Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

This morning is the perfect weather for a springer. They are hunting dogs by nature. And even though Lizzie is domesticated her “wild dog” spirit is alive and well on fall mornings like this. It is PERFECT springer weather.

I pulled the truck into the parking lot at the park by the river. Lizzie already on alert is moving from front to back looking for a way out. For her it seemed like eternity until I grabbed the keys, phone and potty bag to get started. Then I opened the door and bam! To the end of the leash with every fiber of her being ready to roll.

This is the kind of park that a dog needs to be on a leash so I know I have to pick up my pace to keep up with her until the initial spurt of energy is spent. Usually that only takes five minutes. But not today. Wet, cool ground and suddenly I lock my feet and brace while I feel all my vertebrae lock into place. A squirrel darts directly across our path. Whew! But I did it, I was able to keep my 48 pounds of overloaded springer contained.

I thought to myself, hooray we survived. Thinking we were relaxing now I prepared myself for the park ducks that waddle down to the river. We made that crossing fine. As I round back up hill I feel that we might be okay when just as we reached the last bridge there in our way sits a gauntlet! A cat sitting right in the middle of the path. What to do? I knew after the squirrel this would be suicide to move forward so I doubled back to the first trail and move back in line toward the truck.

Before I headed back around I decided to stop and take a picture of the fall Spider lilies. It is a beautiful morning on many levels.

Finally by now my Lizzie girl began to wind down. We got back in the truck. As I pulled out of the parking lot she stuck her head out the window to catch wind beneath her ears. She stayed like that all on the way home. One satisfied dog.

When we came into to the house she ran to the chair where my husband is sitting watching TV. He is wearing a white shirt, Lizzie is color blind. She leaps in his lap with a satisfied sigh. He says the shirt isn’t too muddy. It was worth the story Lizzie wanted to share. Ah, she thinks, can life get any better than this?

Fall is naturally my favorite season. But for some one reason this year is better than some. It is turning cool slower and the early fall days are very comfortable.

It has been years since I pulled our some quilting and cross-stitching. I love cross-stitching. It is one of those old timey things that was done for utility before it it was done for a craft. Used for edging tea towels, table cloths, and pillow cases this cousin to embroidery has been around for centuries. By the time I got into it I was using it to make pictures, add to towels, or various smaller utility objects.

I joined a quilting group a few years back and did a few pieces. I was reminded of that today when I pulled out a fall sampler piece and completed it for my table top. I had forgotten some of the pieces I did until I found these old pictures. It was eight years ago when I made the matching baby quilts for my twin grandchildren. The other quilt my husband made homemade buttons to put on the quilt so it was a joint effort!

I opened up my sewing box this morning and decided it has been much too long since I did these things. Maybe it is time to do some more.

Today we are all finding ways to remember those who died on 9-11-2001. Words just do not seem to express the emotion. I am a visual person. I share with you a digital remembrance.

(Click on remembrance or click/paste link below)

http://911digitalarchive.org/

Another great walk in the woods this morning. After Tropical Storm Lee came through it left behind cooler temperatures and a lovely misty morning. Two important ingredients to take my Springer Spaniel out for a walk. While I do not hunt with my Lizzie girl she still has the desire so I tried to help her get some of it out her system. I think I was a springer in another life because I love it too!

As the story goes he was one of those young men who fell under one of three conscription acts beginning in 1862. The majority of draftees were facing conscription during “July 1863 and in Mar., July, and Dec 1864”. And most were from the ages “18 to 35”. However, later they were as young as 17 or as old as 50. He had just turned 18, a mere boy, barely in his manhood. Because the government was plagued with a shortage of manpower the draft was instituted so he went. He became a legend, as the story goes.

The story of the Confederate Rose that was at one time pure white. He was fatally wounded when he fell upon the rose laying there for two days. He bled for those two days until the beautiful flower was turned pink, really almost red. This is the story of how the flower turned from white to a deep pink.

So goes the legend of the Confederate Rose or Cotton Rose. The Confederate Rose is not a rose at all but in point of fact, a hibiscus. Like many flowers and plants that are found in the southern United States this one is a Chinese export, gaining popularity around the colonial period. It is from the “Mallow family of plants….the confederate rose is kin to cotton, okra, hollyhock and rose of Sharon”. You can almost see the resemblance to a cotton boll when it blooms.

The Confederate Rose gained wider popularity after the Civil War because it is hardy and easy to to grow. I got my mine from a friend. Propagated from just a couple of sticks I put it in the ground and now it is over 10 feet tall.It blooms in the fall and two days ago it began to show off its flowers.

Once it is done for the season it is easy to manage a winter pruning by cutting back the long cane-like branches to about 4-6 inches from the ground. No worries they will easily come back again next year with little to no care from you. Also, knowing that this plant absolutely loves high humidity it is easy to see how it found a perfect home in my growing zone!

Now that I have read the legend of the Confederate Rose I will be reminded of the Civil War story each year as it blooms. Stories that connect a planting to its history are wonderful to add to my gardening journal so that generations from now my family can enjoy where I planted and why.

Cited:

http://www.civilwarhome.com/conscription.htm

http://www.gardenstew.com/blog/e8170-2-the-legend-of-the-confederate-rose.html

http://www.suite101.com/content/the-confederate-rose-a71294

Today I needed to take my Lizzie dog in for her yearly dental work. I wandered about with no motivation to get through the business at hand. I questioned if business always needs my attention and determined that it did not.

So I went to the park, took a nice walk then headed out to visit some friends. It was a good day. We talked kids, dogs and gardening for two hours. For me wasting away two hours in leisure is a huge deal as I am working on something all the time. Once I got to the park as you can see it was easy to just let go.

This is Gold Star Park on the Coosa River. Recently the city built a walking trail through the park which is a wonderful place to walk. As I walked I was reminded that Hernando DeSoto and his group were the first Europeans to travel the Coosa Valley in 1540. Using this river as a major waterway. During the 17th Century the French believed the forks of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers as they fed into the Alabama River were the key to the country.

I stood on the riverbank imaging DeSoto and the French moving on this waterway. Somewhere in the edges of my imagination I hear “the Coosa” slapping her paddles in the water. She is the first steamboat that traveled up the river gently passing in 1845. I came back to the present, blinked, and saw fishermen sitting on the bank with poles cast. I am glad I stopped here today to enjoy the Coosa River and Gold Star Park.