The mountains are calling, and I must go ...

In a letter to his sister Sarah in September 1873, John Muir (Scottish-American environmentalist, naturalist, author and more, 1838-1914) was recalling his longest and hardest trip into the mountains, but still felt determined to be off again, working in the mountains... He would wake up at 4:30 am and start writing ... he told her "The mountains are calling and I must go, and I will work on while I can..." I have this quotation painted on a piece of wood in my kitchen (that I bought in Dahlonega, a southern Appalachian mountain village in Georgia.)

As for me, I'm not called to the mountains for work, but to lift my spirits and improve my outlook on life. In a 2013 post "Times goes by in a park..." I explained that since childhood I have lived near mountains or hills. High places have been a sort of refuge for me from the distress of the world. In time of sadness, such as those painful last weeks in Nashville after the school shootings in my neighborhood, I crave going to the mountains. On the first anniversary of the month my husband died I drove to the North Carolina and the North Georgia mountains to find solace in nature (see my post of Oct. 2019 "Lake Chatuge in the N GA Mountains." (I hope I can convey the feelings because as I get older I sometime search for words and they usually come back in French first (my native language) then I have to translate them into English!) A week or so ago, I drove to my house in Georgia then a couple of days later drove on to the North GA Mountains, to Hiawassee (population as of 2022: 961.) I stayed at a lodge on a hill overlooking Lake Chatuge. Fortunately, there was a lovely view of the lake and mountains from my little balcony.

A mile from this lodge is the Hamilton Rhododendron Gardens. The weekend before I arrived in Hiawassee was the start of their "Rhododendron Festival" which lasts five weekends from April 14 through May 14, 2023, with craft vendors, live music, plant sale, etc. The gardens are open all year long. From May through October the gardens also host moonlight concerts. Peak rhododendron viewing is usually from mid April through May.

I went there on Tuesday April 18 which was a bit early for this season; because of the unusual hard freeze this past winter most of the rhododendrons were not blooming yet, although some different varieties were in pots for sale (click on collage to enlarge and read panels.)

Fred R. Hamilton, Sr. (1914-1996) and his wife Hazel began growing rhododendrons in their Atlanta garden in 1952. There they collected native rhododendrons and azaleas. They also had a mountain getaway on the slopes of Lake Chatuge in Hiawassee, Georgia, where they developed hybrids and where, later, they relocated their 1000+ plants. In 1981 they donated them to Towns County in what is now known as the Hamilton Rhododendron Gardens. This 33 acre enchanting garden is located atop the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds campus. It contains more than 1,500 rhododendrons (400 varieties) as well as native azaleas, tulip magnolias, dogwoods, redbuds, hydrangeas, and wildflowers native to the Appalachian Mountains like Solomon's seal, wild ginger, lady slippers, trout lily, and trillium. In addition in 2018, as part of the Daffodil Project, and international campaign to plant 1.5 million daffodils worldwide as a tribute to the children lost in the Holocaust, 600 daffodil bulbs were added to the garden.

There were few visitors around the day I stopped by the gardens. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. Even if most of the rhododendrons were not in bloom many of the azalea bushes were. Azaleas, with tubular and funnel shape flowers, are in the genus rhododendron; they are deciduous and lose their leaves in the fall. Rhododendrons, with bell shaped flowers, are evergreen and keep their leaves in winter. Fred Hamilton developed the yellow azalea, the only domestic yellow azalea in existence, which he named after his wife, Hazel (Rhododendron flammeum 'Hazel Hamilton'.)

I did not walk the whole 2 miles of mulched woodland trails through the property as some of the walking paths were winding down to the lake shore and were rather steep. There were many benches scattered along the way. I just traded in my old Nikon camera for a newer model and was testing it. Although to make sure, I also carried my Canon and small Sony (and then I even took photos with my cell phone, because why not.)

One of the most spectacular shrubs there was the "flame" azalea. It is native of the Appalachian Mountains. Mountain people call it also butterfly azalea or wild honeysuckle. The striking flowers certainly lighten the woodland like little fires.

There were small wood bridges along the trails.

I walked very slowly because I kept stopping to take closeups of the flowers.

As I made my way around the pine bark trail some bursting soft pink azalea shrubs lead me to the Bonnie Day arbor. I enjoyed resting on a bench for a little while.

Then I took the 'Cut Across Trail' to have a look at the Claude Brooks waterwheel. First a profusion of blooming hot pink rhododendrons greeted me at the Claudia Brooks overlook.

I took more closeups of some of the plants for sale next to the garden shop.

These stunning gardens are very peaceful and tranquil; an enchanting spot to relax and escape from it all. The Hamilton Rhododendron Gardens was designated a state botanical garden by the Georgia Legislature in 2003. It boasts the largest collection of rhododendron in the Southeast. Then it was time to return to the lodge.

A needed rest on my little balcony was welcome. Then as the evening grew I soaked in the beauty of the sky changing color over the lake.

"This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls." -John Muir, 1938.

A Georgia post office and a new park

 

At the end of the second week of September I drove back to my house in Georgia, where I had not been for a while.  I needed to keep cleaning and clearing it out and I also had to pay the yearly fee for my Post Office Box at the Marietta post office.  The house is in West Cobb County, equal distance from the towns of Marietta, Kennesaw and Acworth, but I decided on the central post office in Marietta for my PO Box because the post office was larger there.  I went there on a Tuesday, mid morning, thinking it would not take long ... was I mistaken.  Usually there would be seven to eight postal employees working, but that day only one in the front and one in the back were working.  It took about one hour of waiting in line to pay for my box.  While waiting I talked with the woman behind me.  She was from the UK, had come for a family occasion months ago and had been stuck here.  She told me she used to enjoy a visit to "the States" but no more.  She couldn't wait to return to the UK, adding that people had to come here and stay to understand how bad it was - violence, crime, bigotry, homelessness, starving people waiting in line for hand-outs, no health coverage, a bully, rude and incompetent president who was hurting and killing the people, horrid constant political ads on TV, what a pity... She had a long list.  I did not know what to tell her to change her mind.

Then I drove to the Cobb County Voter Registration Office to have my absentee ballot sent to Nashville.  After waiting a while the employee told me that the absentee ballots were being sent that week, September 18, 2020, and if I changed my address now I may not get the ballot in time.  So I kept the Marietta PO Box address for it.  To obtain this ballot I drove back to Georgia from Nashville again two weeks later.  On October 6th I returned to my PO Box, but no ballot was in it.  At the Voting Office I was told that my ballot had been sent but that it could take up to 5 weeks to receive as the mail had slowed down!  A letter to Japan does not take that long.  But the strange thing is that my Georgia neighbors, who are Republicans, received their absentee ballots back in mid September.  Checking some more I found out that the Republicans around had received their ballots, but just a few of the Independents and none of the Democrats.  So now I have to make another trip to Georgia at the end of the month to see if my ballot has arrived in my box.  The Voter Registration Office is only 5 miles from my house in Georgia.  It is a new building with a large parking lot.  In the Spring of 2016 I took pictures there, with my late husband, of the trees in bloom.

Last Monday, October 12, 2020, thousands of people took part in early voting in Georgia.  Some showed up at the Cobb County Voting Office above as early as 8 o'clock, and were not able to vote until that evening, waiting 12 hours or more.  I remember the UK woman telling me that people can't be free if they can't vote easily.  As she said "The States now is like a 3rd world country, with the same type of government."  Years ago the US used to send election observers to countries where there was voter intimidation or suppression - I think these observers should come to Georgia now!  Since many Georgians had to stand in line up to 12 hours to vote, I should not complain that I will have had to drive two 5 hour round-trips to come to Marietta to get my ballot (if I am lucky) and vote.  From Nashville my house in Georgia it's about 250 miles one way.  To be able to cast a ballot this time will take a total of 1000 miles or 1610 km.  Below is the Marietta Voting office (shown above) the day of early voting, from morning to night. (Courtesy AJC.)

Even though thousands came early to vote and more will vote in Georgia, I am a bit doubtful about the results.  Georgia has a reputation for, to say it nicely, "voting issues" (or voter suppression.)  I read in the Atlanta Journal Constitution that Steve Davidson, who is Black, said the late U.S Rep. John Lewis had fought too long and hard to secure his place at the polls for him to get tired and leave.  "They've been fighting for decades.  If I've got to wait six or seven hours, that's my duty to do that.  I'll do it happily."  Davidson said.  So, if I have to drive 1000 miles to vote, then let it be.

In a way I don't mind driving to Georgia.  In Nashville, I have been alone now with my cat since March, apart from driving to grocery stores.  So getting on the road, driving through the Tennessee Hills and North Georgia Mountains is lovely.  About two hours or so after I leave Nashville I usually stop at a small traveler rest area.  I have shown pictures of it several times.  Watching the lake, listening to the birds and breathing the air, while having a snack with a cup of coffee is so invigorating.  I never tire of looking at the water.

Everything was still green.  When I next return to Georgia in late October fall colors should start to appear.  Still I was a bit down to have driven so far and not been able to get my absentee ballot.  I decided to stay in Georgia until Sunday October 11, so I could go back to the post office one more time (I did and still no ballot.)  Tuesday October 8th was the second year anniversary of my husband's death.  Looking at the map I found a park, just about 3 miles from my house that I have never visited.  I thought going there on the 8th would bring more peace than staying and clearing the house, so I drove there. I wish I had known of this park when Jim was still alive - he would have loved it, and so close to the house.  It turns out that it was donated to Cobb County in 2001.  Formerly and old family farm the park was named after Leone Hall Price who lived there until her death in 2001.  Ms. Price had stipulated that the land should become a "passive park" to remain in a natural state.

The park has a total of 243 acres of undeveloped land.  It includes a pavilion with picnic area, bathrooms, a small parking lot, and many benches and picnic tables throughout the park.  Located 3 miles from my house, the park has an Acworth, GA, address.  Being a passive park, its primary use is hiking and walking in unmarked and undeveloped trails.  It is very secluded.  There were no other cars in the parking lot on October 8th in early afternoon.  I started walking, not really sure where I was going, but it was a sunny and warm day (80 F/26.6C.)  I went down a hill then up a hill and could see a meadow ahead.  The path was covered with grass which meant that not many people walked on it.  Reaching a bench I was pleased to take a rest.

In the spring there must be loads of berries there.  Now the meadows were covered with yellow wild flowers.  I read later in the newspaper that a hiker had spotted a bear with a cub in this park in early spring. (Photo of the bear below from spring article in the AJC.)

No bear sounds around me, just the birds.  I started on the mowed wide path again walking by a Bluebird nesting box.  But then the path was branching on the right and the left.  I took the left path and kept walking towards the woods.

Reaching the woods I could see a number of big old trees.  I could smell the scent of the pine trees but also the scent of apples.  There must have been an orchard there once as spoiled fruits were on the ground.  Another picnic table was under a large tree but then the path was divided again going to the right and the left.  I walked toward the left side.  (Click on collage to enlarge.)

I was uncertain about exploring some more.  Where did this trail lead to?  Would I get lost?  There were no signs and no one around to ask.  But then I could hear the sound of water, so I walked in that direction.  I did right because I reached an enchanting little stream (later I found out it is called Allatoona Creek.)  There even was a bench there.  I took some photos. The water was clear but with the reflection from the sun, it was difficult to show it in my photo.  I walked along the stream for a while.

By then I was turned around and did not know how to return to my car.  So I took a small path and soon enough I recognized a large tree with a picnic table underneath, kept going and there was the meadow...time to get back to the world.

Vintage Georgia ... and current events

Last October as I kept cleaning the Georgia house garage I found many old things, toys, games, dishes, books, magazines, etc.  I even wrote a post on it called "old magazines, old memories..."  Last December I was there again cleaning a bit more of the old stuff.  Actually, I should call it "vintage," it does sound better.  And by the way, the etymology of the word "vintage" is French.  It was used as early as the 15th century meaning vendange or wine harvest. Although now vintage also means something from an earlier generation.  There were some old wine bottles in the garage but mostly just vintage stuff.  It was slow going as I would stop and look at the magazines.

Sometimes I came upon items long forgotten, that I did not know even existed anymore.  I found some old paintings I had done as a teenager.  My mother must have sent them to me ages ago and I put them in the garage instead of throwing them away, so should I keep them now?

Then I found the old, I mean vintage, items from the Jimmy Carter for President Campaign.  That stopped me and I reminisced for a while.  We had moved to Georgia in 1973 because of Jimmy Carter.  I wrote about it briefly in my post Bird Drawings from Sir Peter Shepheard in January 2011.  As I said in that post my husband had finished his Master's Degree in Environmental Planning and spent a couple of summers working for his professor Ian McHarg's office as a river planner.  My husband received three job offers, one from San Diego, California, one from Arizona and one from Georgia.  He decided to take the offer made by Governor Jimmy Carter.  The position had the lowest pay but the project sounded the most challenging.  My husband was not materialistic, just interested in helping the environment, nature and the country.  Of course I was not very pleased about moving to Georgia instead of going back to California or even to Paris where my father had offered to buy us an apartment.  But we moved to Atlanta in 1973 and he started working at the GA Capitol.  Below are two 1970s vintage postcards of Atlanta.

In the early 1970s the US Congress had funded a project for the US Corps of Engineers to build a dam at the Sprewell Bluff of the Flint River, 50 miles south of Atlanta.  Jimmy Carter, Governor of Georgia at the time, did not approve of this project.  The Flint River is one of only 40 rivers in the nation to flow more than 200 miles (320 km) unimpeded by dams or other man made systems. Gov. Carter needed a thorough technical study to back up his objections.  My husband Jim had been hired to do this study.  He assembled a team and worked tirelessly for several months, driving back and forth to the Flint River. His finished study was handed to Governor Carter who was able with it to veto the controversial dam.  Governor Carter tore apart the Corps economic justification for the dam and accused them of ignoring the environment.  The end of his 18-page letter said that he was opposed to the construction of unwarranted dams and other projects at public expense.  And so the Flint River was able to run free and we stayed in Georgia.  Below are photos of the Flint River and of the Flint River at Sprewell Bluff.

Not long ago on a Georgia boating site on the Web I read this:  "Once threatened by a hydro-power dam, this section of the Flint has been preserved and once you've paddled it, you'll shout a big thank you to the many advocates who fought to save the Flint River in the 1970s."  I smiled as I knew an advocate who worked long and hard to have the Flint River run wild and free.  Now Sprewell Bluff has been made into a park called The Sprewell Bluff State Recreation Area.  It is a peaceful and natural area, with wildflowers (like the endangered spider lily,) wildlife and a regular stop for migratory songbirds.  It really is one of the most scenic rivers of Georgia.  It is popular with fishermen, hikers, kayakers and white water rafters.

When Governor Jimmy Carter decided to run for the office of President of the United States I offered to volunteer to help with the campaign.  I was not a US citizen yet and did not belong to any political party but whether he was a democrat or a republican I was going to canvas for him.  In the 1970s I was astounded that a governor would have refused a $133 million funded project ($775 million in 2020 money) because it would harm the environment, it was unheard of.  I wrote to tell him.  He answered and thanked me and I received several posters, buttons, tee-shirts, etc.  There were some left in the garage (and his letter is somewhere in the house.)

After traveling to Alaska in the summer of 2009 I wrote a post on Denali National Park.  In it I mentioned that President Carter in 1980 had again helped the environment.  He had signed an act that added millions of acres to the US wilderness system (8 million to the national forests, 56 millions to wildlife refuge and 44 millions to national park.)  You can read it here Alaska Trip - Denali National Park.  Later, as my husband and I were driving to Plains where Jimmy Carter lives, I printed a copy of my blog post and mailed it to him.  He replied and thanked me.  This is also somewhere in the GA house.  This is why I am trying to sort everything carefully.  We visited the farm in Plains where Jimmy Carter grew up and I took many photos for a future post.

I had been sad when President Carter had run for a second term and lost.  He had lost mostly because the voters had punished him for having been unsuccessful in releasing the US hostages kept in Iran.  On the Internet lately I read reports showing that Republican Candidate Ronald Reagan had colluded with the Ayatollah Khomeini (enemy of the US) to delay the release of the US hostages in Iran until after the presidential election.  He had offered them weapons, parts and money (like later in the Iran-Contra affair?).  That would explain why it was minutes after Ronald Reagan's presidential inauguration that the Iran hostages were released (how could he have negotiated that in several minutes from the podium?  Before becoming president he had not been supposed to have contacts or have any dealings with a foreign government...)

I kept going through boxes of papers, studies, notepads, etc.  Most needed to be thrown out.  Then I came upon a pad hardly used.  I threw away the first few pages, but the next page was a letter my husband had written to President Jimmy Carter around 1981.  It had been in the garage for 39 years.  What should I do?  Throw it away?  It had been meant for President Carter so once back in Nashville on December 28 I mailed it to him, explaining where I had found it.  I wished him and his wife Rosalynn a Happy New Year and that was that.  In February after returning from Georgia I was surprised to find a letter from President Carter in the mail.  At first I thought it was an ad and was going to throw the letter away, but then I saw the seal.  I was dumbfounded really that he would have answered me.  It is below with part of my husband's letter.  (Click on collage to enlarge.)

While traveling back and forth to Georgia I was also checking travel sites on the Internet.  In the fall my daughter had suggested that for my birthday in March we needed to go on a week to 10-day trip somewhere nice.  At first I refused because I needed to keep working on the house.  She insisted saying that since my other daughter's wedding in California in 2016 I had not been anywhere.  Because of being my husband's caregiver 24/7 until his death I could not step away.  I researched several places - New Zealand, New Caledonia, Uruguay, Guadeloupe and Argentina, settling on Argentina.  In January my daughter told me that we should not travel overseas.  So I said why don't we go to Miami where I have never been.  I was surprised when she said "may be" as she had insisted so much that we should travel.

In February my daughter said that we should forget a trip altogether.  Why, I asked.  She replied because of the novel coronavirus.  But it's in China I said, and if it came to the US the CDC would take care of it for sure.  She told me that the current CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta) is not our cousin Lyle's old CDC.  In an earlier post, 10 Year Blog Anniversary, I had mentioned that my husband's first cousin Lyle, now retired, had spent his career there as an epidemiology physician traveling and fighting diseases all over the planet.  My daughter is also a physician and in addition has a Master's Degree in public health.  In fact, in 2018 President Trump had ordered such drastic cuts to the global health section of the CDC that most of the staff had been laid off.  He also closed the White House pandemic office (he needed to find the funds to build his great big beautiful wall.)  The CDC new director is a Trump political appointee with little public health expertise.  My daughter was worried that mistakes would be made and thought we were heading toward a national health crisis.  I thought she exaggerated.  Below is a photo of the entrance to the CDC and a photo of cousin Lyle (in center) being honored as the 2014 recipient of the Stephen B. Thacker Excellence Award.

In late February my son-in-law was driving to Atlanta.  I rode with him and spent a week in the Georgia house.  I was happy to go because in early March Bulloch Hall in Roswell was hosting its annual quilt show featuring 182 quilts this year.  I was looking forward to attend the show.  I texted my daughter that I was going to the show - "no, no, she replied, you can't go where there are crowds in a small house."  I thought she was over protective but reluctantly I agreed and did not go.  Then two days later the first known case of Covid-19 in Georgia, the new name for the novel coronavirus, happened in my town in Cobb County.  Below is the 2020 quilt that was raffled at the show.  I did attend the 2019 quilt show and will have a post on it.

Last fall in Georgia I had bought cleaning wipes, rubber gloves and masks to clean the dust and dirt in the garage, as pictured in the heading collage.  I didn't know I would have to bring them back to Nashville for my own safety!  Now that I have been isolated in my house for 15 days I have had time to research the history of Covid-19.  I read many newspapers, mostly foreign (French, UK, Irish, Belgian, Swiss, etc.) to get neutral opinions.  I also like to read actual quotes and watch news videos.  China informed the World Health Organization in late December 2019 that a new coronavirus was spreading rapidly within and out of China.  Taiwan being so close to China started emergency health measures immediately and as of today, March 31, 2020, counts only 322 cases and 5 deaths in a population of about 24 millions.  Everyone has to wear a mask.  Photo below of Taipei, Taiwan (courtesy ABC News.)  I'd like to add that the CDC refused the WHO tests and made their own.  They were faulty, couldn't be used and resulted in much delay.

 The United States meanwhile has the worst virus outbreak in the world.  As of today, March 31, 2020 there are 185,200 cases and 3,815 deaths.  Last February President Trump refused to let Dr. Anthony Fauci speak publicly without approval or warn the public about the virus.  Then he downplayed the virus and refused to have aggressive testing made "The President had made clear - the lower the number of coronavirus, the better for the president, the better for his potential re-election this fall."  Many people heard him take no responsibility and early on say that the virus would be gone shortly "it will disappear, like a miracle."  The Boston Globe wrote that the president has "blood on his hands" because "much of the suffering and death coming was preventable."  Now he is telling Vice President Mike Pence to shun certain states from Democratic governors that he does not like.  This is a colossal failure in leadership that the American public is paying for.  I saw an older woman on TV - her husband was in hospital in a coma in the ICU.  She kept saying "but we watched Fox News and were told the virus was a liberal hoax to hurt our president ... that we could go out ... I don't understand..."  Fox News (that calls itself Fair and Balanced) is a scourge to the low information (low education and high religiosity) people who watch it.  Fox News is not authorized to air in France or the UK.  (It has been banned as propaganda media.)  So instead of celebrating my birthday in Buenos Aires or Montevideo I was in my kitchen alone with my cat.  But I made a New England dinner and a small French chocolate cake.  Before I blew off the one candle I had found, my daughters and families sung Happy Birthday to me via our cell phones Face Time.  We had waited for my son-in-law to come back from hospital (cautiously he does not come home any longer.)  He is an anesthesiologist physician and very exposed.  I am worried for him as he anesthetizes patients when tubes are placed into their lungs, when they are at their most contagious.  He has very little protective supplies left.  Still it was a nice birthday, in isolation ...

In search of fall colors in Tennessee and Georgia

On the week-end of November 10, 2019, in search of fall colors, I drove to a small park called Beaman Park, about 15 miles northwest from downtown Nashville, Tennessee.  It covers 1,678 acres of natural areas, mostly ridges and hollows.

The Nature Center has a back patio (pictured in the heading) and a boardwalk.  Rocking chairs are provided so you can observe the steep wooded hills below.  It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, a bit cool - low 50s F (11 C.)  I encountered no one on the patio or on the boardwalk.

I sat in one of the rockers for a while.  The deck is perched high above the forest floor as Beaman Park is located on the edge of the Western Highland Rim.

I drove to another area of the park, to the trail heads.  There are three hiking trails, one of them following an old logging road with rugged hills and a shallow stream.  It was getting late afternoon - lots of shade.  The colors of the leaves were not very bright, though. (Please click on collage to enlarge.)

The following week, on Sunday 12 November, 2019, I drove south to Georgia.  I usually exit the freeway, I-75, at the Red Top Mountain Road exit.  Then it is about 8 miles to my house.  But if you turn left from the exit and cross a little bridge over Lake Allatoona, it is only a mile to the entrance of Red Top Mountain State Park.  Since it was warm and about 3:30 pm I decided to try my luck at fall foliage there.  My late husband and I often visited the park and I showed photos of it in several posts - here is a post from 2013: "Fall color at Lake Allatoona".  Then I drove up the hill to the park.

I parked by the Visitors' Center and petted a friendly dog near a bench.  Then I walked up a small trail.  Many dead leaves and branches.  As soon as there is a clearing though, pine trees grow like weeds in Georgia, and they are ever so green!  The fall colors were not as vivid as in prior years - could be because of the drought or the early frost, or a bit late in the season.

The sun was about gone and in this wooded area the colors were subdued.  I sat on a nice round rock and thought for a while.  Am not sure what about but I'll find some "thought" to write below.

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn."  - Elizabeth Lawrence,1904-1985, garden writer.

On Monday the weather was quite pleasant again, full sun and 66 F (18.8C.)  Driving to the grocery store I decided to drive the extra mile to one of the Cobb County Parks.  The entrance was promising with intense red trees along the road.

Unfortunately by the time I arrived at the lake it looked like the promise from the entrance had not been kept.  The lake was deserted, peaceful and placid but did not show much fall color.

Walking on the trail near the lake, I saw more pine trees and several little bushes with colored leaves.  The leaves from the couple of large trees there looked as though they had been burnt by the sun then frozen in place by the early frost.  The color palette was more in the shades of brown:  tawny, caramel, russet, cinnamon and gingerbread than gold.

I gave up looking for golden foliage and sat on the bench close to a small stream running into the lake, and recalled..."Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."  Rachel Carson, 1904-1967, American conservationist.

That evening, I did find color; the colors of the sunset behind my neighbor's pine trees.

But I did not give up.  I had visited a state park, a county park and now with the sun still shining brightly I decided to drive to a city park.  The Roswell Old Mill Park is not far.  Vickery Creek waterfall, near the ruins of the mill, pours from a historic spillway dam and is gorgeous in any season.  The creek is a Chattahoochee River tributary.  The waterfall is not visible from the entrance to the park and is not advertized.  There are few visitors during mid-week.  I walked along the creek loving the rustling sounds of the water as it rushes over the rocks.

Once by the waterfall I sat on a huge rock and just listened to the appeasing sounds of the falling water.  It had not been an easy walk along the stony trail and I was pleased to sit for a while.  There was no one around - a good place for meditation.  I thought about a quotation from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the francophone Swiss philosopher: “Jamais je n'ai tant pensé, tant existé, tant vécu, tant été moi, si j'ose ainsi dire, que dans les voyages que j'ai fait seul et à pied.”  /Never did I think so much, existed so vividly, and experienced so much, never have I been so much myself, so to speak, as in the journeys I have taken alone and on foot."  Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, Philosopher.

The next few days I had to forget my search for fall foliage color and concentrate on keeping clearing out the house.  Although, the sun was still shining and I happened to look out through the screen of the kitchen window.  My backyard is on its way to becoming a true jungle forest now that my husband is not there to trim the English ivy vines.  Still, it looked like there was some rich fall color there.

The temptation to step outside was too strong - so I went out and took more photos...even walking closer to the lake in the back.

It was time now to get ready to drive back to Nashville where the fall foliage is not in its full glory any longer but where the temperature is cooler and more like fall.

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."  F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896-1940, American writer

Now I'll end with my best and sincere greetings to each of you for a very Happy Thanksgiving!