Paint It Blue

"I'm goin' up to Dallas
And paint my lawn chair blue"

     Tunes dance in my head as my good friend HomeJobs guides me thru the maze of back alleys in Dallas, Georgia pointing out doors to photograph in the early morning light, and carefully watching my backside.  Every idle-minded photographer needs to be watched, closely, and HomeJobs is equal to the task.  Soon, we're off westward for the first serious run of the year determined to locate the embryonic Spring Line and chart its formative intentions.  HomeJobs manages all maps and deftly navigates the expedition thru the back country roads of Polk and Floyd Counties launching a day of discovery and adventure seldom surpassed.

Sunday 2 April 2006:

     Rusty-red fallow fields, white fruit tree blossoms, rich lichens, dwarf jonquils, Sunday morning church bells all sweeten the Polk County atmospheres.  At the intersection of Dunn and Colquitt Roads next to a small headwater creek flowing under the Central Georgia Railroad we're impaled by one of nature's moments, by hundreds maybe thousands of frogs along the water's edge, testosterone charged, calling passionately for some frog-tang.  After all, why not, it's Sunday morning.  We identify the congregation as the Southern Chorus Frog, Pseudacris nigrita.  Their calls sound like your fingernail rapidly plucking the teeth of a comb.  Loudly and together their passions are electrifying.

     Along Booger Hollow Road in Floyd County, Birdfoot Violets decorate the bare red clay banks.  Here and there a patch of periwinkle and dots of redbud and dogwood.  I spot some Yellow Star Grass atop this bank, scramble up, and sit on a slight rocky ledge leaning forward on the dry leaves.  Slowly, I close on the yellow flowers, measuring, composing, focusing, and bonding.  Suddenly, HomeJobs goes mad; he screams and slaps me wildly.  Apparently my lower half is black with ants, each waging a personal jihad against my tender ass, fully prepared for certain martyrdom.  We dance and brush and scrape and hoot and rejoice in the desolation.  Who would believe a Yellow Star Grass could produce such a spectacle, or could ever be worth it. 

Day Report:  Spring Line located at 34 degrees north latitude between Van Wert and Rockmart, Georgia.  Northward movement sluggish.

Title:            © Blue Chair.  d060402-008
Series:           None of the Above
Location:        Dallas, Georgia
                   Paulding County
Date:             Sunday 2 April 2006

Title:            © Yellow Star Grass.  d060402-024
Series:           Wildflowers
Location:        Booger Hollow Road
                   Floyd County, Georgia
Date:             Sunday 2 April 2006

Comments

[Vermont Neighbor]

Periwinkle, always fascinating. Or as it's referred to outside of Floyd County: Ελληνική العربيه עברית (...that's Greek, Hebrew and Arabic)

Now Doctor Flowers, about those traveling ants and your tender ass. Just remember, a few gentle dabs of Mountain Dew used as a country antiseptic and your weekend plans are good to go!

[harold]

I don't know hwo Homejobs is, but I need to get me some of that Yellow Star Grass for my increasingly diverse native garden.

[rankin' rob]

Excepting the ants, I'm jealous.

[Vermont Neighbor]

It's a nice adventure, Doctor Flowers. But on second read, it's clear you left out important photographic evidence that would fully illustrate the excitement of this trip. How about a nice backshot sometime for your female readers? That is, a picture of the kindly mule you mentioned (or something like it).