My week in the south at my parents’ house started out with a great walk up Smith Mountain to climb the local fire tower.
Many of you have seen the fire tower in pictures before. I wish you all could come with me and experience the view from the top. This trip I was lucky to have the company of fellow blogger Mike from MLCreations to climb with me.
The mountain trail was it’s usual beautiful self, and the climb up the tower was it’s usual long way. We had a nice breeze and a great view at the top. It’s always worth the climb.
On the way back to the car we explored the fire road that runs around the base of the mountain. By the time we got back to the car we were ready for lunch on the deck, complete with a yummy pound cake provided by Mike. All in all, a lovely day with very nice company.
Since then the house has been filed with family, coming and going, busy, busy, busy, but not too busy to enjoy how beautiful the lake is.
Morning reflections and evening sunsets have slowed us down and made us more observant. That’s a good thing and exactly what spending time at this cabin is designed to accomplish.
I’m just lucky I got to come down. Every time I’m here I vow to come back soon, to not let so much time go between visits, but somehow I turn around and months, sometimes years, have gone by.
This time I’m going to try harder to be back before another year slips away.
It started raining last night. By this morning it was a full on downpour.
I didn’t mind, today was a rest day after the long day yesterday waiting in lines, waiting at gates, waiting on the plane and then driving from the airport. A little rain was actually nice. Napping was easy.
But by late afternoon the sun had come out. I felt like I should do something.
So I dragged the kayak out of storage and managed to get myself into it without capsizing. I headed out, staying near shore because, as on any weekend in mid-summer, the lake was busy with jet skies and boats and people paddling on boards.
As I left our little protected cove the wind picked up and I didn’t go much further. Too busy, too windy, too many waves for me.
So I turned around and let the wind push me back. I floated down to the end of our slough, where the cypress trees grow.
The sun was getting lower and the light was pretty.
I sat down there, gently turning and looking at all the trees for a good long time.
And then I slowly paddled home.
By the way, there’s a house down there for sale if you’re interested. Only $1.9M. Not a typical home on our street, it’s never been owner occupied, it’s being rented as an AB&B. The neighbors, who now have a monster house almost lot line to lot line, must hope for an owner to move in. It’s got to be quieter than the parties happening there now.
I doubt the boat is included in the price.
Life on the lake is changing. Sometimes change is hard.
Funny how I used to get a happy little skip in my heart when I cleared the last set of hills while driving down to Alabama to visit my parents. And funny how today, as I cleared that last set of hills I felt a melancholy skip instead.
I arrived just before dark. Tomorrow, with sunshine, the space will feel happier.
I guess that’s normal.
It’s hard now, to come visit with the house empty but waiting patiently. It’s equally hard to leave after being here a few days. The memories smooth out and it just feels good to be here.
The crepe myrtle is in bloom. Made me smile.
But that first walk into the empty house….well…that’s hard. Every time.
Well it’s been a minute since I last posted, leaving you wondering what I saw on my drive home from Alabama a month ago. That’s because I took a few days this week to camp in northern Michigan, so I’ve been away again.
I came across these three trees that called to me.
Of course that means I have MORE photos to sort through. But let me finish up my trip south first.
Isn’t this an amazing home?
There’s this farm that I’ve noticed on several previous trips down and back, a stately home and a couple barns, very near the freeway. But I usually see it out of the corner of my eye just after the freeway exit and I’ve never tried to find it before.
While trying to get back to the farm I saw this field of soy beans. I liked the lines of it.
Until this last trip north.
It’s a stunning home, and I took several images from a couple different locations on the road. If I had to guess I’d say it was built in the late 1800’s? Or early 1900’s. What do you think?
As you can see it was a dark and stormy day.
Then, trying to find my way back to the freeway I did a big country block and came across a home that looks to be from the same era. I actually had to drive further, find somewhere to turn around and go back for it.
Which way should I go?
I couldn’t leave without it!
The “city” version of the same house.
Back on the road it wasn’t long before I saw the perfect barn and once again had to get off the freeway and find a service drive that led me back to it.
It just needs a little TLC.
It was the only real ‘barn’ image I took on the trip north. I figured it was time to get home and one barn was enough. I should really stop dilly-dallying. After all how many barn pictures does one photographer need?
I always want to see what’s around the next curve.
It’s been two, maybe three weeks since I was in Alabama. And you know that I took a few photos while I was there.
Arriving after 2 days of driving.
Maybe you’d want to see a few of my favorites?
Every morning I’d take a picture of the lake. Most of the time it was so quiet.
Of course who really defines the term “few?”
That red soil is a dead giveaway you’re in the South.
As it turns out most of the images I took this time revolved around birds. Why do you think that is? And are the birds much different in Alabama than they are in Michigan?
Maybe a king bird, maybe something else. Was sitting at the top of a young oak tree on an island in the lake.
But we weren’t always birders, we also took a couple boat rides on my brother’s lake. One in the middle of the day where we saw the bird above and one to see the sunset.
Sunset from behind the mimosa tree
And on our boat rides we did, of course, see birds. This was a big bird. This is the Osprey that builds a nest every year in the very tall power towers on my brother’s lake.
Osprey parent taking a sunset break from the demanding babies up in the nest.
There were very noisy babies in residence when I visited. They cried all day for mom or dad to feed them.
What are you looking at, lady?
And there was a bluebird couple remodeling the nest for their next brood, hovering around just over our heads as we sat on the back patio.
I keep telling him it’s a total gut job.
They didn’t seem worried about us at all as long as we didn’t move too quickly.
I think it’s fine the way it is. The kids will just poop all over it anyway.
And a brown thrush singing away and then scuttling along the lake shore looking for something good to eat.
I’m pretending to be a speedy roadrunner bird!
And, back at the cabin’s lake, we climbed the mountain and then the fire tower to view the large expanse of Lake Martin.
A small part of Lake Martin.
Actually, you can, even at that height, only view a small portion of this giant lake.
A fisherman was having a quiet moment when suddenly jet skies zoomed by.
And of course I went out in the kayak a couple times, not going too far, just down to the end of this bit of water, or that bit over there.
I spent a long time in the kayak trying to get these two glowing trees.
We have martin gourds at Lake Martin and this year the birds have taken up residence in at least one of them.
Incoming!
Babies there too.
You’re not my mama!
So all in all it was a good trip. I’m glad I went and I’m hoping to get down there again before this summer is over.
An orchard oriole in my brother’s back yard.
We’ll see.
Home away from home.
Oh…you ask…on my trip back to Michigan did I see anything interesting?
Have you ever seen a great blue heron? (I feel like I should capitalize the heron’s name, anything with “Great” in it’s title seems like it should be capitalized, don’t you think?)
Do you see him out there?
We have lots of them around here, and I’ve taken you out to Kensington to see the heron rookery more than a few times, so of course you’ve all seen a Great Blue.
Here’s a closer image.
But have you ever seen one take a bath? (I think this would make a great children’s book title; Have You Ever Seen One Take a Bath?)
I wonder if he blows bubbles or holds his breath when his head is under water.
I was sitting, a couple of weeks ago, on my brother’s patio looking out over his lake. He has a wonderful view down the lake, but what I was focused on was the tip of his peninsula where a heron appeared to be standing or sitting up to his chest in water while flapping his wings. Or her wings I suppose. But I’m going to assume this was a he.
Coming up for air.
I had my camera in my lap so I started shooting pictures, trying to figure out what he was doing. Was he fishing? Was he caught in fishing line? Was he dancing to some song only he could hear?
There was much flapping.
No, he was taking a bath! Unfortunately many of my images are terribly out of focus, but I’ve found you the best of them so you can enjoy what we wittnessed.
He was a very enthusiastic bather.
He flopped around and preened in the chest deep water for quite a long time, and then he moved over to a sunnier spot and did what all well behaved herons do.
He’s a very proud and regal bird.
He stood, spread his wings and dried himself in the sun.
Because there’s no nicer way to end a warm bath than to dry off in the evening sunshine.
As some of you have figured out I’m away from home. I took an opportunity to spend a few days with family down in Alabama.
I couldn’t resist stopping when the wheat was golden in the morning light.
And though I could have flown and made the trip South faster, I chose to drive, because I love to drive and I enjoy seeing whatever there is to see along the way.
And to find a wheat field AND a barn…well….of course I stopped!
This trip went easier than my last trip in November. The road didn’t seem so long, nor the traffic so busy. Not to say there weren’t the normal amounts of stress getting through Indianapolis and Nashville and especially Birmingham Alabama.
I appreciated the art of a farmer’s tracks through rolling fields of grain.
But Sunday morning as I left my hotel in Bowling Green Kentucky I noticed the wheat fields were ripening and the early light was making them glow.
I’m just a sucker for an old barn.
All day Saturday I hadn’t stopped for a single photo. I even managed to resist the exit I’ve been lured into by photogenic barns the last three times I’ve driven down.
I went around a big country block to get this one.
So I thought it was only fair that I take thirty minutes and find a barn or two in wheat fields.
Eventually, last Sunday, I made it here to one of my happy places.
Tonight I was sorting through the pictures from my drive home from Alabama. I liked so many of them I feel like I need to share some of them with you. So…here’s the end of my vacation, with it’s long drive home.
A neighbor’s dog stopping in for a little belly rub.
I spent my last evening at the lake sitting on the dock waiting for the sunset, and reminiscing about times in years past when we all spent time there together.
It wasn’t a great sunset, but the clouds in the water were cool.
I thought about Katie a lot too and how much she loved the lake house. She’d spent plenty of evenings out there on the dock with me waiting for the sun to set. I hope someday Penny will be able to do the same.
The moon was coming up as the sun was going down.
Then, in the morning, I set out for home just under 1,000 miles away. It was hard to leave.
Bye! See you next time!
I took a new way back to the freeway, a couple hours away, to avoid the traffic of Birmingham. Even though it was Saturday morning and the city traffic wouldn’t be that bad, I wanted to see if this new way might work.
White barn with fall color.
Plus it put me directly in farm country. And you know what that means.
Red barn very near the lake house.
Barns. It means barns.
I only got off the road once to pursue barns. I can’t remember for sure but it might have even been my second day of driving. Though I can’t promise I showed such restraint.
This was the barn that made me get off the freeway.
There were so many great barns in the area that I did a couple of big country blocks.
At one point I ended up in a tiny little town where I saw this interesting house. I only slowed slightly because I could feel the eyes of the residents following my car with it’s out of state plates.
In a little town maybe 2 or 3 blocks of houses total.
And then of course there was no entrance back to the freeway right there, so, darn, I had to do another country block.
Little or big, I love all barns.
And then up ahead I saw this.
Is this what I think it is?
What is that you say? Well, let me crop the image a bit more.
Oops, I think he saw me.
Yep. A bald eagle, in a dead tree right by the narrow dirt road I was on. I held my camera out the window. I knew if I tried to get out of the car he’d fly away.
Look lady, you’ve interrupted my lunch!
Which of course he did anyway. But oh my seeing the eagle made me smile!
And then I was back to looking for the freeway and noticing barns. Lots and lots of barns.
This one might need a little tender loving care.
And lots of beautiful fields too.
The sun kept peeping out from behind the clouds, causing stripes of light.
All complete with dramatic skies.
I was so lucky on this two day drive home. It rained, but not a lot, and the traffic wasn’t horrible. Driving on Saturday and Sunday helped.
Red is just so classic.
My favorite barn on the trip back? Why this one, of course.
So much drama!
I hope you enjoy it too and all the other barns I got to see on my drive around the block.
I don’t’ know when I’ll be able to go on another barn hunt, but that’s OK. I’m sure I can find cool stuff closer to home this winter.
The road calls.
Thanks for being out there to share my experiences with me!
I’m headed home now from a week at my parents’ house on the lake. I hadn’t been there in a few years.
First covid happened and then we had other priorities for a couple years. It was hard to find the time to go South.
While I was there I had a few days without any agenda where I mostly sat on the deck and watched the water in the lake change over the course of the day.
Years ago my mom used to try to convince me that folks in Alabama enjoyed fall color, though I’d always argued certainly not the color we have in Michigan.
I was down there, this year, at the perfect fall time, with yellow, green and red popping under warm southern sun.
The leaves across the way reflected in the lake as I sat on the dock, memories of years past flitting through my mind.
I wished my parents were with me at the lake house. I wished my mom was making potato salad. I wished my dad was telling stories.
I spent the week surrounded by memories of times when we were all together. It was both a sad and a happy week.
Change Is Hard 