this old barn is home to one old horse...used to have several on this farm, but i have only seen one lately. he grazes out in the field every once in awhile, but most of the time i believe he just hangs out in this rustic dwelling. i think this barn is gorgeous, even though it is old and needs work...
this fella was so sweet.... he cantered all the way across this field just to say hi to me the other day, so i had to honor his friendliness by posting his photo. i'll bet he never meets a stranger...and he was SO beautiful. it made me miss tennessee something awful---which brings me to the most festive flags flying around j-land for the anniversary celebration. i will, of course, have to fly two: one for the home i love, and one for where i belong at present....
Ahhhhhh, my most favorite photo subject.... i took this pic this afternoon from a local business parking lot. it was amazing, the picture does not do her justice. i tried to get a night shot for contrast, because she is amazingly BRIGHT tonight, but had no luck---they were ALL blurry. plus the fact that something kept rattling in the bushes and, being the horror flick fan that i am, i kept thinking "ok, christie, you are acting like the stupid person in the movie who hears something but stays out there anyway---and gets sliced and diced...." so....i came inside. hehehe yep, chicken!
I tried really, really hard... now i give up...this is my first flower post in days, and i am in dt's. i loved it...it was just hanging over this little manmade goldfish pond, and it was so delicate and smelled so sweet...
ahhhhhhhhh.....it was a beautiful evening tonight---good friends. perfect margaritas. beautiful sunset. smiles and laughter. love and adoration. i love days like this. hope everyone visiting this chick's journal had a wonderful day as well....
kud·zu (k
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n. fast-growing vine from eastern Asia having hairy trifoliate leaves and racemes of purple flowers followed by long many-seed hairy pods and tuberous starchy roots; grown for fodder and forage and root starch; widespread in the southern United States.
i am convinced that only two living species will survive a nuclear holocaust...if there ever is one (which i sincerely pray against daily in these uncertain times....): roaches (ack) and KUDZU. it devours. it doesn't die. it laughs at 105 degree heat indexs and -20 wind chills. it winds and covers and becomes anything in its path. and we are so LUCKY down south because...yes....it lives HERE. this photo was taken on a firing range on a once-thriving military base that has now been closed for the most part...amok amok amok. watch it creep....
This is the porch on one of my favorite older houses in this area. it wraps around and is laden with rockers and small tables and greenage, but it is impossible to get a complete picture because of all the dogwoods in the yard. there are extremely old houses in this area, ones that were built by the founders of the little burg we call home...apparently this was once an affluent southern cotton area. i can just picture folks in their old-time garb sitting on this porch drinking lemonade in times gone by...
Went to oxford lake today to chill, feed the ducks, and take some pictures. my buddy beth was in town, and we had an awesome time---it was good to see her and get out and just....be. these kids were sooooo funny, especially the little one in the top left corner below, his "britches" kept falling off, and he would grab them and yank them back up...too cute.
side note: many thanks to Judith Heartsong, whose torch i snatched for the celebration of aol-j's anniversary (in my 'about me' section). her work is awesome...
Photo Friday Theme July 23: Mother
Mommy duck watches as her little ones fight over bread crumbs in a nearby lake.
hilly scene from a new housing development east of my neighborhood... it was kind of hazy this day, and made for a pretty good layered pic. i sat and just stared for about an hour...i love views like this.
An aged wrought iron/wooden bridge in an older part of the rural area where i live. it crosses a babbling part of choccolocco creek near an old mill house. this whole area is extremely gorgeous and definitely not part of the newer "cookie-cutter" home construction that has popped up in the old farming areas in the last 3-4 years. now that we have cable, everybody wants to live in the boonies....hehehe
A picture of one of my best friends...i took this in a photoshoot for her website. albert, in all his artsy glory, has a question about the amount of flowers in photoblogs. k, buddy...i will try to explain my view...i can't speak for anyone else. i don't think i saw flowers before i bought this camera. now the detail, the very essence of nature that close up astounds me. i photograph them because of the beauty i find there...they move me. i don't have any street shots, my town is too small to have a building over 9-10 stories high (and even those aren't worthy...). however, i will try to stray off the mainstay of the flowered path just a little (no promises, mind you)---let's see what we can come up with, shall we?
I went out riding in the countryside this afternoon and happened upon a great little falls area i didn't even know existed. it was a beautiful place, very peaceful... and amazingly landscaped. lots of hosta and lavender.
Simple reflection on a pond in a neighboring burg. no one fishes in this pond, or boats on it. it is just there, off to the side on one of the main highways.
this a.m., beautiful foggy sunrise...this lasted long enough to take 3 shots, and it was gone. reminded me of robert frost:
natures' first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold; her early leaf's a flower, but only so an hour. then leaf subsides to leaf, so Eden sank to grief, so dawn goes down to day---nothing gold can stay.
Mom and i were just out meandering in the yard, growling over storm damage and cooing over new flowers, when the most amazing sunset formed...it looked, literally, like the sky was on fire. once again, i am in awe of nature and the pictures she paints for us, if only we take the time to notice....
Had a tough first day back at work...it is always hard to go back after a few peaceful days and have 20 chattering men with badges and guns attached to your right ear, for some do not know how to compensate for that fact and blow your eardrum OUT, then when you turn down the master---all the soft-spoken ones start to chatter...it just becomes a vicious circle from there. so needless to say, by the time i tucked the mic away today, i needed some more peace. i went driving on the backroads and took the long way home, and happened upon this old gem. it was so cool! i have never seen one like it....
Good a.m., all! back to work, back to work. (as conz says, "dagnabbit!") this is the pest that my aunt has been angry about for the last couple of weeks, she has been going on about the beetles in her flowers....finally saw one. they are sneaky little bugars, i guess. personally, i love the green and gold colors, especially on the purple flower he was destroying at the time....
A little purple infusion for the day of rest (for most)....happy sunday!!!
P/S--lil kitty's new name is Jasper (thanks phinney). Mom chose that out of all the ones offered because it is my late father's name, and she loved that someone actually offered it as a choice... thanks for all who participated (personally, i liked victor).
I let the wog out for her morning run the other day and left the front screen door propped open for her when she returned. well, she returned with THIS in tow. unfortunately, my MOTHER saw the kitten first. it was on the brink of death, and of course she wants to keep it... so after a bath, daily eye ointment and antibiotics, mite medicine, advantage flea treatment, special milk and food, wormer, and the INSIDE of my house....little kitty is much better (his eyes are still not 100%, but they are getting there). now, it lives here. ok, to make me feel better about the THIRD cat in the house (i'm sorry, i am a dog person---all the way), i have decided to let my friends in JLand come up with the name. could you help a chick out? no froo froo names like baby, or tiger, or puddin. i want original names. it is a boy, and he DOES NOT like to be held, but he does like to play. please help me before my mother names him fluffy or some such. thanks!!!
A beloved photo taken much earlier in my favorite wee one's life...wrapped in the fabric of our lives...
I adore the beauty and simplicity of a split rail fence. this one is on a small farm just a few miles away in the area of the community that hasn't been invaded by the cookie cutter homes and the land-raping construction companies. it is one of the few that is left around here...it has character, and i hope it stays put for many more moons...
I was headed to a friend's house tonight on the same stretch of highway where i caught this sunset (good stretch of road for horizons)...anyway, another sunset was attempting to happen here, but it looked like the big bad wolf was trying to chase it away at it's prettiest point. this was one of the angriest (aka...gorgeous) clouds i have seen in a good while, must've been the head on a nasty front that was moving in late this afternoon. trees are down in the area where i took this picture, straight-line winds were pretty fierce at first. it turned into the monsoon rainforest torrential downpour i have gotten so used to this summer...
Don't know about you guys, but we had an onslaught of late evening thunderstorms here last night that were absolutely GORGEOUS. the lightning show was nothing short of amazing, and the wind was whippin', but not at alarming speeds. it was just... enjoyable. first round passed through right before dark, and second at about midnight, so i was sung to sleep by my favorite weather phenom.
There was a couple of other journals that shared the cloud love yesterday:
Cathy, whose stormclouds were framed gorgeously (as always) by greenage, and Heather---who had a photo of some of the STRANGEST clouds i have ever seen. I would love to lay my eyes (and lens) on some of those....
These flowers are growing all over a trellis at the local vegetable stand...saw them from the highway today on my way to hell...ahem...work, and decided to stop and take a couple of shots. they were beautiful! so many blossoms!
This cross is on the northern roof of my favorite church (for its beauty) in this town. our town is home to several thousand (...ok, maybe i am exaggerating just a bit...but only a bit, mind you) churches. this is one i pass every morning on my way to work, and i just love the way it is tucked into downtown. it looks small, but in actuality it takes up the better part of a block...this is only the front.
the entire building is made old rock style...it is really beautiful. the grounds and courtyard are gorgeous as well, but there was a wreck on that side of the building today and i didn't want to add to the commotion....maybe later...
It's almost okra time! i love okra, fried with little dices of green tomatoes. what? ever tried it? don't make fun, now.... it is awesome. i can't stand okra any other way though...wayyyyy to slimy for this chick. anyway, grabbed this between thunderstorms this a.m., i think the blossoms are gorgeous. very delicate on such a mammoth plant.
Check him out....you can see the proboscis (the tube used for feeding on nectar...yes, i had to look it up...)!~ Anyway, i thought it was kinda cool. He was working non-stop on this flower....
Posing for the camera....
This is my babydog, Holley. I am so very...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... Mom took her to have her hair cut at the same groomer she has been going to since she was...oh...6 months old. I used to work for this groomer, washing dogs. Holls was the "poodle shop dog" forever, she stayed in the shop with me every day and greeted customers. My Mom told the groomer to give her the usual haircut, but all the way down since it had been so hot and humid. SHE CUT MY DOGS EARS OFF. K, her ears were almost a foot long, they were close to the ground and very curly...and no one ever cut them. ever. Now she looks like a cockerhound. Bless. She is so embarrassed!
Giving my best "blinkie blinkie blinkie" I'm-innocent-love-me-look...it works.
Where to start about her...hmmm...she is 15 years old. She is one of the most well-behaved dogs ever, she minds everything we say (um, if it suits her, of course...). She understands English. She is a cockapoo, heavy on the poo. Yep, mostly poodle. And we all know a poodle's disposition...needless to say she rules the roost. She even ruled when I lived in Tennessee, although my Hannah (chow) tended to disagree with her on occassion and sling her around like a ragdoll when I wasn't looking. (poor wog) Oh yes, "wog". This is my name for small, bratty dogs in general. Pekes, cockers, poodles, yorkies, etc. They are a grouping all unto themselves...and don't mess with them. The house is kept according to them in most cases....all for the comfort of the wog. I love my woggie, she is my heart.
Simple shot of the morning sun hitting the yard this morning as I was leaving for work.
This bridge was relocated from an area at the western part of the county, where it covered a small stream named Coldwater Creek, to the lake park/walking track area. They set it up over an area where the excess water is drained from the lake during storms or long periods of rain...not an attractive area...to beautify. It worked!! It is a gorgeous part of the park now, and more well-taken care of than it would have been had it been left to rot over the little creek. Somewhat of a local landmark...
Photo Friday Challenge: "Cool"
My brother Barry, chillin' by the pool. One of the coolest guys I know...
I got to spend some time with my favorite little person today, Shelby--grins all around. She is such a spirit infusion....I DO love this child...and she does love the park. :o) I think she may even like me a little bit, too...
Ok...I passed this on the way home from a friends house this evening...needless to say I will be going back. I can never pass up a road that curves into the unknown of hilly area...no telling what festive things one can find on a road like this. This chunkochick will definitely have to see where this road goes...
This one was kind of a new one on me... I had actually never seen a day lilly with all of these layers before, and it is so pretty! There aren't but about 5 of them in the whole garden. Also, if anyone happens to know what this is:
it would be much appreciated. There are two of them, and my aunt has no idea what they are. They are lasting FOREVER, though...been bloomed out about 2 weeks now, and still the same. No wilting, no turning. Strange looking, but pretty. They have us kind of baffled though...possibly a hybrid of all they are planted amongst?
