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!

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There are two places I love to eat, the Smith House and the Dillard House. They both serve old Southern dishes in the family style which means that they put family sized portions in dishes and have you pass them around the table.

The Smith house has made the news recently with the discovery of an old mining shaft under its basement. The old story goes that no one really knew how the founders got their money and mining was not allowed in the city of Dahlonega. Rumors had it that the founder had found gold under his house and mined it. With the proceeds he created the house. Whether or not there is gold under there, finding the shaft struck gold for the Smith house as it pushed it into the news again. When I was there several months a go, they were expanding.

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In the middle of the square in Dahlonega is their gold museum.  This used to be city hall and is a beautiful centerpiece to one of our most picturesque towns.

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These are the innocent relatives of the really nasty looking Georgia Thumper.

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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!

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Recently, my husband took me to Dahlonega for my birthday. We love to get a pic nic lunch and hike to a reclusive waterfall called “the edge of the world.” We saw so many amazing things there. I particularly loved this portion of the half mile hike back out from the falls.

North Georgia is truly beautiful and is our favorite place to vacation.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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Wisteria is one of the most beautiful spring vines but is so very invasive that in the throes of summer we are often sweating and swearing as we deal with its winding tendrils and running roots. This particular vine was killed last summer using several applications of round up after being cut to the root and pulling up many roots by hand. I guess I’m glad it resurrected this spring (amidst my old fashioned roses) because it was truly a beautiful display, but I dread the work that will be coming in a week or two.

Wisteria, like the azalea, was an Oriental import that took exceptionally well to our southern acidic soil. Many people do not know that the azalea and wisteria aren’t native to Georgia but were brought from the Orient in the early 1800′s as trade opened between China and England. I found a copy of a sales bulletin for an azalea in a London catalog from the 1810′s. You can learn a lot about trade and the world in the 1800′s simply by studying the azalea (and wisteria), its proliferation and uses.

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Aunt Nan’s yard is one of my favorite places to go and photograph. She is so very talented. She loves gardening and documenting south Georgia history. She is very well educated. She also loves dogs. I think she has eight right now.

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About four years a go my father converted our old peanut drying facility into a indoor/outdoor room (room for 200) we call the Oak Shed. This is nestled amid 100 year old oak trees and over 4 miles of wooded trails he has cut through the woods and fields. We put in a pond and now have 5-10 lb catfish in it.

This is where I go to get away and think. Life makes sense when you wiggle your toes in the dirt and feel the breeze in your hair. I see some Oak Trees that Indians may have climbed in and I see my part in the history of this land. You can’t really separate a farm girl from the land she loves.

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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.

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My Aunt’s yard, she has been featured in Southern Living. I plan on sharing many more photos of her yard.

Note from the Author:  Hello everyone, I’m Vicki Davis a/k/a Cool Cat Teacher and I live in Camilla, Georgia in Southwest Georgia and teach at Westwood Schools. Blogging is amazing in that it has brought together some educators from around the state who probably never would have met.  As we blog we learn that we have more in common than we realize.  As we share our photographs, we become even more alike.  I love the state of Georgia and hope to share my corner with you.  I respect my fellow contributors and am humbled that they would consider me worthy of inclusion.
Notes on a Georgia Springtime

by Vicki Davis

Springtime in Georgia
a glorious chorus
of a flowering story
echoing before us.

Gracenotes of color
accent each day
budding hope and glory
amidst work and play.

Take time to listen
and ponder the music
labor like the honeybee
to capture the day!
So echoes of greatness
will always resound
through photography
we save a melodius replay.
Flowering quince

Dutch Irises emerging on a Saturday morning.

Viburnum Tinus – A flower that shows you how important it is to get close.

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