November-Bring It On Home To Me

 

NOVEMBER! It has been a beautiful time here in Georgia! Remember I told you that our leaves in Metro Atlanta area peak in November? It's true! 

There was a small festival in Old Town Conyers this past Saturday. The trees were still gorgeous! The trees that you see above are in a small but beautiful botanical garden in this small town. 

Very often, Richard and I are struck by not only the color of the leaves but also, the beauty of a tree trunk. We are not certain of the name of this tree, but we know it is old and beautiful.

The above photo is of "Fothergilla" Mt Airy. (Ahem, we won't talk about how long it took me to ID this beauty. Let's just say I let out a big "YAY!" when I discovered the name!)

All those colorful leaves are on the SAME bush!

Of course, many trees have lost most of their leaves, but this very old sweetgum still had some colorful leaves fluttering in the breeze.

If you are ever behind me when I am walking, please don't walk too closely.  I might just bend over and pick up a leaf and ask my husband to photograph it. Honest! This would be some kind of oak but please don't ask me to ID it! I wish I knew them all!  (You always know it is an oak if it has acorns, of course!) Since the "lobes" of the leaf is pointy, it is in the Red Oak family. That is something that I have learned in my research! (If the lobes are more "rounded" it would be in the White Oak family.)

When we exit our neighborhood, this is our view! The trees are beautiful year-round but when the sun is shining on them during the Fall of the year, they are stunning.  (That is a school that you see behind the trees.)

After we walked recently, we had to stop in at the grocery store to buy a few things.

I wonder how many folks took photos in the PARKING LOT like we did?  Someone who knows native trees has been able to influence the owners of shopping centers to plant these natives. I am grateful!

(You can see me holding the bags. Hey, someone has to do so while someone takes pictures! LOL.)

November is always memorable for amazing autumnal colors, Thanksgiving with family and friends AND our son's birthday! Just a wonderful time of year! AND for 2022, the World Cup too! As I am writing this today, England has won AND the USA too! Yay!

 Hope that November has been nice for you, and you are looking forward to the next holiday season.  Peace to you all, my friends!

"Bring It On Home To Me"

Stone Mountain November/ "Palais de Danse"

 

 

Stone Mountain! Can you see it? This photo is from the island in Stone Mountain Lake, we have just walked over the covered bridge to get here.  I have told you about Stone Mountain before many times, if you remember!

From this spot, if you look left you see the covered bridge but if you look to the right, you see the view of Stone Mountain. You know Richard got a close up for you, showing the cable car about to go into the building to let the folks out to see the views! (There is also a walk up trail but the cable cars are very popular too.)

You know when I leave a comment on your blog and you see my photo of a walkway? That photo was taken in the spring on the trail in front of Stone Mountain which was from 2011.

The photo above is almost the same spot but now they have fencing around it. If you notice the yellow sign, it says you can't enter but as it is part of the Cherokee trail around the mountain, you also see there is a space to squeeze through the left of the sign! (There were two people who paused there just after Richard took this photo for me. I was pleased to tell them to ignore the sign and just go around it!  I am such a rebel but hey, I know what I know!)  If you are wondering why there is such heavy fencing...it is because there is now a very expensive LASER show that they have and I guess they can't have folks sneaking in there and hiding before the show! Also, for the winter, they make snow from the lake and create "Snow Mountain" in that area.  Big hit with the kids!  Anyway, let me show you some more photos!

Isn't the outline of Stone Mountain just gorgeous behind the trees?

See the water wheel? This is an old grist mill beside Stone Mountain Lake. 

That last tree was in the parking lot at Stone Mountain!  These photos were from early November. The temps were in the 70's and for a few weeks there, it was wonderful to walk and enjoy the leaves! Suddenly, we got a cold front and it went from almost 80 degrees to our lows being in the 30's and it has struggled to get to 45 for a high temp! Happy I was able to get out and about while the sun was shining!

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I learn something new every day!  For some reason, I thought of a song by the Kinks and I looked it up on YouTube. The one that I found had all the lyrics.  Let me see if I can get it here for you....

"Come Dancing"!

If you were able to read the lyrics, it is mentioned that his sister would go dancing at the local "palais".  From the context you can surmise that that would be a dance hall but it is from the words "palais de danse".  That would be a "dance palace" in French which is what dance halls were called in the 1950's and 1960's in England. I had never heard of that before, Richard had to tell me!  That song was from 1983, by the way...it was a very good year, the same year that Richard and I got married!

Hope you are all doing well, my friends!  Take care.