Archive for March, 2011

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SkyWatch Friday: Spring-Time Evening Sky

March 25, 2011

The evening sky in Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 18, 2011.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

Everything in Spring seems bright and beautiful.  Last Saturday evening we were walking on the golf course behind our house at sunset.  The sun was dropping below the Plateau, and the eastern sky was turning dark.  But the sun was still hitting some of the clouds in the western sky.  All in all it was a beautiful evening.

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Betsy and I will be taking a blog break for about a week.  I’ll be back about April 4, the yard willing.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 14 Comments »

It’s Beginning to Look Like Spring

March 24, 2011

Fortissimo Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 20, 2011.

It’s beginning to look more and more like Spring on the Cumberland Plateau.  We’ve enjoyed some beautiful weather over the past few days, and flowers are beginning to bloom profusely.

We’ve had some yellow daffodils blooming for several days, but now some of our other daffodils are blooming as well.  The daffodil above is Fortissimo.  The petals are yellow, but the trumpet is orange.  It’s a fairly large blossom.

Chromacolor Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 21, 2011.

Chromacolor also has an orange trumpet, but it is much shorter than the one on Fortissimo.  Chromacolor’s petals are a showy white.  Both of these daffodils happily proclaim that Spring has sprung!

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Posted in Garden | 19 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #132: Cane Creek Falls

March 23, 2011

Cane Creek Falls, Dahlonega, Georgia. March 9, 2011.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

Cane Creek Falls is a waterfall near Dahlonega, Georgia, which Betsy and I visited while we were in north Georgia during my birthday trip.  I’ve mentioned that we had quite a bit of rain during that trip, and you can see the muddy water thundering over the falls in the picture above.

Cane Creek Falls, Dahlonega, Georgia. May 25, 2005.

This trip wasn’t the first time we’ve visited Cane Creek Falls.  We were also there in May, 2005.  At that time the water levels were more normal.  It almost looks like a different waterfall.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 15 Comments »

My World: Yard Work Keeping Me Busy

March 22, 2011

Our new rose bed. Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 19, 2011.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Spring has come to  the Plateau, and that means that there is more work to be done in the yard.  I finished up one big project — rebuilding our biggest rose bed.  Hopefully the new bed will allow me provide a better growing environment for the roses this year.

Speaking of roses, the weather has been so nice that all of the bushes are showing new growth, so I have been uncovering them.  I should have them all uncovered in the next day or so.  The container roses were growing so much in the garage that I’ve already moved them outside.

Periwinkle Bed, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 19, 2011.

Fortunately not everything in the yard has involved hard work this Spring.  The periwinkle that we have growing in the rocky areas where grass won’t grow is putting on a beautiful display.  Later in the year I’ll have to worry about keeping it in its bed, but right now I can simply enjoy.

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Posted in My World | 19 Comments »

Scenic Sunday #139: Dawn’s Early Light

March 20, 2011

Sunrise Point, Mount Nebo State Park, Arkansas. December 4, 2008.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

This picture of dawn’s early light was taken from Sunrise Point on Mount Nebo in Arkansas.  The light is reflected on the waters of the Arkansas River in the valley below.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 14 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: A Cloudy Mountain Morning

March 18, 2011

A morning view from the lodge at Amicalola Falls State Park, Georgia. March 10, 2011.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

When Betsy surprised me with a birthday trip to Amicalola State Park in Georgia last week, we had a room at the mountain top lodge with a view of the mountains.  This picture was taken through the window last Thursday (March 10).  The clouds were threatening, but had lifted enough the at we could see across the valley to the mountains on the other side.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 18 Comments »

Betsy at Amicalola Falls

March 17, 2011

Betsy at Amicalola Falls, Georgia. March 9, 2011.

Betsy usually doesn’t like me to take pictures of her.  She doesn’t realize how beautiful her smile truly is.  But I think even Betsy can appreciate the ‘drawing’ of her shown above.  It shows Betsy along the lower part of Amicalola Falls back on March 9.

I’m not an artist, but I did create this ‘work of art’.  Scott, in his wonderful photo blog Finding Another View, had a post about changing a photo into a line drawing using Photoshop.  He said it was easy, and it must be because I got it to work for me.


This is the picture I took of Betsy and which is the basis for the line drawing (don’t tell her I posted the picture as well).  I can’t say I like it any less than the ‘drawing’.  I’m just glad they both show that million-dollar smile.

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Posted in Betsy | 17 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #131: Yahoola Creek Dam

March 16, 2011

Yahoola Creek Dam, Dahlonega, Georgia. March 9, 2011.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

Betsy and I were driving around Dahlonega, Georgia, last Wednesday (March 9), when we crossed Yahoola Creek below the dam which forms Lake Zwerner.  The water overflowing the dam looked so pretty that I just had to stop and snap this picture.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 16 Comments »

My World: Mill Creek

March 15, 2011

The Shoals of Mill Creek, Cohutta Wilderness, Georgia. March 8, 2011.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Last Tuesday (March 8) Betsy and I returned to Mill Creek in the Cohutta Wilderness Area of north Georgia.  We had been to Mill Creek a couple of times before, but we like the area, and since we were nearby, we decided to visit again.

One of the nice things about Mill Creek is the cascade, or shoals, which are reached after a fairly short hike from the parking/camping area.  The shoals, as you can see from the picture above, are quite beautiful.  The rocks about midway down the shoals, from where this picture was taken, provide a nice spot to sit and enjoy the movement of the water.

Mill Creek is reached from Crandall, Georgia, by traveling along Mill Creek Road (Forest Service Road 630).  The road is not paved, but is graveled and in pretty good shape.  Mrs. P, our Prius, got us into the forest and back out without any problems.  (You can click on the map to make it easier to read.)

There are four waterfalls below the shoals, but since we had seen them before and it was getting ready to rain, we decided not to revisit them.

Besides, I had something much more pleasant in mind as we sat on those rocks by the shoals.

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Posted in My World | 14 Comments »

Not Bad For an Old Man

March 14, 2011

Amicalola Falls, Amicalola Falls State Park, Georgia. March 9, 2011.

Betsy arranged a surprise birthday trip to northern Georgia for us.  We went to Amicalola Falls State Park and stayed at the lodge on top of the mountain.  Amicalola Falls is the highest waterfall in Georgia at 729 feet.  The waterfall consists of a long drop followed by a series of cascades.

We arrived at the park late Tuesday afternoon after visiting some other waterfalls on the way.  It started raining Tuesday evening and rained throughout the night.  It was still raining Wednesday morning (my birthday).

There were some advantages to all that rain.  One was that there was a lot of water going over the falls when we visited it Wednesday morning.  The other advantage was that we had this glorious waterfall all to ourselves.

We drove down the mountain to the pool at the base of the falls, and then started hiking up a trail along the cascades to an observation deck near the base of the drop.  The picture above was taken from the observation deck, and you can see the amount of water coming down the mountain.

When we got to the observation deck I noticed a bridge across the falls higher up the mountain (you can see it in the picture above).  I wondered if I could get better pictures from the bridge.

A sign gave a good reason for not going up there, but I thought I would give it a try.  What better way to celebrate my birthday?

Well, I made it to the bridge.  Betsy, who has more sense than I do, stayed at the observation deck and got this picture of me (you have to look closely — I’m waving to her) up there.

I made it back down to the observation deck.  You have to look closely, but I was even smiling as I got back to Betsy.

All in all I had a great birthday!

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Posted in Waterfalls | 24 Comments »

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