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.