UGA
16-Feb-08
Barnsley Manor
02-Feb-08
I took a trip out to Barnsley Gardens earlier today and took a few photos.
Mud Slinging in South Georgia
25-May-07
We had a great time at church not too long a go. We hauled in a great huge pile of dirt and invited the fire department. We let the kids just play! It was so much fun!
This is is what is so amazing about small towns, we do these nutty, fun things and we all have a bit of kid in us!
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite Historic Homes of Adairsville
05-May-07
Downtown Adairsville has some very nice homes that were built in the early 1900s. Here are a few. Each image is linked to a larger version.
Franklin House - circa 1904
Stegall House - circa 1900
Hamilton House - circa 1900
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite 
Farm Country
17-Dec-06
Yes, the area I live in is still a farming community. That is changing as the area is becoming more urbanized, but the farmers around here are proud of what they do. And they should be!
Grillzilla
09-Jul-06
A great Georgia tradition is grilling out. My cousin is a volunteer fireman in Effingham County, and his crew converted an old propane tank into a grill.
Yes, we Georgians take our grilling VERY seriously.
He loves me?
27-Jun-06
Daisies are the perpetual harbinger of early summer. Although they are almost gone in my yard, several weeks a go they were great. My daughter is not quite old enough to care about boyfriends, but when she does, I’m sure she’ll pick up the old southern habit of using flower petals to determine if his love is true!
The Dog at the Edge of the World
02-May-06
When we visited North Georgia recently, and took our picnic at the “edge of the world” we enjoyed watching this beautiful chocolate lab retrieving a buoy for his master. He was a year and a half and so excited to frolick in the waterfall.
This is Georgia. The man and his pet were complete strangers and yet neighbors. We traded stories about Labrador retrievers and how energetic they can be. We admired this fine animal as he strove to go in the fastest moving part of the waterfall. It was truly a joy to watch this animal. In Georgia we love animals and we always take time to swap stories with “neighbors” — even those we don’t know!
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite Honey!
22-Apr-06
The best pets we’ve ever had have been “happy accidents.” This is Honey, she is such a “happy accident.”
I’ve always believed the saying that “You can tell the measure of a man by how he treats pets and children.”
Well, the man who had this cute little dog was not much of a man (or woman) in my book.
My Aunt Nan found Honey and her sister WAG put out beside the side of their country road and half starving. Wag came running out but Honey hid in the bushes. Honey obviously had a difficult youth but has now earned our trust as our children have loved and hugged her. The first week she hid under the jacket of my daughter and slept as Susan rocked her. She is now a very happy (and loyal) dog.
I love pets of all kinds. They are like potato chips - you cannot have just one!
The people who are so small that they think cruelty to animals is a sport or OK to do often grow to do the same things to humans. (This has been proven.)
I am greatly saddened when I come across animals such as honey and mourn as I think that the person who owned these two beautiful animals may have children.
Pets are a great responsibility. We adopt strays and get pets from the Humane Society. That is the way MOST people are in the South: kind and loving to animals and children.
As I educate children, I work to inspire a love, respect, and kindness to all living things.
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite The Jasmine is blooming
22-Apr-06
Confederate jasmine has perfumed the spring air of Georgia for hundreds of years. It starts tiny and takes over most anywhere you plant it. It thrives on neglect. Oh, if someone could bottle this smell!
For hundreds of years, those of us who left home and returned, the smell of jasmine means one thing — I’m home. In Georgia! Where red clay and pine trees and flowers abound like the grace and hospitality of the people.
Spring!
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite Heirloom Flowers
19-Apr-06
My great grandmother was a 5′2″, 92 pound dynamo till the day she died. She had eight children and many nieces and nephews and lived to be 102. Due to the fertility of her and her sisters I have over 100 cousins in this small town of Camilla.
It is confusing for newcomers. There’s a saying down here, “Don’t say anything bad about anyone because you don’t know who they are related to.”
Family runs deep. These flowers have been transplanted several generations and now grow in my yard too. I don’t know the species but we call them “heirloom old fashioned roses” and they bloom on long spindly vine like extensions of a sort of a bush each spring. I prune them severely after they quit blooming and they spread profusely.
When I look at these, I think of my family and how what I do will be passed down long after I’m gone. Flowers, habits, traditions, kindness, love, and even my faults. I am reminded to pass down the good.
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite Flowers on my counter
17-Apr-06
Flowers in the South are not only meant for gracing our yards but our tables as well. Here, I have the first bloom off my variegated vinca vine in that most veritable of southern casual china patterns, Blue Willow. On both sides of our family, the use of this blue and white pattern goes back several generations. Most recently, my husband’s mother, Grace Davis, loved this pattern.
Cooking up beautiful dishes
15-Apr-06
Recently my cousin was married and my “side” of the family entertained the out of town guests. We love to cook and make food that is not only delicious but beautiful.
I was most pleased with the way our cheesecake display turned out. People who stereotype south Georgia as all “fried chicken” and “collard greens” don’t have any idea what they are talking about. We cook delicious dishes from around the world but we like to make things from scratch. Although we focus on healthy cooking, at events such as these, taste is the most important thing.
