A Mere Ripple
In June of 1909, a mere 111 years ago, my grandfather was 16 years old. These images were taken in Dallas, Georgia, years before he would meet my grandmother. He eventually moved to Augusta and taught at Richmond Academy. He met my grandmother for the first time at her birthday party. Turns out, it was his birthday too and he told her about their shared date. I understand my grandmother thought it was a horrible pickup line and really did not like him. Later, when she found o
It Rained Tonight
Tonight it rained. It was a gentle rain the kind with thunder that is far away and only gives a growl instead of a bark. Like someone mumbling under their breath a comment when they thought you had left the room. Maybe the thunder was rendering in a complaining tone, saying that I was pushing my luck standing outdoors with its voice close enough to hear.
I should take shelter, hide under a building in case the lightening may, by chance, decide to take me. But I stood there a
In a Timely Manner
Today, I look at the Laurel Oak which decorates my front yard and it towers over my head and my one-story brick house. But, in 1996 this tree was nothing but a thin and fragile transplant I brought from Statesboro, Georgia. I had told my father that I needed a few trees for the yard of my new home and he said, "why buy when you can just dig some up here?" He was right. The house where my parents lived in Statesboro was surrounded by a thick woods of hardwood trees in all leve
Cardinals in the Grape Vine
A few weeks ago, as I neared my Concord grape vines to check their health and the development of grapes for the summer harvest, I flushed a female cardinal just a few feet in front of me. As I looked closer, I realized why she stayed so long. She was sitting on a nest, protected within the large leaves of the grape vine. An ingenious location, perched on top of my chain link fence and under grape vine leaves. There, inside a brown nest of dried grasses and vines, were two sma
