Friday, May 30, 2008

Today's photos

Instead of being lazy and spending the day reading and napping (as I'm on vacation), I spent the day hiking along Kennesaw Mountain and train watching. Although there were a number of overlooks, the haze and humidity prevented decent photos.

Up along the ridge of Pigeon Hill, just south of Little Kennesaw, there were beautiful prickly pears in bloom. Here, on June 27, 1864, Southern units from Missouri repelled an attack led by northern units that were also from Missouri. The South held the high ground but had to withdraw when Sherman's larger army threatened to flank around their positions. These prickly pears were spaced over an acre or so. There were a few other flowers in bloom (varieties of sunflowers and spiderworts), but the pears were most beautiful.
The definition of heaven for a bee!
A train heading toward Tennessee along the former Western and Atlantic Railroad (now CSX). In the Spring of 1864, General Sherman moved his army down this line in his approach to Atlanta. This was also the line on which the great railroad chase, between the General (carrying Union spies) and the Texas, took place. Last month, I wrote about watching Buster Keaton in "The General," one of the great silent movies.

16 comments:

  1. And here I thought you were on the coast!

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  2. Best wishes for a great vacation.

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  3. Sounds like fun. When I was a kid we went to Florida and my Dad hit every Civil War Battlefield on the way: Shiloh, Chattanooga (/w the Confederama), Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta. Good times for the history buff.

    Cheers.

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  4. Kenju, heading that way tomorrow!

    Kevin, thanks

    Randall, I grew up with Civil War battlefields in my backyard--as I've written elsewhere. This is the first time to really expore Kennesaw Mt.

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  5. One day I would like to spend my day hiking. You make it sound like the most exciting way to see the sights. From the looks of your pictures, it is.

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  6. You enjoyed the hike, I enjoyed reading about your hike. The photographs speak wonders. Beautiful.

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  7. I am sorry to hijack this thread. But, I need your prayers. My son is facing something that could be really bad. We go in Monday for him to have a brain biopsy. We are scared. Regardless of anything, please, please, please pray for my son and for us. We need God’s mercy and our 9 year old son needs His mercy.

    I know there are people of faith that read and post here…I am asking for prayers for my son. Thank you.

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  8. Hi Sage,
    Thank you for leaving a comment on my blog.

    Your comment inspired me to share more of my story.

    First I blogged an old book review I had written and published in 2001. You can read that here now. This book helped me A LOT.

    http://thethinkingmother.blogspot.com/2008/06/is-this-your-child-book-review-by.html

    Second I am telling a bit more about our experience with what happened when we replaced dairy with soy for my son. Also there is important information at the end about how later on this can show up as learning challenges or other issues.

    http://thethinkingmother.blogspot.com/2008/06/little-about-our-experience-with-food.html

    Dealing with food allergies in children is not easy. I wish you luck. A very important step is self-education so you can make informed choices and learn what you have to do to fix the situation.

    Oh, and if you like me begin questioning why the heck are so many kids and people getting allgeries? I had read in Growing Up Green that some believe that this is all a result of multiple layers of exposures to chemicals, pollution and other things in our modern world that past generations didn't have in their lives. I don't have an answer but that is what some think.

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  9. Thanks for these photos. The yellow blossoms on the prickley pear cactus are simply beautiful. I need to get out hiking more again. :)

    And, Joe, I am now praying for your son as I write this. May God guide the doctors and may He bring peace to you and your son.

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  10. I am always amazed that cacti always seem to have some of the most beautiful flowers. On my Grand Canyon trip, I would take a picture of one and then later find another more beautiful and so on. When I got home and developed ten rolls of film or so, probably half ended up being pictures of cactus flowers.

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  11. Oh lovely. I think you should come help me identify the flower on my blog... :)

    Happy Vacation. I want one too.

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  12. I like the mix of flowers and Civil War info. The reference to Sherman heading to Atlanta makes me want to watch Gone With The Wind again.

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  13. Hey, there! Just checking in to see if you posted any more photos! Hope you're having fun. Stay safe!

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