Patience

Over the weekend, I saw an episode of "Graham Norton" on BBC America.  One of the guests was Gary Barlow.  He seemed to be such a nice guy but I had never heard of him.  Our son was visiting us and I think he was surprised that I didn't know him.  He promptly produced a CD for me and played one of his favorite songs from that particular CD, "Patience".   I have it for you here...

You may read more about Gary Barlow just here.  And I hope you WILL read about him if you don't know him! He is one of Britain's most successful songwriters and you all know how I love songwriters! Not only that, but he is a such an inspiring person. If you look at that link that I gave you and scroll down to his charity work, you will see what I mean.

My friends, I see that I have only written two posts for the month of October.  Is it because I have nothing to say? No! I have loads of things to tell you...you will just have to have...wait for it...PATIENCE!  Ha, you knew I would say it, didn't you?

So, am I the only one in the world who didn't know Gary Barlow? Tell me! 

Wishing I was in England just now! When you walk along the seafront in Eastbourne, the air is clean and fresh and you hear the surf pounding the pebbles onto the beach.  It is beautiful. I will get back there, but you know, I must have...patience!

Hope you are all well, my friends.

Rockdale Art Farm- Approved!

  Remember me telling you about the Rockdale Art Farm? Happy to say that it has now been approved.   Full steam ahead!  Richard and I are pleased over this and very happy for Joe Eifrid, the gentleman who is behind this great venture.  Way to go, Joe!


Wonderful article written about the Rockdale Art Farm, you may read it just here.  Please read it if you can, it is very well written and it explains the very personal reasons behind Joe's determination in making this park a reality.  

I think I told you that they plan to have a pollinator garden at the Rockdale Art Farm.  Wonderful!  Just now, before I began typing this post, I read that hundreds of Monarch butterflies were spotted in the gardens in Asheville, North Carolina...so they are headed to Georgia! By this time next year, there should be flowers at RAF for them.  Love the thought of that...

A few years back, we were lucky enough to be at Arabia Mountain when we had hundreds of Monarch butterflies fly over us as we walked up the mountain. What a lovely thing to witness. I will never forget it.

We still have butterflies in our garden today but it is expected to cool down this weekend.  The last day I saw my hummingbirds was Oct. 6th.  See you next year, little hummers...maybe at the new Rockdale Art Farm, expected to open in the Spring of 2019.

Appalachian Trail- Emma Gatewood

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail more commonly known as the Appalachian Trail or the AT is a trail that runs from Maine to Georgia (or from Georgia to Maine, depending on where you start and finish.) It is about 2200 miles long.  I have only hiked very short sections of it in Georgia. And when I say short sections, I mean just a few hundred yards from where it crosses over a road! I would love to hike more of it but I suspect I am getting too old to hike it for any great length ...but wait, you will never guess what I just learned!  Let me tell you about Emma Gatewood!
What, you have never heard of her? Neither had I!  (She is more commonly known as "Grandma" Gatewood but I prefer to call her by her given name.)  In 1955, she hiked the entire Appalachian Trail all by herself when she was 67 years old.  What is more, two years later, she did it again.  (She also hiked it for a third time, although she allowed herself to do that last one in sections.)  Emma Gatewood died in 1973 at the age of 85. This year,  the New York Times published an obituary for her as part of its "Overlooked" series about remarkable people whose deaths went unreported in the Times.

  You may read the NY Times obituary just here. You will read that she suffered terrible abuse from her husband and she said later that the nature on the trail was healing to her. Nature is a balm to the soul, I believe.

Happy to think that I have walked in the steps of Emma Gatewood!

On her first hike on the AT, she sang "America, The Beautiful" when she completed her journey in Maine at the top of Mt. Katahdin. (highest mountain in Maine at 5,270 feet.)  Isn't that wonderful to know?  

3 Things To Stop Me In My Tracks At Arabia Mountain

In my last post I told you that three things stopped me in my tracks at the end of our walk at Arabia Mountain.  It is possible that I might be the only one that would be excited over these things, there were lots of other people on the trail and I didn't see anyone else stop to look at them.  Beauty is right THERE and most folks just pass it right by...

On the trail, there are some bridges.  Beside one of the bridges there was a persimmon tree with the ripe fruit dropping onto the wooden bridge rail.  As we walked past, I looked over and...

the apricot color of this fruit was a very good match to the spots on this butterfly.  Sometimes colors that are similar really catch my eye.  I think this is a Spicebush swallowtail but as always, I could be wrong!  Whatever it is, I loved seeing it.


I have done a post before when I told you about seeing a bush with the very colorful seeds.  It is a bush that is wonderfully named  "hearts a busting".  When I spotted it beside the trail, I let out a whoop of excitement.  I promise you that I did.  Yes, I know they are just seeds but wow, they are beautiful.

Oh dear, mine are out of focus.  You know Richard can get closer and has a steadier hand...

These colors are beautiful.  This is a native bush, by the way. It can also be called strawberry bush but I prefer "hearts a busting". 

Okay then, that leaves me one more thing. Now, this is not a native but I always like to see it blooming at this time of year.  I spy with my little eye something red...

Surprise! They are surprise lilies! (Some call them "bare naked ladies" but I prefer surprise lilies myself.)  Someone would have planted these here long ago and I am grateful for this spot of color.

So, you are thinking...these three things: a butterfly, some seeds and a red flower on a spindly stalk made you stop in your tracks. Well, yes.  I only wish others could have noticed them too!

So much to see in nature! Get out there and enjoy it. Tell me what you see, something that makes you happy and gives you joy.

A Walk At Arabia Mountain

If you look at these photos, you might think we are in the North Georgia mountains.  We are not, this is actually just a few miles from a shopping mall which is just next to a very busy interstate highway.  This is on one of the trails at Arabia Mountain! You see, we don't just walk UP the mountain, we walk on as many trails as we can. (Once again, I will tell you that Arabia Mountain is really a monadnock, but hey, it is easier to call it a mountain!)

September has been so very hot.  This one morning that we hiked was a bit cooler due to it being overcast and it was such a welcome relief to have a nice long hike on the trails.  We walked for three hours that day.  Then, it began to heat up, so we headed home. What did we see that day?

                                Yellow Daisies!

                         Eastern Boxed Turtle

An old grave with the headstone of granite. I am guessing it would have been locally quarried from Arabia Mountain.  Also, I love the red leaf hanging on the fence. See it, just there at the back? I am thinking it is a sassafras leaf. Can't tell you how happy I am to identify it! I hope I am right! Do you see it? The Sassafras has THREE different leaves, that is the baseball mitt shaped one   three lobed one.  (Sorry, I said baseball mitt shaped one but as you can see it is the three lobed one!)

See the back of the headstone?  Notice that the bottom has been left a bit unfinished. Do you see the pattern of the rock? That is why this rock was quarried in this area, it is in buildings all over the country.

The lake that you come upon as you walk this trail is a special treat!  

At the very end of the walk, we saw not one, not two but THREE things that stopped me in my tracks!  I will have to tell you all about that in a future post, my friends!

Hope you are all doing well.  I have been a bit under the weather this week, but things are looking up!  

And just to make myself feel better, this a photo of me from England.  This should make you giggle!

"Chas" from Chas & Dave Has Died...Charles Hodges

Chas and Dave...you might have noticed their names on my blog before. How much I love them and their musical talents!  Today, Charles "Chas" Hodges has died.  He had been going through cancer treatments for some time now. (His death was attributed to pneumonia. Chas's family wanted to emphasize this since his cancer was under control. They felt Chas would want those suffering with cancer to know this, that it was pneumonia that was the cause of his death.) 

 When our son was a baby, my English in-laws sent us " Chas & Dave's Jamboree Bag #3". It  had so many songs on it!  They included old songs from the music halls in England but with Chas & Dave's own kind of style.  There was a Knees Up Side, a Rock and Roll side, Waltz side, and an Old Time Boogie side.  I wonder how much this influenced our youngster in his love of music.    How much we enjoyed this in the car as we traveled! It was almost always what our C. would ask for.  We would all sing along joyfully with them.

Of course, Chas and Dave were also songwriters! You all must know by now how much I admire songwriters. Some of their biggest hits: "Ain't No Pleasing You", "Rabbit", "Snooker Loopy" and do you remember the song that was used for London Heathrow Airport "Coming Home"- that was written by Chas & Dave.

One of the songs that they wrote,  "Mustn't Grumble" is one of my favorites.  Listen to the words!   Once again, the combination of music and words combined perfectly together is simply a marvel to me.  Bloomin' marvelous, Chas! Thank you. 

Hey!  Why not give you more of that album?  Okay then,  here is the Old Time Boogie Side.  We need to hear more music like this. Sing along if you like, I am sure that would be a nice way to honor Chas. 

Let Love Be Genuine, Live Peaceably With All

   All photos from the Monastery in Conyers, Georgia.