After several days of clouds, rain, ice, snow, more clouds and more snow, the sun came out today and the temperature got above freezing. Much of the snow was gone from the trees when I went out to the mailbox, but the trees still looked beautiful against that brilliant blue sky. January 18, 2022.
(Note: All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them once or twice.)
I’ve often talked about how much Betsy and I love watching the sunsets when we visit Mt. Nebo State Park in Arkansas. But we also enjoy catching the sunrises from Sunrise Point in the park.
A few years ago we were greeted by a blanket of fog in the valley below Sunrise Point. As you can see from the photo above, it was almost hard to tell that there was a valley and city below us.
As the sky got lighter we began seeing the trees and the tops of hills in the valley below. In the distance we could make out the mountains on the other side of the valley.
Fields and buildings began coming into view
Finally parts of the Arkansas River came into view, reflecting the red of the sky above it.
What a gorgeous way to begin a day!
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i had forgotten about taking these pictures until I saw them on my phone a couple of days ago. (I’m still getting accustomed to the idea of thinking of my phone as a camera). But since I found them, I thought I would share the story behind them.
January 2, 2021, was the first day people 75 and older were able to get the Covid vaccine in Cumberland County. Since both My Beautiful Bride and I qualified, we decided to try and get the vaccine that day.
The notice said the gate to the fairground would open at 8am. Since there was road work between our house and the fairgrounds we decided to leave early to make sure we got there in time.
We had no problems with road construction, but traffic came to a complete halt when we were little over a mile from the fairgrounds. Evidently many other people had the same idea.
It took a little over an hour to get into the fairgrounds where we directed to a parking lot and told to wait for further instructions. The parking lot is where these pictures were taken. Please remember that most of the people in these cars were 75+ years old. Oh, and another thing — there were no bathroom facilities open in the area where we were waiting.
So we waited … and waited … and WAITED. Finally, about 2 o’clock we were directed to the line leading to the vaccination station. For the most part this line kept moving (slowly), but it still took close to an hour to get to the stations where we received our shots. The shots were given while we were in our car, so that part worked out very well.
After waiting to make sure we didn’t have a bad reaction we were free to leave the fairgrounds and seek out a rest room as quickly as we could.
Clearly the county did not anticipate so many people turning out on that first day. We got shots 631 and 632, so there were a lot of people in front of us. We later learned that 981 doses of the vaccine were given out that day.
I’m happy to say that the county quickly got it’s act together and began scheduling times for shots. When we got our second shot, we were in and out in less than half an hour. The shots were still being given at the fairgrounds, but there were Port-a-Potties located all over the place.
All in all Betsy and I have to give Cumberland County high marks for the way they’ve handled the vaccinations. That being said, we hope we don’t have to go through anything like that again!
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I was working on our container roses along the driveway last year (2019) when I suddenly noticed I was not alone — I had a ‘helper’. We usually don’t like deer to be among our flowers, but this little fellow was so cute that I didn’t mind his presence.
He (or she) was obviously very young; somewhat unsteady on his feet, but he did manage to get around without too much trouble.
My young visitor went into the grass near our bench and checked up on an even smaller young one. It was a younger brother or sister.
By this time I had gotten Betsy out into the yard with me. There is a vacant lot next to our lot, and we thought perhaps Momma Deer was in there, but we couldn’t see her. While I was looking for Momma, the littlest deer seemed to be asking Betsy if she was his Mommy.
We decided that the only way Momma Deer was going to come and reclaim her little ones would be if we weren’t around, so we went into the house. Later we checked and there were no little ones around.
Throughout the rest of Spring and early Summer we would occasionally see a female deer with two fawns on the golf course behind our house. We like the think that those were ‘our’ little ones just checking up on us.
(Note: All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them once or twice.)
Betsy and I have been to Desoto State Park in Alabama several times. It’s a wonderful park with waterfalls, hiking trails and a beautiful mountain setting. One of the main attractions of the park is Desoto Falls. All of these pictures are from a visit we made to the falls in 2013. This was part of a birthday surprise that Betsy had arranged for me.
There is a dam just above Desoto Falls which forms Desoto State Park Lake. Although the dam is not part of the waterfall, it too, is a beautiful sight.
The official viewing area for Desoto Falls offers only a side view of the waterfall. It’s a nice view, but Betsy and I had seen pictures of the waterfall from a different vantage point and we wanted to find it.
After talking to one of the park rangers we were told that it was possible to bushwhack to a view of the falls by following a primitive trail almost two miles from the official viewing area. We found the trailhead without too much difficulty and hiked back toward the waterfall.
After a while we were rewarded with this view of Desoto Falls. We weren’t as close we were at the official viewing area, but we both liked the view we were able to enjoy.
In some ways we hope that the primitive trail is not upgraded — we can keep this beautiful spot as our very own secret.
Betsy and I have been fortunate to be able to visit Mount Nebo State Park in Arkansas in late winter or early spring for the past ten years or so. We like many things about Mount Nebo — the hiking, for example — but what keeps us going back in ‘our’ cabin. We have stayed in the same cabin each time we’ve gone.
It’s perfect for relaxing, enjoying the scenery, and enjoying a nice fire in the fireplace in the evening. But it’s main attraction, at least at the time of year we visit, is the gorgeous sunsets we can enjoy from the back porch.
The slideshow above is made up of photos taken one evening during our visit in 2008. They can’t compare to seeing the sunsets in person, but I think they do a reasonably good job of showing the beauty we enjoy.
If you would like to see these photos and others as well as the captions for these photos click HERE.
(Note: All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them once or twice.)
In October of this past year Betsy and I headed to North Carolina in search of some autumn colors. Along the way we decided to stop by Bald River Falls near Tellico Plains, Tennessee. This is a beautiful waterfall we have visited several times, and we’ve never tired of seeing it.
The curtain of water falling over the rocks made beautiful patterns along the face of the falls.
Betsy added to the beauty of the falls by standing on the bridge over Bald River with the falls and vibrant autumn colors in the background.
The Tellico River was also a gorgeous sight as it flowed past its conjunction with Bald River.
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Betsy and I made a trip to Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky to celebrate my birthday this year. We’ve been there before, and Cumberland Falls is sometimes referred to as the ‘Niagara of the South’, so we were looking forward to our visit. A nice bonus was that there was to be a full moon on the night of my birthday, so we hoped we could see a moonbow. Cumberland Falls is the only place in the western hemisphere where a moonbow can be seen.
We got to the park in the afternoon, and found that there was plenty of water in the river flowing over the falls and throwing up a mist, as you can see in the picture above. The only problem was that to get a photo of that mist, we had to shoot into the sun.
We also found that the overlook nearest the falls was closed for repairs, so we had to walk downstream to get a picture of the falls. Even though we were further away, we still had a nice view of the falls.
It was hazy when we returned to the falls after dark, and a ranger said we probably wouldn’t be able to see anything of a moonbow. But since it was a nice night, we walked to the falls anyway. The falls looked nice in the moonlight, so I did some experimenting with night-time time-exposure photography.
Although we didn’t see any signs of the moonbow, I took some long-exposure photos of where we thought the moonbow should be. I couldn’t see anything in the camera, but when I uploaded the photos to my computer, I was delighted to see a moonbow as pretty as can be.
All in all I had a great birthday!
(Note: All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them once or twice.)
Betsy and I make it to the Smokies several times each year, since we only live a couple of hours away. We both think the Smokies make a wonderful day trip, although we do try to avoid the times and places that have the most tourists.
However the Smokies always call our names in October, so we venture out a time or two each year to take in the colors. The pictures in this post come from a day trip we made several years ago. On that trip we traveled along the Foothills Parkway, which offers wonderful views of the mountains from just outside the park itself.
The panorama above shows the Smokies from one of the first overlooks we came across. From this vantage point it’s easy to see why Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the nation’s most visited park.
A closer look brings out the vibrant colors that bring so many people to this part of Tennessee each year.
A single branch can be a riot of color.
Looking even closer, we can see the beauty of a single leaf. Is it any wonder we keep going back year after year?
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This is my post for the Our World meme. This meme is a second generation of My World Tuesday created by Klaus Peter and is hosted by five wonderful ladies. To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.
As most of you know, I have been using a GPS tracker for the past few years when taking pictures while traveling. The GPS tracker gives the GPS coordinates of the location where the photo was taken.
I’ve also started to go back and give the location of my archived older photos. The locations are then plotted on Google Earth.
I recently noticed that I had photos in 300 ‘places’ around the world, as shown by the red pins on the image above.
That map of the world doesn’t look as if it has 300 pins on it. But drilling down reveals more pins. The top image has one pin for Hong Kong, but the closer view shows six separate pins in Hong Kong.
For some reason, the greatest concentration of red pins seems to be in the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. I wonder why that would be the case.
Senior Moments 