Here, There & Everywhere

Tommy and I went to the Cumming Fair last Thursday. We went so I could get some pictures and to eat some fried pickles. I could have left Tommy at the wood cutting exhibition for hours and he would have been happy. Our plans were to walk around and look at everything, find some fried pickles to eat and then when it turned dark, take some pictures of the ferris wheel.

There were NO fried pickles and NO ferris wheel. Whoever heard of a fair with no ferris wheel?

No, not football. The difference in reaction to a forecast of snow.

Here in Georgia the grocery stores would have been cleared out of bread and milk and school would probably be closed for days. In Wyoming 3-5″ of snow means “No significant snow accumulations”! :)

The idea for this shootout is something our photography club came up with five years ago. Clubs from around North Georgia gather together on a day in the Fall and shoot. One club is the host and among other things, come up with the five topics that all of the photographer will shoot. Each club divides into five teams and each time gets a topic. After several hours of taking pictures, everyone comes back together and each team picks ten of their best photos to submit. After a couple of hours all of the images are given to the invited judges to come up with the overall best ten for each topic. Points are awarded for placing in the top ten, but only the top three places receive prizes. The total points are accumulated and the club with the most points wins the day. Our club was going in hoping to win a threepeat. Sadly, we didn’t do too well.

But it was a fun day and I thoroughly enjoyed spending a whole day with my cousin Sue. Here are a few of my shots from the day — topic being Uneven. Now I will have to say that unless it’s a subject that I would normally like to photograph, I’m not very good at this type of thing. Once again, I go out with my camera for the sheer enjoyment and normally take pictures of what I like. :)

My cousin caught me in the act!

Our good friends, Nancy and Steve, bought a mountain house in Blue Ridge this year. We finally found the time to get up and see the house today. We drove up and enjoyed a yummy lunch with them topped off by a homemade apple pie. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had apple pie, let alone a homemade one. Thanks Nancy and Steve for a delicious lunch! And, the house is beautiful. :)

Tommy and I went for a drive today. We didn’t have a destination in mind but headed up to Ball Ground. From there we drove to the old Tate Train Station. We were there a couple of years ago and I thought they were going to renovate the old station, but absolutely nothing has been done.

We meandered around some more and then decided to go to Amicalola Falls. On the way there we found Burt’s Pumpkin Farm. We drove by it and I made Tommy turn around and go back.

There were lots and lots of pumpkins of all sizes and colors and there were lots of Indian Corn. We didn’t buy any of that but did buy a small loaf of Apple Bread. I’m thinking of toasting a piece tomorrow morning for breakfast. Yum!

There wasn’t much water running down Amicalola Falls so we didn’t stay long. On the way home we saw the following–and did have to turn around and go back:

And the last stop was on Yellow Creek Road. This is such a cool old house/barn. It appears that the land around it has been turned into a Quail Hunting Farm.

The topic for our monthly photography club’s competition this month was Colors Galore. I had taken some pictures last week of a field of cosmos (thanks Pat for letting us know they were not poppies). The field was so colorful. So I submitted one of those shots. I wanted to enter another one that was completely different from my normal florals. I remembered that when we had gone down to Jacksonville for Terry’s memorial we had gone to the Gator Farm. They have some beautiful parrots, and of course I took some pictures of them. I found the one I liked and submitted it. As I sat and listened to the judge, I thought he liked my shots and said some nice things but nothing to make me think I’d get more than an Honorable Mention, if that. Imagine my surprise when the following received a First Place! If nothing else, it surely is colorful. :)

This old door has been on our side yard barn for probably 25+ years. I was walking around the yard yesterday looking for something to take pictures of and this door caught my eye. Before I could take some pictures though I had to move (or have Tommy move) the white rake hanger and the wheelbarrow that was leaning up against the barn. They just didn’t complete the mood. :)

The door was taken from one of my sister-in-law, Anne’s sister’s in-laws’ house–did you follow that? Anyhow, years ago the door was offered to Tommy and of course he couldn’t turn it down.

Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

Five days off from work, and goodness knows I need the break, we decided to take a last summer trip of the year to NC. It is just delightful up here. One morning we woke up to temperatures in the 60’s. I had to run into town one day to pick up a shower curtain liner and another hummingbird feeder and it was warm hot down there.

We took a drive on the Parkway and went up to the Pisgah Inn. They have the most gorgeous Mountain Ash trees. They seem to be more vibrant this year than last.

As I was looking around this tree to find a branch that was in the sun, not in the wind and had good bright berries, I turned around and found a pine that was full of pinecones.

4That afternoon we sat on the deck and watched all the hummingbirds fight for the feeders. They can be vicious little things–but so beautiful!

The day I drove into town I noticed a field where someone plants poppies that bloom in May. It is quite gorgeous when the red poppies are blooming with blue batchelor’s buttons blooming amongst them. This time there were lots and lots of orange flower (Tommy thinks they may be a type of poppy) with purple, pink and white flowers intermixed. I convinced Tommy to take me down there one morning so I could get some shots.

While I was shooting all these very pretty flowers, Tommy found this:

You were such a sweet, funny kid. You still are and we love you bunches!