Flowers From Our Yard: Radiant Perfume Rose

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Radiant Perfume is a rose that we've had for several years. As you can see, it is a very vibrant yellow rose. What the picture can't convey is its delightful fragrance, which is a fairly strong citrus scent.

Memorial Day

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As you enjoy this Memorial Day holiday, I hope you'll take a moment to remember the men and women whose sacrifice made it possible for us to celebrate this day.

Flowers From Our Yard: About Face Rose

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About Face is one of our favorite roses. It is prolific and the color is beautiful. The most interesting thing about this rose -- the reason for its name -- is that the darker color is on the outer side of the petal while the lighter color is on the inner side. Most roses are the opposite.

Drawing from a Photo: Cumberland Mountain State Park

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I'm still experimenting with the conversion of photographs into line drawings. Most of the time I prefer the photo, but I do find the drawings interesting. I guess that goes back to my complete lack of drawing talent.

When Betsy's youngest son came up for the day earlier this month, we took him to Cumberland Mountain State Park near Crossville for dinner. The seven arch bridge over the dam forming Lake Byrd is a distinguishing feature of this park. I like both the picture above and and the drawing made from it.



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Our Big Rose Bed

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We have three rose beds in our yard, plus roses in containers. This picture -- which was taken a couple of years ago -- shows the largest and oldest rose bed. Our roses are putting on a pretty good display this year as well, but I just haven't gotten a picture of the entire bed.

Issaqueena Falls

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Issaqueena Falls is near Walhalla, South Carolina. It is named after an Indian princess, Issaqueena, who, according to legend fell in love with an English trader. Issaqueena learned of a planned attack on the English settlement of Ninety Six, and set out to warn the Englishmen. She was pursued by the Indians, but disappeared from sight at the waterfall that now bears her name.

One version of the legend says that she leaped over the edge of the falls to her death in order to avoid capture. Another version says that she waited on a ledge under the falls for the Indians to leave and that she continued her journey and warned the settlement.

Flowers From Our Yard: Halloween Halo Iris

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Halloween Halo is another of our re-blooming iris. Although it does bloom in the fall, I'm glad we didn't have to wait until Halloween to enjoy this beauty.

King Creek Falls

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There wasn't a lot of water going over King Creek Falls when we visited it in August, 2006. But moss covered the little ledges over which the water dropped, and that, along with the pleasant hike through the woods to reach the falls, made it a wonderful place to visit. King Creek Falls is near Mountain Rest, South Carolina.

Flowers From Our Yard: Blatant Iris

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One of the showiest irises in our yard is Blatant, which has beautiful yellow standards and purple falls. One of the nicest things about Blatant is that it is a re-blooming iris, so we should be able to enjoy it again this autumn.

Evening Sky from Ocean Isle Beach

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In May the sun sets over the mainland from Ocean Isle Beach. But one evening I captured these colors in the sky moments after the sun dropped below the horizon.

Row, Row, Row Your Kayak

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A kayaker going through Bull Sluice rapids on the Chattooga River near Clayton, Georgia.

Flowers From Our Yard: Elle Rose

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Another early blooming rose in our yard this year has been Elle, which has beautiful multi-colored blossoms.

Drawing from a Photo: Ocean Isle Beach

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I'm still experimenting with the conversion of photographs into line drawings. Most of the time I prefer the photo, but I do find the drawings interesting. I guess that goes back to my complete lack of drawing talent.

The picture above is the view from our room at Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina last week. I think the drawing below rather neat.



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Flowers From Our Yard: Sonia Rose

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Sonia, our first rose to bloom this year, bloomed a couple of days before we left for the beach. I got this picture on the first morning Sonia's blossoms opened.

Flowers From Our Yard: Tennessee Vol Iris

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If you've followed our blogs for any length of time you know that Betsy is a die-hard fan of the University of Tennessee Volunteers. I'm not sure that she bleeds orange, but I do try to make myself scarce if the Vols lose a football game.

It goes without saying that Tennessee Vol is Betsy's very favorite iris.

Bull Sluice

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Bull Sluice on the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River near Clayton, Georgia, is really a Class V whitewater rapid. But since it was included in one of our waterfall books, and since it definitely involves falling water, Betsy and I decided to check it out on our way to the beach. A pleasant hike through the woods led us to an overlook. We heard the roar of the water long before we came upon this view.

Silver Sea in the Morning

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Betsy and I just got back from a week at Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. The weather was just about perfect all the time we were there, but one morning started out with overcast skies. I captured the picture above from the balcony of a room. I like the way the water around the pier appeared to have a silver sheen as it was lighted by the sun peeking through the clouds.