Happy Trick-or-Treat Day :)

As only Garfield can say it - Have a great day today!

Vote! Please!

Early voting. I did it. So can you. Enough said.

Show & Tell Friday

Did you grow up in the south? Did you enjoy Southern rock? Yep, this is a little different from my musical tastes these days, but back in the 1970's the secular music world got taken by storm by the group I am going to feature in my Show and Tell today.

Back in 1970, a 16 year old young man had a gym teacher named Mr. Skinner. This young man, along with his friends, were frequently put on suspension by the coach because their hair was too long. In rebellion, they dropped out of school and began a musical career. As a joke, they named their band after the gym coach. Who am I talking about? Well, the student was Ronnie Van Zant, and the group was named the Leonard Skinner Band - after Coach Leonard Skinner. They soon transitioned the name to the Lynyrd Skynyrd Band. They cut their first demo in 1970. Free Bird went on to become their anthem. 1973 saw their megahit Sweet Home Alabama hit the charts. Their fame and popularity grew and grew, making them the premiere Southern rock band of the decade. In 1977, the band's private jet ran out of fuel inflight and crashed in Mississippi. Ronnie Van Zant and three other band members were killed in that crash. That brings me to today's post.

Ronnie Van Zant is buried not far from where I live. As you enter the cemetary you are met with a beautiful rendition of Jesus, the Christ. Take the drive to the left and you come upon this next scene.

This is the tomb of Ronnie Van Zant. Even after 31 years, people still leave flowers, cards, and notes at the grave - die hard fans who don't want to forget.

Below the the inscription is a flying bird - the symbol recognized with the name "Lynyrd Skynyrd."

The first time I visited this memorial was in the late 70's. I was touched by the words engraved on the bench in the next photo. You will notice the bench and wording was offered by C. Daniels - Charlie Daniels and the Charlie Daniels Band.

On the right-hand side of the monument is another bench with the following words. They are from an Emily Dickinson poem entitled This World is Not Conclusion.

Hopefully this post was not too morbid for you. I thought that if you were a Lynyrd Skynyrd fan you might enjoy seeing these photos. I will leave you with their words:

If I leave here tomorrow

would you still remember me?

For I must be traveling on now,

there's too many places I've got to see.

If I stayed here with you girl,

things just wouldn't be the same.

Cause I'm free as a bird now,

and this bird you can not change.

Lord knows, I can't change.

Won't you fly high free bird.

(To join in with Show & Tell Friday, just go to Kelli's page here.)

Melrose Extras

These are a few additional photos I took along the street beside the rose garden. These were taken just after a rain, so the light was especially good. This road is so pretty and peaceful. Next to no auto traffic, but there was this lady with three huge german shepards - but that's another story :).

The Forgotten Garden

(I posted this last night, but I am also going to make it my

Favorite Things Monday

post. My favorite things to photograph are flowers.

Click the link for more information.)

Last year, Pam took Kali and I out on our first photo shoot. Across the road from where we were taking pictures, I spotted this gate. Upon further inspection, we found a rose garden. We hadn't thought much about it, until two days ago. Kali and I were in Melrose and we started driving the back roads, looking for the garden. It had just rained and was still sprinkling a bit. I got my camera out and we started walking through the gardens. We went back yesterday and took some more photos. Join me if you would, as I walk you through the garden we found.
The garden is enclosed with chicken wire. There are beautiful wooden gates at either end, and sitting benches just inside. It doesn't appear that this garden has been cared for in a long time. Many of the bushes seem to be dead. Kali had a great time wandering around. She found many interesting things in addition to the flowers.

I loved the bird baths. There were two.

I also like the way the rain drops stand on the flowers.

Kali found tags on the ground, some attached to flowers, and even one on the fence. The tags had various names on them.

The above is my favorite flower shot from the two days.

Kali liked this little guy. He was basically stuck inside the stump.

The next two photos show a beautiful sitting area, just inside the gates.

Kali had a great time walking and reading and looking.

Kali tried to clean out this bird bath. It was really uncared for.

There were old hoses, pipes attached to nothing, even one pipe that a tree had grown up and around, a broken wind chime, and a dog food bowl. It looked like someone had once taken care of this garden, but not recently. I told Kali we could go back and clip back the healthy roses and pick up the debris.
The view, the landscaping, and the living roses were all absolutely beautiful. I loved that it had just rained and everything had raindrops on it :). I might share more photos down the road. I hope you have enjoyed our walk through this forgotten garden.

Flower Teaser - Promise More To Follow

My daughter and I spent the past two afternoons at a beautiful, abandoned spot near our home. I couldn't wait until I finished editing photos to share a teaser shot, with the promise that more will come. Aren't these white roses gorgeous? I shot this while it was still sprinkling rain, with the camera underneath the flowers - pointed up towards the sky. Now, back to work on my editing :). ** Remember, you can enlarge these photos to full screen, just by clicking on them.

First Check

Wow! The excitement at our house today was that Kali received her first paycheck!!! She was so excited! I sent her into Johnny's by herself to pick up her first check. She got paid for a total of 3.95 hours worked. Kali had no idea how much she was getting paid an hour, so we had no way to know how much this check might be for. She got back into the car, waited a second, then ripped open the envelope. When she looked at the check, Kali got this amazed look on her face and, with eyes wide open, she said, "$24.77! Wow! That's enough to buy like 50 packs of Ramen!" ROFL. After I stopped laughing, we figured out she could actually get like 120 packs of Ramen, if she felt so moved. Life is great!

Oh yeah, she said the above picture looked like a mug shot! Spoken like a true cop's (ex-cop's) daughter!

Show & Tell Friday

"Show & Tell Friday! Do you have something special to share? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, or a treasured collection. Look around your home for something to share; dig through those boxes in your closet if you have to! Share photos and the story that goes with your special item."

This fun posting is organized by Kelli at There is No Place Like Home. If you are interested in participating, go to Kelli's blog and follow her instructions. I know she would love to have you join in. This is my first time posting with her. I hope it works :), especially since I typed the whole thing out on Patti's homeschool blog by mistake and am now re-doing all of it :(.

For those of you who don't know me, my dad passed away a couple years ago. Shortly after that, my mom was seriously injured and as a result Mom moved into an assisted living place. For her - that meant a lot of change. For me - that meant a lot of work, clearing out 60 years worth of memories and possessions, and readying her home to be sold. In that cleaning, I came across this little porcelain doll. I am afraid to try very hard to clean her. She has no markings to identify who she was made by, nor when. Mom said she belonged to her mother (my grandmother) when mom was a little girl. She thought it might have come from her grandmother (my great-grand), which makes this doll very old - in the vicinity of 100-120 years. It looks possible. I found it interesting how the legs are attached - just simple pieces of cord strung through the legs, out the sides of the skirt, and tied into knots. Very fragile looking. Isn't she still very pretty?

This last little doll - oriental in nature - has been promised to me since I was 6 or 7 years old. A long time ago :). An aunt on my dad's side found this doll in a house she and her husband bought back in the late 50's. Again, there are no markings to date this doll. He has a cloth body, with porcelain head, hands, and feet. I like how they painted the hair on like a cap, and painted the bottoms of the feet - I guess to simulate shoes??? My Aunt Frances used to let me play with the doll when we went to visit. I have no idea how my mom came to have the doll, but I found it in a china cabinet at her home. This has always been my absolute favorite piece from my childhood.

As an interesting side note, you'll notice the above photos were taken on my picnic table. After I finished taking the shots, I looked up to see this lovey snake on the wall about 3 feet from my face. I about had a stroke!!! I'm thinking "pygmy rattler", and steadily backing up without dropping my camera. I have my priorities. (I just totally abandoned my dolls on the table.) Then I set my zoom, took a couple shots of the snake, then got a shovel and relocated the little buddy. Whoo! My husband thinks the snake was a type of rat-snake, not to panic, but that does little to relieve my mind. A snake is a snake. LOL.

Thanks for looking and thanks for sharing my memories :). I look forward to reading yours. Please feel free to go to Kelli's page here if you would like to join in the fun.