Category: Uncategorized

Julian and Sue came to visit us for their annual pre-Thanksgiving visit. They showed up Friday afternoon and Sue and I had planned on going into town to shop on Saturday. She and I did some shopping but the highlight of the day was lunch at Hobnob. The day was gorgeous and we sat outside and had a delicious lunch!

Sunday was a lazy day for us all and we enjoyed sitting in front of the fire and reading–whether from books or the internet. The next day all four of us went into town to have lunch.

Dugan’s Pub is a favorite, probably because they serve Guinnness (this is Sue’s Black & Tan). They usually have pretty good Fish and Chips too.

Our visitors left this morning. We’re now looking forward to having Hall, Sara, Stephanie and Shelby join us tomorrow. Can’t wait!

So that George doesn’t feel slighted, I’m sharing a few shots of him.

And here are the three cousins:

The day after George, Gracie, Anne and Cleg arrived we took them to see a couple of waterfalls. The first one we went to was just off the Blue Ridge Parkway and is at Graveyard Fields:

We then went on to Moore Cove Falls which is about 7/10 mile off of Hwy. 276. This is a nice hike and a really pretty waterfall when there’s water flowing. Unfortunately, it’s been a bit dry so there wasn’t much to see.

Some of us were pretty tired when we got back home!

Gracie and her family came to visit us for a few days. For those of you who don’t know Gracie’s story, she showed up at our door five or six years ago. She and another dog came up to the house looking for food. We gave them a little and they ran away. Neither of them had collars on or any identifying tags. Tommy and I thought that they had probably gone on and found another place from which to get their food. Gracie did show back up but she was by herself the next time. She kept going around to the sliding doors and looking in. We had thought about taking her to the humane society, but Hall (who was at Brevard College) wouldn’t hear of it. Not knowing how we could take care of three dogs—we had Beau and Sam at the time—we went ahead and decided to take her home with us. When we got home, we were able to convince Anne and Cleg that George needed a playmate. So she went to them and has become very much a “mommy’s girl”. She has such a beautiful black coat and looks like a miniature black lab. At first we thought she was a puppy but she hasn’t grown at all. Gracie also doesn’t like to have her picture taken. When I’d put the camera up to my face, she would get nervous. Here’s what I got:

Our monthly photography competition subject was “Junk”. Each month I go through my photos to see what I’ve got that relates to the current subject. We can use photos that were taken within the past two years. As I was looking I remembered the windmills that we had found in Kansas – Enduro Trip – Day 2. I played with the image in Photoshop a bit and submitted it and a couple of others for last night’s contest. I won First Prize for this windmill. Yay!

SNOW!

As we sat here looking out at the beautiful view yesterday, Tommy mentioned that it looked like it was snowing up on the Parkway. Since we didn’t have anything else pressing to do we decided to drive up and see if it actually was. About half way up to the Parkway we ran into some sleet and then a bit of snow.
When we got to the top the Parkway was closed so we had to turn around and come back down. Here are a few of the pictures I took (I had a setting wrong on my camera so they’re not the best, but you get the idea.)

I’ve been wanting to get back to the Roswell Mill waterfalls for some time. I convinced Tommy and Bubba to go with me last Sunday morning. The big falls are pretty but not as much as this offshoot:
CORRECTION: This is not an offshoot of the falls, this is the beginning of the old mill race that has now collapsed. I just learned this from Tommy. :)

At the falls is a covered bridge and an old boarded-up building which I think was cool looking.

In the afternoon, Sara and Hall came over and we went to the Smith Plantation and walked around. I enjoyed my time with them and can’t wait to see what photos they got. Following are some shots that I took while we were there:

Results from the MRI are in. The tumors are stable and I don’t have to go back for two years. Woo Hoo! I can’t tell you how relieved I am.

Yippee! Yippee! Yippee!
:)

Our dahlias now are prettier and more vibrant than any other time this year. I guess they’re liking the cool weather as much as I like the cool weather.

Not to be outdone by the dahlias, some of the cone flowers are trying to make a comeback.

Wish me luck.

DONE!

Results next Wednesday. Cross your fingers.

Yesterday my photography club participated in a shootout including about 10 or 11 other clubs. It was hosted by the Rome Photography Club at Berry College. What a wonderful setting for taking pictures. Unfortunately, the team that my cousin Sue and I were on was given the topic of silhouettes. Well first of all, with all the beautiful architecture at Berry, why would anyone want to take silhouettes?? Secondly, I’d never shot silhouettes and wasn’t really sure how to do it. The great thing about events like this is you can learn so much. I like to participate in these things more for the learning and the fun of being with others who love photography. So I’m not terribly disappointed when I don’t win anything. I did have one picture that made it to the first round. Our club won First place overall!

While we were out shooting for the competition, I decided to take photos for me as well. My father-in-law was raised in Rome and was a water boy during the construction of the Ford buildings. His grandfather was one of the subcontractors.

I sure wish they built buildings like these now.