner since she also does a bit of painting and craft work. They collaborated on the painting of several picnic baskets to sell at VW shows around this region. I will put some photos of their work on the next blog entry.


 
 
 

Riseland Llama Farm

15 July 2007 - We had taken our time coming north from Ft. Myers but finally could delay it no longer and drove on up to Talking Rock, GA. Well it is really closer to Ellijay, GA but post offices being like they are, the mailing address is Talking Rock. The name reminded us of a small town in N. Carolina we visited last summer called Blowing Rock but the resemblance ended at the name. Blowing Rock is a thriving tourist town with property values valued mostly in 7 digits and land in 6 digits per acre - Talking Rock has some dozen houses and 3 or 4 businesses (open only on weekends). However, land is still some 30 to 40k per acre so perhaps they will soon catch up to Blowing Rock.

The photos are of some of the animals we help take care of. The llama is a quite gentle animal with hard two towed feet which have to be trimmed periodically. They are fed once a day with an adult receiving some 1/2 to 3/4 cup of a special blend of feed for llamas plus they graze and/or consume some 1/2 flake of hay (called a fold here). As with most animals they have distinct personalities but are easily handled and some are quite affectionate. We have 10 females, 3 adult males and 3 young males at present with over half of the females bred to have their young before the end of the year. Unfortunately, Becky and I will be gone by then but we may pay a quick visit on our way to Florida to check on them.

All of the animals can be shown and over half are prize winners at past shows. We try to walk them and handle all of them frequently to keep them ready for 'showtime' (most shows are in October/November). They also have an Obstacle Class for llamas which several of out animals do well in as they are easy to handle and have quiet personalities. Wish I were going to be here to show some of them but make do with the training and handling.

More to follow......


 
 
 

Perry Georgia

15 July 2007 - We enjoyed our visit with all the kids and friends in Ft. Myers but were ready to get out of the heat (yes, it was already hot). James, Dave and dad had spent several days working on Dave and Lori's shower/bathroom but had to leave the finishing to Dave. Not to worry - he can do it. It is quite interesting to observe Dave go from having little (no?) interest in doing mechanical type things to settling into a husband/homeowner role. Well, perhaps 'settling' is too strong a word but he has amazed the family (mostly James and me) as he takes on more jobs. Guess he just needed to be motivated!!

We traveled north and made our usual 300 or so miles and found a nice little park in White Springs, FL, called Lee's Country Campground. You will see no photos of the place as happened to be there just as the wildfires in Georgia and Florida were at there worst and we were fleeing the smoke. We thought we were out of the bad stuff when we reached White Springs but woke up to a thin layer of ash covering the ground, our truck and the trailer!! We made record time getting ready and departing!!!

The smoke continued into Georgia and we did not stop until we reached Perry, Georgia where we once again lucked out by finding a beautiful little campground. It was run by two brothers, had a small fishing pond and had a policy we have come to really appreciate - one price for everything. They had WiFi, cable, etc. and the price they quoted you included everything on the site (not advertised was pancake breakfast cooked by one of the brothers).

They recommended a visit to a nearby Air Museum and the photos are of our trip there. Well worth the trip if you are in the area!!!



 
 
 

Shots for the Album

11 July 2007 - Wherever we go I try to take a few 'artsy' shots just in case I ever feel like changing profession (is retirement a profession?) so these are a few of my feeble attempts to capture a bit of the ambience of the beach in its 'off times'. There was not a lot to work with on the one day we managed to go to the beach but I found the first and third ones captured my idea of what a beach should look like and the center one just ties them together - well that's my story and I'm sticking to it.


 
 
 

Those Crowded Ft. Myers Beach beaches!

11 July 2007 - After graduation we finally had a chance to try out a couple of the beaches around Ft. Myers Beach. It is really tough putting up with all the crowds but we managed to just squeeze into one of them to catch a few rays and enjoy the sunset. I'm not sure how we manage to be so lucky but Becky and I frequently stumble into areas that can be VERY crowded but since we wander around in the off season, we avoid the tourist crunch most of the time. Not sure we will be so lucky when we return in November!!! Nice beach though, huh?