Doctor HP Flowers

Call Me Crazy

.

     Call me crazy, but some mornings when I depart base camp (this day the West End Café in Jamestown) there's an anticipation in the air, a deep sensation that the day will be special.  At 7:00 am I turned west on Glen Obey Road, clearly a heritage road, and headed downhill thru the headwaters of the East Fork Obey River.  A quiet cool 55 degrees with sweet low-lying light.  Within 25 minutes I spooked a flock of goldfinches, photographed a Robins Plantain display in a small cemetery with very old headstones, and stopped to catch my breath by an old dirt road bridge over Rockcastle Creek.  The experience filled my heart with proud feelings and my eyes with tears then, and now as I assemble this posting and recall those precious moments.

    

Fentress County, Tennessee
Wednesday 23 April 2008

___

.

Red Barn with Dogwood

.

It only takes one shot like this
To make a perfect day.

    

© d080423-014  Barn with Dogwood
Overton County, Tennessee
Wednesday 23 April 2008

___

.

7 a.m. in Burrville

.

     I pull over in Burrville without thinking.  It's second nature.  Instinctive.  Early morning light engulfs the white house across the road and highlights the water tank on the hill.  Chilly air nips at my cheeks.  I stand for a spell and gaze, empty headed.  The connection here is intangible, but powerful.
     Is this a village?  A hamlet?  A crossroads?  Where's the general store?  The garage?  The post office?  The grade school echoing vitality of kids at play?  Then I realize they're always here.  I bring them along everywhere I go.  They revive in my sentiments, and the flood of warm and wonderful memories - 7 a.m. in Burrville.

Burrville, Tennessee
Morgan County
Tuesday 22 April 2008

___

.

Deep Spring Reprise

.

     Cows graze peacefully across from Maxwell Chapel in Overton County, Redbud's on fire in Scott County, Field Mustard makes a spectacle of itself along Honey Creek Road in Fentress County - just a few sweet notes from this year's Deep Spring Reprise.
     Eight Tennessee counties south of the Kentucky line:  Clay, Cumberland, Fentress, Jackson, Morgan, Overton, Pickett, and Scott.  Kicking off the afternoon of Day 1 north of Crossville to the base of operations at Jamestown.  Day 2 mostly in Scott County to the east (red).  Day 3 mostly in Morgan County to the southeast (green).  Day 4 mostly in Overton and tips of Clay and Jackson Counties to the west (magenta).  Departing reluctantly Day 5 southeast thru Rugby to the old rail head at Elgin arriving by nine in the morning.  That's 560.9 cheerful backroad miles, and a billion or two leaf buds speckled and sparkling under the clear blue sky.  Mid 40's at night; mid 70's midday.  Small wild blue phlox bloomin' every place.  Dry banks, creek sides, fence lines, even on a huge flat rock two card tables wide by 3 long.  Damdest thing.  Occasionally one may see a sign that forewarns "if you can read this sign you're in range".  But never mind, Morgan County does not have a single road sign on its backroads.  Dead reckoning a survival necessity.
     Morning breakfasts at the West End Café listening to WDEB radio 1500 am on the dial.  Yesterday's obituaries, the local calendar of events, who's visiting whom, home town ball scores, and a little country music in between. And the crispy bacon was out of this world. Feels like home again.  At last.

.

.
Sunday thru Thursday,  20-24 April 2008

___

.

Do Your Own Thing

.

One bedroom loft apartment.
Unfurnished.  Utilities not included.
Solid rustic construction.
Balcony option available.
Peaceful natural setting.
Privacy assured.
A perfect place
To do your own thing.

.

.
Catesby's Trillium
Trillium catesbaei
Stone Mountain Park
DeKalb County, Georgia

___

.

The Free Public Library at Rugby

.
     The historic English settlement in Rugby, Tennessee was founded in 1880 by author Thomas Hughes as a sanguine experiment in utopian living.  More specifically, because of accepted practices then, second sons of English gentry had no hope of inheritance and were expected to make a name and make their way by other means.  Some chose to join the colony and practice their Victorian social ideals on the Cumberland Plateau.
     This is the original library, a free library and special project of the colony.  The notable efforts to fund it, to build it, and ultimately to fill its shelves with important books were emblematic of their persistent difficulties and struggles to fulfill the ideals of the colony.
     Dr. Douglas Gordon, my dear friend and comrade of 47 years, wrote the history of these formative years for his PhD dissertation from the University of Tennessee - published as a monograph, "The Hughes Free Public Library, Rugby Tennessee, 1880-1895", Rugby Restoration Press, 1979.  He spent many hours, during many seasons, inside this library studying its historic holdings and stitching together its often turbulent history.  These shots are for and dedicated to Douglas, soon to partake the unique bliss of retirement.

.

.
Rugby, Tennessee
Morgan County
Thursday 24 April 2008

___

.

The 'Seduce' Thing

.

     Never met a backroad I did not like, nor one that I could refuse.  All next week, in a 5 to 8 county area between Tennessee and Kentucky with base of operations at Jamestown Tennessee, I'll be tempted, enticed, lured and inveigled by boundless come-hither byways outfitted to bewitch and seduce. (It's the 'seduce' thing that satisfies my camera best.)

    

© d071206-013  Long Road
  Marshall County, Tennessee
  Thursday 6 December 2007

___

.

Clear Blue Sky

.

     How should Dogwood blossoms spend their quiet time?  Here's one gazing dreamily at the clear blue sky.  Can't fault that, I suppose.

    

© d080417-003  Dogwood
  Stone Mountain Park
  DeKalb County, Georgia
  Thursday 17 April 2008

___

.

Leaf Buds by the Etowah

.

     "I'm nibbling a turkey sandwich and watching leaf buds sprout along the Etowah River.  The water's up a bit from the storm yesterday.  Sounds are energetic and aroused.  A cold brisk wind flaps my note pages and whips the potato chip bag away and out of reach.  I chase it, capture it and rescue any spillage from the dry leaves. Living off the land.  Wasting nary flake. They're fine.
     "This is my annual verbatim trip to the Etowah headwaters - the second weekend each April.  Turn north on Siloam Church Road.  Catch a ridge shot if the early light allows.  Stop by the little seep to see if nodding trilliums are ready to flaunt. (Not this year.)  Enter the national forest and pay respects at Rufus Despain's grave.  He was a World War I vet; there's a small flag propped against the headstone fading away.  Photograph birdfoot violets around the site that grow between patches of fluffy moss.  Then park here by the River to walk the banks and edges itchy to see what's bloomin'.  Always, I sit for awhile.
     "Another year has passed, with another chance to experience the sights and sensations of a familiar morning.  With dramatic gesture I pinch myself to make sure this is no dream, uneasy that the finite number of verbatim trips has just decreased by one.  The leaf buds along the Etowah, unfurling ever so slightly, wink at my disquiet.  I nod with appreciation and take a slow, deeply refreshing Spring breath."

.

.
© d080413-029  Etowah River
© d080413-018  Trailing Arbutus
© d080413-027  Fiddle Heads
© d080413-006  Siloam Church Road

Lumpkin County, Georgia
Sunday 13 April 2008

___

.

The Dappled Surge

.

     Silent, like the shadow from a passing cloud, the Spring Line glides swiftly Northward.  Inexorable, and ghostly at times.  Appearing here, disappearing there.  Leaving behind but sensations and impressions that must wait another year to be affirmed.  Don't blink; don't hesitate.  Follow along, find the crest and hop aboard the dappled surge 'till it heaves its final sigh. Leaving me undone, jostling for another wave.

    

© r1374-00  Spring Line
  Cherokee County, North Carolina
  Saturday 23 April 2005

___

.

Speaks for Itself

.

     Mentally fried by a full-court press to unravel the mysteries of atmospheric physics producing delinquent behavior in a computer model, worn down by the current burden of Spring pollen, and maltreated by an attention-grabbing outbreak of shingles - I'm delighted to post this 'landskip', as Thomas Gainesboro called them, which speaks for itself.

    

© r0723-37  Farm Scenic
  Monroe County, West Virginia
  Monday 6 June 1994

___

.

The Contested Crappie

.

     That's Tony relaxing on the left.  He looks happy and self satisfied.  That's Tony on the right too, showing off the 'contested crappie'.  (The only catch of the morning thus far.)  Now, notice Lonnie in the background watching these proceedings very closely.  For the picture Tony asserts ownership.  Not so, objects Lonnie emphatically; I caught it.  Tony claims to have given up the spot where the fish was caught.  Lonnie claims to have used his own rod to reel in the prize, location notwithstanding.  It might take the wisdom of Solomon to parse this dispute.  One thing for sure, the Native Azalea below is uncontested.

.

.
Stone Mountain Park
DeKalb County, Georgia
Sunday 6 April 2008

___

.

Just Say Yes

.
.

     The Japanese Philosopher insists - a newly wrecked truck abandoned in a field beside the road looks like junk.  An old rusty truck draped with flowering vines becomes 'wabi-sabi.'  Beauty of the aged and imperfect.  It's the same for "liver spots," the Philosopher attests, and I feel so much better.

    

© r0725-22  Rusty Pickup
  Alleghany County, Virginia
  Tuesday 7 June 1994

___

.

"Launch the Henry Grady"

.
.

Golden trumpets blare
Carefree mallards doze
All rejoice the breath of Spring
"Launch the Henry Grady."

    

Stone Mountain Park
DeKalb County, Georgia
Saturday 29 March 2008

___

.

The Blue Ridge Shuffle

.
.
Arranging perfect ridges
   Finding perfect order
It's the Blue Ridge Shuffle
   Weaving a perfect beat.

    

© r0715-33  Morning Ridges
  Hopkins Vista, West Virginia
  Greenbrier County
  Monday 6 June 1994

___

.