"You Are So Beautiful"

 

In late May, we went for a lovely walk on the Rockdale River Trail.  It begins in a very woody area and then it crosses over a cleared area where the power lines are located. Suddenly, you are under more trees, and you are right beside the Yellow River and the shade is very welcome. Alongside the river were the amazingly beautiful Mountain Laurel. (Kalmia latiflolia). I have written about it before! 

Georgia Girl With An English Heart: Mountain Laurel: Pollen Dispersal by Catapult (Lyman Briggs)

Aren't these just the most amazing parasols of beauty? I was that pleased when I saw them that I said, "Oh, you are so beautiful".  As you must know, that reminded me of a song.

"You Are So Beautiful" is a song made famous by Joe Cocker.  It is an amazing vocal! However, did you know that it was written by  Billy Preston?  If you watch the following video, that is Billy Preston on the keyboard! I remember reading that it was Paul's idea that he wanted to ask Billy to be a member of the Beatles and John's response was that they couldn't get along as a group of four so why try with five members? (As always, you never know if anything like this was ever said but I found it amusing and interesting.) Of course, he has been called the 5th Beatle anyway! 

As much as I love the BEATLES, I do not love the BEETLES that are visiting my sassafras tree just now! What do I do to make them EX-Beetles? I take a thick garden glove and pinch the hard-shelled things off. (You must be quick, they fly off very fast!) Now, as hard as I press upon them, it doesn't kill them but it stuns them enough that I can then place them on the paved walkway and press a heavy flowerpot upon them. The Japanese beetle is not a pest in Japan since it has natural predators. You see, it is essential that we try to keep the Japanese beetles away since the sassafras tree is a host for the Spicebush swallowtail butterfly caterpillar! It is really something.  It starts out (in its first "instar", isn't that a great word?) looking like...and I am not kidding.... like a bird dropping! It does that as a camouflage, of course! It even has two fake eyes! It closes itself up into a leaf during the day and comes out at night to feed on the leaves, provided the beetles haven't eaten all the leaves! It gets bigger and bigger and eventually will become a cocoon. And then, hopefully it will become...the spicebush swallowtail butterfly!  (It really prefers a spicebush but it will also accept a sassafras!) Now...I might have to do a post about the sassafras tree soon! It's very interesting too! Three different leaves on the same tree? It's true!

If I see a spicebush swallowtail butterfly in my front yard, I will be singing that song again! "You Are So Beautiful"!

And I will be singing "Get Back" to the Japanese beetles! "Get back to where you once belonged", that is perfect to sing to them! LOL!

Buddy Holly and the Crickets.... John Lennon is supposedly the one who thought up the name of their group to honor Buddy Holly and his "crickets" but instead of "beetles" it became "BEATLES" since John loved wordplay.  I'm sure you all know that but just in case you don't, now you do!

              (This is one of the later instars, where it turns green.)

                                   

Beauty and Design

 

Athens Botanical Garden (Athens, Georgia!)

Ah, beautiful design... I do hope that all of you appreciate it no matter where you see it!

Charles Stanley Peach (1858-1934) was a British architect that I admire.  We will soon see the tennis championship games from Wimbledon, England and when you watch them on TV, pay attention to the Centre Court. That was designed by Mr. Peach in 1934, using "board finished concrete" for the first time. Thirty years earlier, he was asked to design the electric transformer stations in London. (Now, pay attention...that would have been in 1904 and therefore would have been in the very early days of electricity.) The most famous of these would be Brown Hart Gardens in Mayfair, London. It is a raised garden OVER the electricity transformer station! Isn't that something? These are his thoughts about the designing of power stations....

"The amenities of the locality should not be disregarded, and every care should be taken to reduce to the minimum all causes of nuisance or annoyance. The appearance of the building counts for much in these cases."

Sigh, am I the only one who reads that and wishes that we had someone around like that today? "The appearance counts for much"...I do know that everything costs money but how much more would it cost for a building to have some sort of beauty to it? 

After a full day of designing power stations, Mr. Peach would go home and would work late into the night on huge drawings of King Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem.  He was an amazing artist, you can see some of his works online. 

This bench at the Athens Botanical Garden was not only beautiful but also comfortable.

Main Street- Conyers, Georgia.

"World, I cannot hold thee close enough".

I do wonder how many others bend down and hug this globe like I did?  Would you? It's the very first thing I thought to do!

Hope all of you are doing well these days! Time is just flying by, don't you think? June is abuzz with bees and flowers! 

The Stoke's Aster! I had to find out the name of this flower and I did! We saw it in a lovely garden on Main Street here in Conyers and then, we also saw lots of them at the Botanical Garden.  We really liked it and so did the bees! 

What else did I learn this week? The perforations on toilet paper were patented in 1871 but not available until 1890. Gee, what took them so long? LOL! (I learned this from watching a very interesting piece about the founder of Universal Studios, Mr. Carl Laemmle. What did toilet paper have to do with him? Hmm....something about one of his many lawsuits that was brought against him by Thomas Edison regarding film. You will have to look it up!)

Here is a funny song for you! When we are walking sometimes and we hear very loud voices, we think of this song!

Month of May 2023- Flower, Birds, Butterflies!

 

Hello there! My last post was about the Coronation of King Charles. That was ages ago, wasn't it? What have I been doing? Oh my goodness, I have been working on a book. Oh, didn't you know that I have THREE books? They are as follows:

Book 1:  The Things that Kay Knows

Book 2:  The Things that Kay DOES NOT Know

Book 3: The Things that Kay Knew but Has Forgotten

That first book is a slim one, very slim indeed.

The second one is so big that it can hardly be lifted.

The third book is rapidly getting bigger every day!

What recent additions to that first book of Kay Knowledge?

Cotyledons- The first two leaves that come out on a seedling.

Blue eyed grass - not really a grass but an iris that grows wild. 

Sisyrinchium atlanticum, botanical name. (Beside a trail at Panola State Park.)

A small green butterfly- Juniper hairstreak. (On a daisy, it was.)

A grey bird with bright white feathers at its front- at the edge of Alexander Lake. (Even though I was so happy to ID it but now I can't remember the name of it so looks like it might be in that 3rd book. It is one that I have never seen before, only seen here in migration.)

Plains coreopsis-  A beautiful yellow flower growing wild beside the road in East Atlanta.  It had a dark center in the middle of the flower. We have lots of coreopsis growing wild beside the road but that particular one, I had never seen it before.

A green anole (a lizard) was on my front steps on a Dusty Miller plant- it was very straight on the stem and as I watched, it ate its own skin! I looked this up and sure enough, that is what I was seeing!

If you look back at my blog, you will see that I did a post in October and I told asked you all to read "Dracula".  I hope some of you did so!  Guess what! There will be a film coming out in August that focuses on just ONE chapter from that excellent written book! 

The film title is "The Last Voyage of the Demeter". It is about the ship that carried 50 wooden crates from Carpathia to London.  Isn't that something? To have a movie made from just one chapter? I told you that it was a great book! "Dracula" by Bram Stoker was first published on May 26, 1897.  If my math skills are correct, that was 126 years ago! Now, will I see the movie? Probably not, I don't like scary stuff! It cannot improve on the book anyway!

"Jennifer Juniper" by Donovan (I sang this when I learned the name of the little green butterfly.)

It has been a lovely cool breezy kind of month, this month of May in Georgia which is rather unusual, but I am not complaining! Flowers are blooming but my tomato, pepper and cucumber plants are wondering what happened to the Georgia heat. (Don't worry, it will be here soon enough!)

Hope you are all doing well where you are and always adding to your book of knowledge. And if you are like me and keep adding to that third book, at least we have our blogs where we can look back and refresh our memories.  Take care!

Close up of the blue eyed grass.  Isn't it beautiful? See how those little bits go out from the edge of the petals? Amazing, it is so tiny.

All the King's Horses and All the King's Men

 

Did all of you watch the Coronation?  No matter how you feel about the Monarchy you must admit that the Brits really know how to do great ceremonial pageantry.  I do wish I could have been there!  London is always wonderful for me but to have seen it in all the splendor associated with the Coronation of a king?  Yes indeed, it would have been amazing, I am sure! The procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Cathedral was magnificently done, don't you think so too? 

The Admiralty Arch was built as a memorial to Queen Victoria from her son, Edward VII.  Designed by Sir Aston Webb it was completed in 1912. You can find it at the end of the Mall (which is the large road which leads to Buckingham Palace.)

I took a photo of this from my TV screen! The banners spell out "Happy & Glorious" which is from the national anthem of course! 

At the top, the letters carved in the stone are in Latin and reflect what I told you above.  "In the tenth year of King Edward VII, to Queen Victoria, from most grateful citizens, 1910." That is, I think that is what it says... my Latin is not all it's cracked up to be, folks!

What else do you notice?  See how on one side, there are two sets of windows and yet, on the other side, you can count three? Three stories on one side and two stories on the other! Isn't it interesting that the architect chose to build this asymmetrically? I wonder why this is so?  Those on the left side have higher ceilings? I just wish I could go inside!

Did you notice the great precision of those marching in the parade? How they were able to march in formation through the arches?  (That is my meaning behind my title "All the King's Horses and All the King's Men".)  And so many! Just perfectly done.  One must admire it!

When we were in England in 2012 during the Queen's Jubilee, we had a lovely spread at the home of my in-laws. We even had quiche then! Marks & Spencer makes a very good gluten free one too!

Steve Winwood performed at the Coronation Concert.  He didn't do this song but I really like it...."Now The Green Blade Riseth".

House Moving - "Love Shack!"

 

On my last post I wondered how they could have moved the houses to the historic square at Stone Mountain.  I found a video for you! As I was watching this video, I thought to myself...."I don't remember any of the houses called by that name" and after seeing the building come to life before my eyes...."Hmm...that doesn't look like any of the buildings we saw...."  I did more research and can you believe it?

The house shown in the video is the T.R.R. Cobb house.  After being moved to Stone Mountain in 1985, it was moved BACK to Athens, Georgia in 2005!  (It looks like the other homes at the historic square were moved to Stone Mountain in the 1960's, like I told you in my post.)

House moving, indeed!  The T.R.R. Cobb house is now set up as a museum in that city.  It seems that a trip to Athens will be in my future!

http://www.trrcobbhouse.org/#trrcobbhouse

Thinking about it, it seems I do remember seeing that "pink" house at Stone Mountain but it seemed very sad and run down.  I'm glad it has now been fully restored. 

---------------------------------------------------

What song to go with this post?  Of course, it must be with a musical group connected with Athens, Georgia! 

 "Love Shack" from the B52's!  And since I have that English heart going on, the clip for this is from London.  

(You are thinking...."Kay, you did NOT put the song "Love Shack" on here when you were telling us about houses, did you? HA, I did!)

Here's that bedroom that I told you I loved so much and a photo of me inside the garden gazebo!

 

Stone Mountain Visit- Daydream

 

Stone Mountain is about a thirty minute drive from us.  I have written about it before! We like to climb it when we can but on this day when we went recently, we wanted to take the cable cars to the top....

When we got there, Richard got a quick snap of the cable cars meeting each other on the journey. We had just missed that blue one going up!  Can you see the red one? That is the one on the way down and the one that we will get on to take us to the top! (That is what we thought would happen anyway.)

The attendant informed us that the cable cars were not operating due to high winds! We had just missed the last one going up! You can't make these things up, people!  Not to worry, there are lots of things to see and do at Stone Mountain.

It has been years since Richard and I have seen the homes and buildings on the historic square in Stone Mountain Park, so Richard along with his "ball and chain" decided to do just that! 

All the buildings in this historic square are from different places in Georgia built between 1793 and 1875.  They were somehow brought here in the 1960's. (I do wonder how this accomplished. I suppose there was less traffic in Georgia at that time!)

 

That is hand stitched in the frame, "The Lord is my Shepherd".

The music room in this house is just dreamy.  The family was so wealthy that the father employed a music teacher for his children!

This room might seem very simple but there was a real serenity about it.

I love that blue color on the walls!

Dinner is served!

I was very happy to recognize this!  It is a flour/corn meal chest.

My grandmother had one. Do you see how those two middle bits of wood are indented?  That would hold the long wooden bowl where the bread dough was prepared.  See, I don't need anybody to explain antiques to me, I am one! 

There were two small dwellings that were brought to this spot from Newton County, Georgia which is just the next county over from where we live.  These buildings were cabins for slaves from the 1860's.  The sign in front told us that this

 tiny building would house up to 17 people.  It is most unusual for any of these dwellings to have survived.  (And one cannot help but notice the difference in the table setting here in this home as compared to the big house dining room.)

I do wish we could have seen the barn and the garden area but the barn was closed due to a roof collapse! (Richard is so good at photography that you can't see the hole in the roof!)

 Okay, I want this bedroom! Love those colors!

 

We didn't spend all our time inside the houses! Here we are at the Grist Mill which was ALSO moved here to Stone Mountain!  Thank goodness it was, I'm sure it would have gotten torn down. Which would more than likely have been the fate of the cabins for the slaves.  We really do need to preserve history.

Hey!  I planted some Cosmos seeds, they are called "Daydream".

So that is why I kept humming this song!

A song pops into my head all the time.

Here Comes The Son (Sun)- A Joyful Wedding!

 

Our dear son got married! 

Yes, it was on March 25th near Chattanooga, Tennessee.  All weddings are happy but this one was so very joyous - you will just have to take my word for it! Still, if pictures tell a thousand words....

Even if this is a bit blurry, can't you just FEEL the happiness?  They were glowing, honestly! 

 Before the ceremony, I snapped a photo of my husband and son together. I got it quickly so I could get the pride on his Dad's face and the joyful anticipation on my son's face. I think you can see both. (And that is appropriate since Christopher is our pride and joy!) May I just say how handsome they both look? Christopher, that color tie with the grey suit is just perfect to me! I love it! And Richard is the picture of elegance!

Proud mother of the groom!

Sarah, the lovely bride accompanied by her father down the aisle/walkway and then they took a sharp left and walked down the grass! Since it had rained HARD overnight this was not as easy as you might think. Well done, Sarah and Dad!  Of course, the bride was breathtakingly beautiful!  And that DRESS!! Oh, my friends, it was just gorgeous, truly it was!  I am the worst at describing fashion! It was all lacy and lovely and was perfect on her, that is all I can say. The song that was playing as they walked was written by our son, just for this occasion for his bride! Oh yes, it was a recording of Christopher singing the song and playing his guitar! "You Are" is the name of the song.  (It finished a bit early for her walk, and then we heard the beginning of the song "Here Comes the Sun".  For me, those two songs together were just perfect and joyful!)

The ceremony was very sweet and the looks between the bride and groom...this brought me to tears- I can tell you that. (Okay, I admit, I cried a lot!) The best man and groomsmen were all close friends of the groom and the bride's maids were Sarah's two sisters and close friends.  They were all such lovely people - it was fantastic to feel the joyous well wishes bestowed upon them by their attendants- and all the love felt from both sides of their families and friends also!  

Instead of a wedding cake, the couple had doughnuts!  In this photo, you can see Christopher cutting the "ceremonial doughnut" as he called it, which they then fed to each other.  A nice touch, he is cutting it with the same knife that Richard and I used on our wedding cake, almost 40 years ago! (Richard and I married on June 4, 1983.)  There, isn't that a sweet touch?  We also gave him the printed napkin from our wedding with the date engraved on it along with "Kay and Richard".  Christopher carefully folded that napkin and placed it in his jacket pocket.  If a bride wears something for luck, why shouldn't a groom?

My sister and brother-in -law gave Sarah a sixpence to wear in her shoe! Now, that is not something that most Americans do but it goes along with the rhyme that we know in America but that very last bit didn't make it across the pond for obvious reasons, we don't have the same coins!  

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in her shoe!"

I really don't know if Sarah bothered with those other things or not, but she had that sixpence! 

Richard took some great photos, but I love this one! The JOY on Sarah's face was there for all to see. (And Christopher with his tears of joy!)

I don't have many photos of the dancing at the reception (it was quite dark) but you know the dance between the groom and the groom's mother? Christopher chose a song that was special for us..."Surfer Girl" by the Beach Boys!  When he was a baby, I sang that to him as a lullaby changing the words a bit and saying "Christopher, instead of Surfer Girl" and talking about sleeping rather than surfing! Once again, a nice touch that brought me much joy!

If anyone of you would like to leave your well wishes here for Christopher and Sarah, please do so!  Blessings are always well received! And we don't have to tell our new daughter-in-law how very goofy I am, do we?  That can be our little secret.... 

Best wishes to our dear son and our darling daughter-in-law! LOVE and joy always to the perfect pair!   xxx

You Are - YouTube      

If you click on the YouTube link above, you should hear "You Are"!

"Here Comes The Sun" performed by Joe Brown.  George Harrison was the best man for Joe Brown when he got married! Such a joyous song! 

Those darn professional photographers kept getting in Richard's way! LOL!!!  Richard got them laughing!