The leaves of a sourwood sapling glow in the late-afternoon sunlight along Piney Woods Church Road.
May 032014
May 022014
The late-day light swept across the cattle pasture, illuminating the white clover growing there in abundance. There is such beauty in everyday rural landscapes.
May 022014
With today’s project, I reach a third of the way through a year along Piney Woods Church Road. I continue to feel immense gratitude that there is so much that is wondrous yet to discover on my journey. Lately, I have become entranced with the play of light. Late this afternoon, I set out with my wife and our four small dogs on a walk there, my expectations tempered by a mostly cloudy sky. As we walked, though, the sunlight emerged and lit the woods and pastures ablaze with yellow-gold. In this photo, the leaves of this greenbrier are glowing brightly, as if caught up in a dance of light.
May 012014
Here is a series of rather experimental images from this evening, a few minutes before sunset. I am fascinated by meadow silhouettes; they remind me of my childhood experiments with Solargraphics paper. I recall placing flowers and leaves onto the paper, leaving it out in the sunlight, and creating a silhouette image as a result.
May 012014
Near sunset, I took this photograph of a spider’s web constructed on a barbed-wire fence along Piney Woods Church Road. The web is filled with particles of pollen that glow in the golden late-day light.
Apr 302014
A couple of days ago, I photographed this plant with tiny yellow flowers (less than half an inch across), flourishing in a ditch along Piney Woods Church Road. I have held off posting it, pending an identification. After poring over several wildflower guides, to no avail, I put the task to my Plant Identification Facebook group. Wow, how helpful everyone was! After several suggestions from others and a bit more research on my own, I am fairly confident that this plant is Southern Ragwort (Packera anonyma), a perennial native herb. Traditionally used by Native Americans to prevent pregnancy and treat heart trouble, the plant contains toxins and therefore should be used medicinally only with extreme caution.
Apr 302014
After overnight rain, I set out down Piney Woods Church Road, noticing how the flow of water was already changing the newly-graded road surface, forming shallow channels where the water flowed, and excavating new potholes (or exhuming old ones?). One particular tulip poplar leaf caught my attention. On its underside were perched several minute water droplets, like temporary worlds. I saw a tiny black form swimming in one of the droplets; I suspect that a microscope would reveal many more.
Apr 292014
Today on my walk along Piney Woods Church Road, I encounter a purple bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare) just coming into bloom, nestled in a grassy ditch, as if trying to hide from passersby. I expect it will not last long there; the resident and dear friend who owns that property is not at all fond of them, because the seeds disperse widely and readily, and invariably the plant crops up in his horse pastures. But for this moment, this Eurasian flower adds a lovely splash of color to an otherwise rather barren spot of ground, and I pause to enjoy its prickly form against the surrounding grasses, roadway, and sky.
Apr 292014
I am still reeling from the tragic news, just one week ago, that Fern’s Market in the Grange at Serenbe, in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, will be closing on May 10th. Fern’s has been such a haven for me, a welcoming home on days when I just needed to get away from the stress of my home office or craved an hour or two of conversation with others after days in a row spent entirely online.
The shelves are mostly bare now, but you can still get a marvelous latte there, in a huge mug, prepared with care and, depending upon the barrista, topped with either a fern, an Easter bunny, or something that looks a bit like a poached egg. The person behind the counter — Tammi Berden Cody or one of her charming and kind employees — will always offer it with a smile and will check in a few minutes later to make sure it is OK. There is such care in the store, such love. The loss to Serenbe and Chattahoochee Hills is immeasurable. We will never know what circumstances led to the abrupt and tragic announcement of Fern’s closing last week. But I know that Fern’s embodied the highest potential that Serenbe offers, as a place that embraced sustainability and local foods while also creating an environment welcoming to all, from tourists and Serenbe residents to construction workers and “Surroundbes” from greater Chattahoochee Hills and beyond.
Fern’s opened back in June of 2012, just half a year after my Dad’s unexpected passing. For months, I had been struggling to come to terms with my loss. I felt adrift, displaced. The anchor of my childhood and my closest friend and mentor was gone. I felt uprooted, and I thought seriously about moving on. It was in the midst of the struggle that I learned that a new food market was opening in the Grange. I recall my first visit. I said hi to the smiling person behind the counter, bought a couple of items, and received a free flyswatter. (I have never used it for its intended purpose, but I have used it a few times to look up Fern’s number, to call to see if a particular product was in stock). Soon after the opening, I started dropping by Fern’s for coffee and a couple of hours with a book or online task. The employees were so eager to talk, so glad I had dropped by. I did not feel “different” for not living in Serenbe, or less worthy for being in a financially precarious place and thus unable to purchase all that I would have liked. Fern’s Market included some high-end gourmet items (ones that, when I did sample them, always lived up to their cost). But there were also plenty of staples, priced quite reasonably for everyone. And Tammi was constantly giving things away, too. Several times I was given free coffee for one reason or another; on my birthday, I received a free King of Pops bar. Eventually, I would even win a “guess the number of King of Pops sold” contest (my guess was off by a mile) and be given ten King of Pops bars and a cool red cooler bag for carrying them home.
But what Fern’s most gave me is without price. Tammi and her loving staff gave me a sense of home. And I am still here today, walking the byways of Chattahoochee Hills and sharing the wonders of the everyday Georgia rural landscape with others, in part because of Fern’s. Again, I am struggling to come to terms with my loss.
Apr 282014
A cow watched me warily as I approached along Piney Woods Church Road. Another cow, meanwhile, grazed contentedly in the background.
