Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Yellow Daisy Walk/Stone Mountain Park

 
 


Best I love September's yellow, morns of dew strung gossamer
Thoughtful days without a stir, rooky clamours, brazen leaves,

Stubble dotted o'er with sheaves -
More than Spring's bright uncontrol
Suit the Autumn of my soul.  
         Alex Smith

 
To coincide with the yellow daisies at Stone Mountain, there is an arts and crafts festival that has been held there for forty-three years which in the American South, makes for a sacred tradition.  I read in the paper that it was expected that 200,000 people would attend over the four days of the Yellow Daisy Festival.   We really wanted to go to Stone Mountain, but thought that the crowds might possibly be too much.  We should not have worried, it happened just as I thought, most of the people were under the tents at the festival and it was one of the least populated times on the walk-up trail we have ever seen, especially in such beautiful weather.   The daisies were "at their best" which is what the sign in England said about the bluebells when we went on a bluebell walk in England.  These flowers reminded me of that lovely walk, only in yellow this time! I have two videos on here for you, let me know what you think of them. Richard did both of them too!

 

 
 
 
 
 
Click on any one of these photos and you can scroll through them, this stiched photo looks better on a wider screen! 
 
 
We have almost made it to the top!  Not only have the yellow daisies been beautiful but the clouds!What a perfect day to climb the mountain.
On top of the world!
 
We came up on the Walk-Up Trail but the Cherokee Trail crosses over the Walk-Up Trail  so we went down the Cherokee Trail side of the mountain, very steep in places, one must be very careful.
Guess who?  No, it's not Indiana Jones!
Richard took most of these photos, in fact, he may have taken them all except the ones that I took of him.    I think he takes great photos,  just look at this shot, I think this could be a post-card, don't you?
 
Last year, on my walk at Arabia Mountain when the Yellow Daisies were blooming, I left a wish   that I hope one day yellow flowers will mark your way. It is still my wish for you. 
 

35 comments:

  1. Oh wow! Those colors are amazing! Those flowers are certainly at their 'best'.

    Nice to see you & Richard in the photos - Looking good Lady!

    Sorry I didn't have time to watch the Videos this time, but I am sure Richard did a good job!

    e

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    1. Thanks, Elizabeth! And to think of all those people and hardly any of them on the mountain to see this beauty. And the flowers looked nice too! :-)

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  2. Hello Kay:
    How amazing this is. We have looked at all the images and both videos in almost total disbelief that there should be such sights as all of these wonderfully sunny daisies growing in what appears to be almost completely arid conditions.

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    1. Absolutely, all of that plant life on the mountain must be in very little soil, the mountain is solid rock.
      We have read that the minerals that run off the mountain make the plants and trees that much healthier. Wait until you see our photos when all the trees change color in the Autumn, magnificent!

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  3. Tsk! Every time the man attempts a video some woman walks through the picture. Tsk!

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    1. It's hard not to get into Richard's videos and photos, he always has that camera working! :-)
      Could you see my startled look when he caught me smelling the flowers? They did have a wonderful fragrance, by the way.

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  4. Hahaha...I laughed at the Indiana Jones comment! It really does look like him :)

    The arts and crafts festival sounds like a lot of fun. We have similar type events here, and it's always great. I'm always amazed by the talented people displaying their great work.

    The photos are beautiful, Kay! The contrasting blue of the sky and the yellow of the daisies is a stunning combination. And I always love taking photos on days where there are big, fluffy clouds in the sky; it really adds a special touch. So, it looks like you had it all - gorgeous flowers, lovely clouds, perfect blue sky...and beautiful people :)

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    1. Thanks, Martha! It amused me to see that shadow shot of Richard and you know I either think of movies or 60's cartoons or sit-coms!
      And Richard really does enjoy his photos, I am thinking he needs a better camera though, just think of what he could do! HA! I would never see his face again, it would always be behind the camera!
      Oh, and beautiful people? MOI? :-)

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  5. HOW ABSOLUTELY ENCHANTING. The more I see of your pictures, the more I remember about Stone Mountain. We were there when the trees were dressed in their autumn best. It really was beautiful then too. Here, along the Machair on the Isle of Lewis, we have fabulous wild flowers of all kinds but weed killer of any kind is not used - amazing what mother nature can do when left to her own devices isn't it? I will email you a picture of our flowers - see what you think.

    Keep walking that walk and sharing through your blog. x

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    1. When the trees change color in the autumn at Stone Mountain, it is BREATHTAKING! But shhh, don't tell anybody, it will be our secret, okay? I did a post last year about it, did you see those photos? Go back and look at them! It was November 13th! I just looked it up, and I didn't know how to make my photos big then, but I made that first one very large by accident!
      I will go back now and see if I can englarge them.

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  6. Between your words and the way you put them with the pictures, you make me wish i could see the world through your and Richard's eyes.

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    1. Dear Mimi,
      That is such a sweet thing to say! We love nature and appreciate every single thing that we see. I hope that shows!

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  7. Wow. What a beautiful day ~ the colors are so vivid and I love the clouds!!! Wish I could've been there!

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    1. Now Audrey, I hope to be able to walk up Stone Mountain with you one day. We can't wait too long or I will have to be one of those lazy people that go up on the lift!

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  8. Oh! Those yellow colors take my breath away. Stunning. Nice shadow pic too!

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    1. Thanks, Connie! We were so pleased to see the masses of yellow daisies on the mountain. It truly was stunning.

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  9. Festival season is just starting now. The crowds do get a bit much but you found a lovely road to travel and get away from them. Thanks for the videos. Between the videos and the pics I feel like I was with you! Have a good weekend!

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    1. Follow me, kiddo, and can always get away from crowds. It is a gift that I appreciate!
      Glad you enjoyed our sunny walk!

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    1. Thank you so much, Kate! It was as wonderful as it could possibly be.

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  11. Love the photos. A lot of yellow flowers, they look so bright and cheerful!

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    1. Thank you, Lea! And the yellow was such a beautiful sight.

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  12. Wow! This is really impressive! I especially love that stitched photo. It must be so awesome to go on that walk.

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    1. It is! And Richard will be pleased that you liked his stitched photo and just think what he could do with a small tripod! :-)

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  13. By the way, when you mentioned Stone Mountain, I was imagining a steep cliff. This actually looks like something I could manage. :-)

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    1. It's true you don't need mountain climbing equipment, but it is not as easy as it looks. One of my co-workers who is one of these athletic work-out buff type of guys, went on this same Stone Mountain Walk/Hike/Climb and he was very surprised at what a work-out it was! And I think he was very surprised that I could do it!! HA! Looks like all my walking is paying off!

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  14. Hello Kay, I'm so glad I stopped by...wow, what a beautiful sight! I loved both videos; the first one for the many views, and the second one for the close up of the daisies. When I visited Stone Mountain park in the summer of 1984, I was so impressed with that huge mountain of rock. We did not attempt the climb up it but enjoyed the grounds of the park and had lunch somewhere there. What a wonderful thing it would be to visit during the time of the daisies!

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  15. Oh dear, wrong date...I was there the same year as the Olympics but not during them...19961 Came out for my son's high school graduation; he was living with his dad at the time..there near Columbus, Georgia.

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    1. Glad you liked the videos, Sara! And yes, the yellow daisies are beautiful, but honestly, it is the festival that is famous,hardly anyone noticed the flowers! It predict that will change sometime in the future, and this will be billed as a beautiful nature walk (much like the bluebell walk in England) and you will remember that you read it here!
      And yes, I know where Columbus, Georgia is too!

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  16. Hi Kay! Thanks so much for this! What an incredibly beautiful hike/trail. And the photos made me feel I was there too! Good job hubby!
    Jim

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    1. Hello Jim!
      So glad that you enjoyed this hike with us too! And I will tell Richard that you said so and this will make his day. Cheers! (Pretend my hubby said that in his English accent!)

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  17. Dear Kay,

    What gorgeous photos!! I love all the yellow we see as we go into fall. And the temperatures have been so great here - we even had the A/C off for the last week. That's almost a miracle.

    Thanks for sharing all this beauty with us!!

    Love, Silke

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    1. Dear Silke,
      Thank you! You MUST come to Stone Mountain and let me know when you do, and we will climb this mountain together,okay? That would be such fun!!
      Glad you had a wonderful time in Germany and now, let's look forward to a beautiful autumn in Georgia, fingers crossed, right?!

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  18. You knew I was going to LOVE this, didn't you!
    Thank you, Richard, for taking those wonderful pitures, and thank you, Kay, for sharing them with us!

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    1. And you KNOW that I said Meike would love these yellow flowers, I really said that to Richard on this walk!
      The flowers were so plentiful, it made for quite a show.

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