Sunday drive

eye candy

craft fest

hiking trail

just a swingin'

Sunday drive across North Georgia!

time flies

Time flies, and isn't it fun to be a spectator?

Talk next door is about drivers ed, letter jacket, prom dresses, class rings…. Wow, this next era in the grandkids' lives is going to be exciting, but are their parents up for it?

With school starting in less than 3 weeks, summer winds down. The grandkids are trickling back home after a summer with their other parents… current plans are for shopping for school clothes and supplies, getting sports physicals and drug testing.

I can't even imagine shopping for 4 - ages 11-15, can you?

Hoping for strength goes out to their mom, 3 more weeks of kids underfoot, attitudes, appetites, hormones... probably the only time Melissa wishes she didn't work at home. Hang in there!


~photo by Daniela M. Casalla

signs of age

Artistic grandkids.... or sarcastic?

Either way, love my birthday signs, thanks.... I think...

full circle

Started out many years ago as a child camping in a tent, sleeping bags, the simple life....

Over the years have made the rounds of campers - pickup truck campers, motorhomes, travel trailers - with all the amenities - TV, microwave, fridge, gas grill.

But this weekend going back to the basics - back to tent camping.

Am I too old for this? Sleeping on the ground, getting up in the dark to find a bathroom? This weekend will be the test!

If I survive, have plans on trying backpacking next, overnight hikes in the mountains... LOL very ambitious I know - ask me about it on Monday morning...

But for now, looking forward to sitting in a camp chair by the camp fire looking out over the lake, kids and grandkids gathered 'round, telling stories, and of course eating s'mores!


~photo 27 January 2008, Carter's Lake

holiday hiking

View from atop Sawnee Mountain

Sawnee, minor chief of the Cherokee Nation

1800s gold mine

Sawnee Mountain Preserve hike 4 July 2009

summer is here!

3 day weekend!

So what will it be? So many things to choose from...

Eating of course comes to mind - watermelon, cookouts, ribs, corn on the cob… ice cream.

Swimming, boating, fireworks, summer festivals, basically anything outdoors.



I think a field of sunflowers is calling to me - and my hiking boots are ready to go climb a mountain...



What are your plans?

summer reading

When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin

I was impressed when I read my first Charles Martin book a few weeks ago, Chasing Fireflies, so sought out another title of his to try. When Crickets Cry was was even better!

Seldom do I find a book that I can't put down, but this one was like that.

The descriptive characters make up most of the interesting ingredients, with a bit of mystery, dash of love, a pinch of loss, occasional sprinkles of religion, lots of quotes from Shakespeare to Willy Wonka, and the best part for me - location - all add up to make a great story.

Don't you love to find a story based in a familiar location? This one is set in the north Georgia Mountains of Rabun County, home of the city of Clayton, Lake Burton, and the Tallulah River, all places I have been to or passed by.

Burton didn't really get famous until Elliot Wiggington wrote his Foxfire books, and then Jon Voight climbed out of the gorge in the movie Deliverance, and the state of Georgia constructed Highway 400, so romantically depicted in the many chases of the Burt Reynolds classic, Smokey and the Bandit.

The main character is Reese, and the story of his life unfolds piece by piece through flashbacks to his childhood and his marriage and back to the present, bits and pieces of the puzzle of his story are filled in a little at a time, making you try to figure out the mystery and anticipate the next tidbit of information.

The next most important character is little Annie:

She was small for her age... a tomboy's heart in a china doll's body. Dressed in a short yellow dress, yellow socks, white Mary Janes, and a straw hat wrapped with a yellow ribbon that trailed down to her waist. She was pale and thin and bounced around like a mix between Eloise and Tigger.

From the jacket - A man with a painful past … a child with a doubtful future … and a shared journey toward healing for both their hearts.

A great summer read, so make some lemonade, sit on the screened porch, and escape to the mountains of north Georgia to see if you can hear the crickets cry.