Saying "Goodbye" to a difficult year,

So Looking forward to a fresh start.

~~~

Photo taken this past summer

at Sarah P. Duke Gardens

Near Duke University

in Durham, NC

Reynolda Garden at Evening

 
Come on an evening stoll

at

Reynolda Gardens
 

~~~

This was the formal

garden and historic home 

of Katherine and RJ Reynolds



There's formal gardens,
 

a beautiful greenhouse,

pergolas and fountains.

Reynolda Gardens

is located in

Winston-Salem, NC.

~~~

Their walking trails

are part of the

NC Birding Trails.

Everyone is welcome to come and 

stroll though the gardens and 

visit the surrounding village.

~~~

The historic home has been turned 

into a Museum of American Art.

~~~

West Pointe Mill on the Eno River...

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This meme been making the rounds

and I thought I would have fun too.

This is what I would be today...

Join in!

If I were a month, I'd be June…
If I were a day, I’d be Saturday...
If I were a time of day, I’d be 8 p.m...
If I were a font, I’d be Freestyle Script…

If I were a sea animal, I’d be a clown fish...
If I were a direction, I’d be South...
If I were a piece of furniture, I'd be a piano...
If I were a liquid, I'd be sweet tea...

If I were a gemstone, I'd be a sapphire...
If I were a tree, I'd be a Yoshino cherry tree…
If I were a tool, I'd be a trowel...
If I were a flower, I'd be a pink Calla lily…

If I were an element of weather, I'd be a light Spring rainshower...
If I were a musical instrument, I'd be a bell…
If I were a color, I'd be Purple…
If I were an emotion, I'd be in love…

If I were a fruit, I'd be a sweet, but tart blackberry…
If I were a sound, I'd be the lapping of waves on the shore…
If I were an element, I'd be silver…
If I were a car, I'd be a Subaru Forester...

If I were a food, I'd be a flaky, fried flounder…
If I were a place, I'd be a waterfall…
If I were a material, I'd keep you warm...
If I were a taste, I'd be sweet…

If I were a scent, I'd be Cinnamon...
If I were a body part, I'd be the small of a back…
If I were a song, I'd be The Climb …
If I were a bird, I'd be a Bluebird…

If I were a gift, I'd be everything you ever wanted!
If I were a city, I'd be Naples…
If I were a door, I'd be propped open…
If I were a pair of shoes, I'd be a pair of hiking boots…

If I were a poem, I'd be A Little Glimpse of Heaven…

~~~~~~~

~~~

~

Playing in the Waterfall

My blog friend Dagmar, from Holland, asked me to play along and have some fun so here I go. Okay you guys, wanna join the fun? Here's what to do:

1. Open your first photo folder
2. Scroll to your 10th photo

3. Then post that exact photo with it's story

4. After you've done that tag 5 people to play along.

Here the story to go along with the photo:

On one of the last days of our summer vacation in Cashiers, NC or "Paradise", we loaded up the children and all went to spend an hour or two wading in the pool at the bottom of Silver Run Falls. It got it's name from the silvery or platinum sand that covers this whole area. It must be mica or some mineral that has been chipped away by the falls. There is a ledge right under the waterfall where you can stand and let the ice cold water tumble right over you. It is very cold water, even in the summer time.

The pool is rather large and has a walking path all the way around to the other side of the falls. If you climb over opposite the falls, you can see another fall above this one upstream.

It is a wonderful way to enjoy the best of North Carolina!

Here are my 5 tagees:

http://possumkitty.blogspot.com/
http://nenslens.blogspot.com/
http://ols1-ols1.blogspot.com/
http://jeanneklaver.blogspot.com/
http://danceofapaintedlady.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for tagging me Dagmar!! This was fun!!

~~~

Watching the Birds Feed in the Snow!

Here is a little wren we spent Valentine's morning with at my parent's house, along with a suprise snow.

~~~

We woke up to the snow, and my dad and I spent atleast an hour roaming about the yard taking photos.

~~~

The gold finches below decided to join us also.

Can you see the finch in flight?

~~~

~

Glimpses of Color

Driving along the Blue Ridge Parkwary,

you get a first glimpse of this fall's colors.

Can't wait to view it at its peak!!

Trees

turning

red along

the shore

of

Price Lake

When I started this blog a couple of months ago, I wanted to start at the center of who I was and work out. Sometimes that has been how things have flowed, and other times, it has not worked out that way. Such is life. The good and the bad have knocked me off course a couple of times.

I have yet to feature my youngest son or my husband. They are the ones who are constantly around me, but I still haven’t found the right inspiration to truly share them with my ever-expanding world.

My youngest son is shy, but there is so much to him, even if he doesn’t show it to everyone. He is an artist and an author, a hunter and an aspiring chef. I’m getting inspired already. My husband on the other hand, is so many things I just don’t know where to begin. You’ll see them soon.

Other things close to my heart are writing, traveling, hiking/kayaking - anything outdoors really, and photography, of course. We’ve spent much of the past two summers traveling to waterfalls, mountain ranges and lakes. What an enchanting life we really live.

Recently, we spent a whole week in a cabin on Lake Glenville with my husband’s family.

There was tubing, kayaking, hiking, gem mining, fishing, and best of all – waterfall viewing. This area of NC has literally hundreds of waterfalls, three of them on the Lake we stayed on.

My youngest son and I hiked almost every weekend last summer. All the photos we took inspired my original photoblog. Click here to take a peak at all our adventures.

Silver Run Falls

We're vacationing again at Cashiers in North Carolina
on Lake Glenville, which is just gorgeous!!

Here is one of the waterfalls we have been to - Silver Run Falls.

(photo by Reid Edwards)

There are also 3 waterfalls on the lake,

accessible by boat only.

Click here to see one of them.

More mountains photos to come!

~~~

Struggles of Life

This one is really for me, so feel free to pass over the thoughts I need to get out. After all, I started journaling online to work through all the thoughts that rage inside sometimes. I’ve been so inspired by our “community” of sorts, who blog regularly. Sometimes it seems like a place to put down just the good thoughts, but life so often hurts too.

We’ve had a couple of really hard weeks. They felt like they would stop my poor heart from beating for sure. We finally went to family counseling yesterday. We should have gone a long time ago. It is possible that my ‘superman’ son may be bi-polar. Yes, I knew he had some tendencies that resembled this, but I just didn’t want to admit it. Who wants to think you own son will have to fight a life- long battle that sometimes he will not win.

My husband was right again. He always is. If only I could just trust him in the beginning, life would go so much smoother. I just kept trying to fix everything. After all, it seems like it is my job to “finish” my son, as if he is a production of mine. Yes, I want him to be complete when he steps out into this world alone, but he is not mine to complete. I can only give him his beginning. I can honestly say; and he would agree, that I did all that was humanly possible to give him a good start.

My son, you have done well, you have held out strong among all the pressures of being a teenager. We couldn’t be prouder of you. You can do anything, you can make anything happen, more than anyone else I know. We are still here for you whenever you need us. I can’t save you and rescue you when you run yourself to the point of exhaustion. I can’t make you eat and rest so you will be ready for your next endless day of being all you can be. I can only watch what you will become and hope that you remember the strong foundation we laid for your life.

So I lay down my weapons, and will fight you no more. Please fogive me for trying so hard to help you, when I was really only hurting you further. I accept you as you are, a complete package, a whole person. You are whole because you truly are filled with love. Love makes us broken people whole. It is love that fills in the cracks of our broken hearts. So I offer you true, unconditional love for your whole life. I only wish you peace on your journey. I’ll always be here to listen, and love you always.

photo credits for both pictures of the beautiful NC seashore

goes to my brother, Craig Lipscomb

~~~

~~~~~~~~

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

Reid, you mean the world to us!

~~~

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!!

My dad on the left and my Granddad on the right

with fish caught at the Chesapeake Bay in 1969.

~~~

~~~~~~~~~

Rainy Nights

This year has been suprisingly wet in North Carolina. We are used to suffering through drought after drought, but this year we are having a surplus of rain.

Until recently, a whole day of watching it rain would send me into a deep state of misery or depression. I would run through the house and open every window blind to try to get more light to come into the house, in vain, of course.

Now it rains almost every evening, and on some days it rains 2 or 3 times a day. The rain is becoming more of a companion now. Only once or twice lately have we had a sunny day, and I find myself thinking it is odd and actually looking for a rain shower. As it warms up into the 80s now, we are having thunder storms every night after dinner.

Luckily, we have not had any flooding where we live, but I do cross a river everyday to go to the city. It looks like a red raging river of liguid clay.

The flowers are really loving it, though!! It has been the greenist year I can remember.

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A Little Glimpse of Heaven

My oldest son, a senior in high school, was typing up some poetry for his friend whose computer was down. He happened to leave it up on the pc and I found it. Completely disrespecting their privacy (that falls under the “Do as I say, not as I do” rule), I read the screen. Something about this poem touched me and made me cry. I can only assume he was talking about memories of the good times and love he shared with his family before he became an independent teenager, that time of childhood innocence.

Perfection

Take me back to the place
Where time moved so slowly.
A time that was so perfect
That it easily could be mistaken for heaven.
A time so dear, yet so far away from me now.

Can I ever return?
Would it be the same to me now?
Though I realize I can never return,
I know that I will never forget the memories
Of my brief encounter of heaven.

By Chris Fishel

How well I remember my time of childhood innocence. A time without responsibilities, when I was the apple of my Father’s eye and all of my grandparents were still living. You are always extra special in your grandparent’s eyes.

Some years my dad would have a great big hot dog roast for my birthday and all my cousins would come over. My birthday is in the summer and we would have such a great time together playing in the sprinkler. I truly lived in the country then, with dirt roads, halter-tops, and barefeet all summer. The woods bordered 2 sides of our house and there were even chickens and horses behind us. We had ducks and dogs and all too frequently come upon snakes in the yard.

So yes, I can remember heaven on earth. I only hope my own children will recall there were some great times that nothing material will ever replace. All my grandparents are gone now, and my parents are far away –even detached from my present life. I’m hoping to find that perfect feeling again, even if it is only for a moment.

Thank you, Chris, for allowing me to post your poem, for pricking my hard heart and making me feel again, and remember the ones I loved long ago. It is still bringing tears to my eyes now. I’m so glad you also had heaven on earth.

~~~

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Beginnings

Many say the hardest part of writing a story is the beginning.
So many influences shape our lives.

There are so many thoughts swirling around my mind and heart, it difficult to choose where to start. Maybe I’ll start at the center of my life - home, and work out from there, to my other interests and hobbies and travels.

All of you in the blogging community have been a real inspiration to me. My first photo blog, http://yadkinvalleyhome.wordpress.com/ was a starting point to express myself sharing photos of our recent travels. Now, maybe I’ll be brave enough to write about the thoughts in my heart. In the beginning, joining an online community was really trying to find a safe place for my mind to land. I get obsessed with things too easily and can’t seem to let them go. So, for distraction sake, I joined Facebook. It’s a great place to connect with friends, but not such a great creative outlet.

That’s when my photoblog became a place to test the waters. In a few short months, I’ve met several other bloggers and have lots of regular traffic. One of the fun parts is finding out all the countries my fellow bloggers come from. How amazing to be reaching around the whole world. It’s so inspiring to see their point of view on their surroundings, and to get glimpses into their lives, and to see their children.

My last entry showed some of my backyard and a farm nearby. We have been working feverishly for a couple of weeks to get ready for a party for my son’s high school graduation. My husband started adding on a dinning room and screen porch about a year ago, and is finally finishing up. I can’t wait to grill out on the deck and have supper in the screen porch while listening to the birds at sunset. Hopefully I’ll have some photos of the finished product very soon.

Home is where they love you!

We live in rural Davie County, North Carolina. That is just west of Winston-Salem in the Piedmont. We are surrounded by such beauty. The mountains are only an hour away, but we have several natural features closer to home as well. This baby colt and his mother live on a large farm a few miles down the road. Davie County has lots of pasturland with horses and cows. A few farmers raise sheep, and there is atleast one ostrich farm.

This is my backyard and the arbor my husband made for my birthday years ago. We brought it with us when we moved here.

Here is one of our resident goldfinches. It has been raining this morning, but the birds like it. This spring has had an over-abundance of rain for this area.

We are adding a screen porch and deck to the back of our house, so we can enjoy the birds and shade trees. Once we are finished, I'll post some before and after photos.

~~~

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A New Blog

This is the beginning of a new blog for me -with words.

In February of this year, I started a photoblog @ http://yadkinvalleyhome.wordpress.com/.

This has been where I've posted photos of places we have visited this year and last. We love visiting waterfalls in the mountains of NC, GA, SC, and VA.

This has been very fulfilling to me to be able to share part of myself on the web. Now, as I am getting to know several other bloggers, I would also like to share thoughts. Please be patient as I figure out how to use the set-ups on blogspot.

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