Photography makes you buggy

One of the things we have discovered very quickly is that every picture has a story and many have questions. We like to photograph flowers and often find we have included bees or butterflies or ants, or an occasional small spider (I run from the big ones). Last weekend we were at the Georgia Botanical Gardens and spotted 2 strange bugs. The first were eating a bean plant and seem to have killed the nearby beans while the plant itself seemed to be healthy. The others were having a meeting on a leaf. They did not appear to be eating the plant, but it did seem to be a favorite gathering place.

We have not yet learned what either bug is, but thought we'd share. We will continue to look for answers.

Closer to home

When I first moved to Greenville 4 years ago, I went to a Sierra Club meeting and learned about a proposed new park in the county. At that point it was just a gleam in the eye of a few environmentalist. I quickly made a trip down to explore and loved the setting of wide river, shoals and the remains of old industrial buildings.

Yesterday I took my grandsons there to explore after learning that within a year it will be the site of our new park: Cedar Falls. The boys had a blast and I got some lovely pictures of the river after several weeks of daily rain.

Water is always fun and challenging but lends itself to all kinds of artistry. We are fortunate to have such a great recreational resource in our back yard.

This photo was converted to black and white on an "infrared" selection which gives it an interesting dimension.

Rural Georgia

While listening for the banjo music we found all kinds of interesting things on a short 100 mile ride through east/central Georgia. Towns we'd never heard of, towns that no longer exist and another covered bridge.

Along Hwy 77 south of Elberton just over the Broad River we came to a small intersection with a tiny extinct gas station. The pump in front reads $1.00 gal. It's 1 mile from the former home of an ex-Governor/Senator from the 1800, but "the house burned down years ago." You can, I suppose, go look at where it used to be if you want...the historical marker points the way.

Art is just everywhere. We find it each time we go out and we have covered so little ground so far.

We also passed through a non-town called Glade that used to have a little roadside store. It's not even on the map.

I hear banjos....

So, when you decide to become an exploring photographer and head down the backroads and alleyways, you should probably pay attention.....

Last week we thought we were following a map to take a backroad but the road became dirt, then got narrower and more overgrown then passed a very rundown house with Barcoloungers on the porch, then ended....Cell phones didn't work and the car was scraping dirt as we tried to wend our way out. In fact, we lost a turn signal light, but did not have to get out and walk. We joked about hearing banjo music coming from the old house at the end of the road....

Today we heard about "the oldest church in Georgia" from some nice folks in the little store in Sandy (can't remember), GA. It was "off a dirt road" but "there are signs." Thinking that it would really be something to take pictures of a church that was built in the 1700's, we set off to find the dirt road. There were signs.....and then pavement and then, the drive to the church. As we turned in the drive, we could see a very foreboding and run down house in the overgrowth next to the drive. In great anticipation of a neat discovery, we headed for the church and found....a little white building that had been resided, reroofed, repainted, reporched and restepped......just a little white building/church. The support pillars may have been in place in 1788, but not much else was. So... there was this old house at the head of the drive that needed exploring.

Banjo music now!

The woods, vines and poison ivy have completely captured this house. It clearly used to be something (maybe a parsonage?) but most of it is missing now. Curiously, there appeared to be some straw inside. Suddenly there is a loud noise overhead and 3 very large birds take flight through the trees and off into the distance. My guess is they were large owls. Heart beat slows back down. Wayne tries to get closer to the front of the house and something moves inside......loud, large and sounding alarmed.....I peer through the trees but can't see anything. Just then there's a loud running sound and something big bolts out of the back of the house and into the woods.....clearly hoofed. Cloven?

All in a day's fun, but a reminder that we are not always masters of our environment.

These are two pictures of the house. We could have gotten closer but decided we did not want to disturb anything else and would let things return to (para?)normal.

The pain and fun of art

As you know, we love finding everyday art and capturing it to share. Sometimes this can be painful. We've missed the poison ivy so far this year, but fire ants, ticks and a lot of scrapes and cuts is about par for a weekend. I HATE ticks!

Last weekend we went to Watson Mill Bridge State Park outside of Colbert (as in Steven) and took some wonderful pictures of the covered bridge and a strangly colored heron. Upon leaving the park we found a herd of cows milling along a fence near the road. As usual, I had to try to get a picture. Sometimes cows run when they see a camera, but these were publicity-hungry cows who wanted their pictures taken. I waded into the waist high grass along the fence to try to get another good cow picture. "Blackberry" claimed the front, but soon 10 or 12 cows were trying to get into the picture and pushing and shoving. The longer I shot pictures, the more cows tried to be included. This is just one of the many of the crowd and one of Blackberry who was the champ.

However, on the way back to town I started to ITCH. Deep, intense, can't make it stop kind of itch on my stomach. I couldn't see anything there, but it was completely distracting and made me wonder what might be crawling on me. As soon as we got home I put Tea Tree Oil on the itch and it stopped immediately. The next day it started again but the oil again stopped it. It was quiet on Monday but Tues a.m. it was back and now I could see a series of bites...yuck. I have no idea what got me. I do have to wonder what creature/plant we will encounter next and when I will learn my lesson.

Learning history

As usual, we headed out on the backroads this weekend to see what was new and interesting. There was a lot to see, but for me the most interesting was a beautiful farm south of Colbert, GA. We came to a very rural intersection and right ahead of us was an amazing spread with rolling hay fields, a huge brick barn, a small lake, horses and all framed by a brown fence that ran as far as we could see. As we explored a little further, we came to an old brick house next to a huge white frame plantation-style home with a brick silo. There was a gated drive onto part of the property and a sign that said "Tucker Plantation."

The 3 brick horse barns and the brick house all had large iron S on them. On the map this area is called Smithsonia as is one of the roads that runs by.

One would think I could look up Tucker Plantation or Smithsonia on Google and learn about the area. Not so fast. The plantation site has a short website about weddings on the grounds and mentions that the farm once belonged to Kenny Rogers. Smithsonia, GA shows up as being near Atlanta and nowhere near Colbert (as in Steven, we claim).

Clearly there has been a huge and impressive farm here for some time, but at this point it's history remains obscure. And Cindy and Jewett Tucker, the current owners, seem to be strangers to Google.

Next stop is the GA historical society, I think.

But, this is why backroads and alleyways are so much fun. There is fodder here for hundreds of great pictures as well as historical research.

This picture is of the first sight we had of the farm as we approached. More to follow.