Day sixteen of our photo journey …
I have always been fascinated by the history behind small towns. When I was walking downtown today, I realized that in my mind, I tend to picture our town in black and white, almost as if I am imagining old time photographs from 100 years ago.
But, when I look up at the top of our town pavilion, I always see the eagle in living color, almost as if it were a United States flag flying proudly in the sky.
Day fifteen of our photo journey …
It was a slow lazy day here in Small Town, USA so we decided to invite you along for our trip to McDonalds.
Trips to McDonald’s are a special treat for us, mostly because we have to drive anywhere from 30 – 45 minutes to get to one.
“I can’t bear to look. Someone PLEASE tell me that Mom isn’t taking pictures in the middle of McDonalds!”
“Mom” can we pleeeeeeease eat the fries now?”
There are more carbohydrates in a supersized order of McDonalds fries than any sane person should consider eating in a month.
But, they are so dang good! 🙂
We spent half the meal fussing with each other over which dip is best for fries. Haley likes good old fashioned catsup. My son Nick swears by the Big Mac Sauce. I on the other hand, dip them only in tarter sauce.
Who in their right mind orders healthy stuff in Macdonald’s?
My son’s sweetie (Shona) bypassed all the good stuff on the menu and ordered the fruit, yogurt, and walnuts plate.
Isn’t that unpatriotic, or sacrilegious, or something?
Day fourteen of our photo journey …
As I stood on the front porch today, wondering if the weather would ever clear up long enough to take a few pictures, I looked over and noticed my daughter’s bike. It’s a retro style bicycle, and for some reason it brought back memories of my childhood.
As a child, I would spend hours riding my stingray (with a banana seat) style bike with all the kids in the neighborhood.
All of us had playing cards clipped to the spokes of the tires so we could hear the loud clicking sound it made. Remember that?
We loved pretending they were dirt bikes while we raced through all the trails and jumps we spent months making throughout the woods.
It has been many years now since I have been on a bicycle. They say that you never forget how to ride. Ya think that’s true?
Maybe I will start riding again, just for the heck of it. If nothing else, it might give my daughter a good laugh.
Day thirteen of our photo journey …
There are at least a gazillion ways to get to various hideaways on Enid Lake. Our mission today was to find a new way that we hadn’t tried before. When my kids are involved though, there is always a pretty good chance that means we will embark on an adventure that we won’t soon forget.
Turn left Mom!
No wait a second.
Maybe it was supposed to be right?
It wasn’t long before we found ourselves on a dark curvy road that seemed to get more narrow with every curve. About the time I began to wonder if this road was really going to lead somewhere or if we were setting ourselves up to get stuck in the middle of nowhere without even so much as a cell phone with us, the road in front of us became impassable.
Of course it was way too narrow to even think of turning around.
You can do it Mom! Keep going!
Ummmm… Son?
We’re not in a four wheel drive pickup truck anymore. We’re in a old beater, and I don’t think I can make it through here.
Sure you can!
You can do it!
You can make it! (Everyone now chiming in.)
Of course we got hopelessly stuck when our old beater bottomed out. I just sat there and laughed when Haley mentioned that we really should have turned right.
The kids finally pushed us out of the rut, and then laughed hysterically while I had to go back up that curvy dirt road in reverse for about a mile before we could finally get turned around.
Finally, after a series of disagreements on which left and which right we needed to take, we voted on getting there the old fashioned way, following the signs to the other side of the lake.
Yeah! I think we made it! 🙂
Then this drop dead gorgeous guy walked by me, and ummmm…
Well, my photography skills instantly deteriorated.
I think this is a picture of the bathroom door. 🙂
I figured I better at least pretend I was taking a picture of something.
Wasn’t there a tree here somewhere?
I have no idea what those things are in the tree. Baby pinecones?
Kids?
What kids?
Oh yeah! Where the heck are the kids?
I remember when I thought it was romantic to take walks like that!
We could be on a deserted island and Haley would find a boy. Way down in the corner, that’s her talking to a boy in the water. I think they were discussing exchanging email addresses right about then.
One last look back at the water before we lose the sun.
Gosh it is pretty!
Does anyone know where that drop dead gorgeous guy went? 🙂
Day twelve of our photo journey …
Goodness! Today was filled with a whirlwind of activities and errands so we didn’t have a ton of free time, but we still made a few stops to make sure to keep our commitment of at least one picture a day.
Our first stop was a cotton field …
The flower blooms on a cotton plant are absolutely beautiful.
The first day the flower blooms are a creamy white.
By the third and fourth day the blooms deepens to a deep pink.
No matter how hard I tried, I knew I was going to end up taking a picture of the tall grass before I left the cotton field.
Along the way we had to pass an old bait shop that serves some of the best barbeque sandwiches this side of the Mississippi river.
It turned out to be way too difficult to drive past without stopping for a bite. Yup! That is coleslaw you see on the sandwich. We have a few strange eating habits around these parts of the country.
Hey lady! Do you think we’re stupid? We have all the grass we need right here. How on earth do you plan on coaxing us up to the fence with a handful of grass?
Howdy ladies! I may be just an old cranky mule, but I sure aint too proud to accept a handful of grass when it is offered!
Hey camera lady! I know ya said you already have all the cow pictures you need, but when was the last time you saw a calf as cute as me? How about if I stand real still? Will ya take my picture now? Will ya? Will ya please? Awww… C’mon! Will ya take my picture?
Day eleven of our photo journey …
It was so grey and dreary outside today that my plan was just to take a picture of my favorite coffee mug and call it good.
BUT . . . I knew that there was no way Haley was going to let me get away with that, so I didn’t even bother looking for an excuse.
C’mon Haley! Let’s jump in the car! Let’s see if we can find anything worth taking pictures of. There has to be some color somewhere.
So we cranked up the radio in our old car, and headed out the nearest county road, in search of something, anything . . .
Out near the Cossar State Park, we started seeing color every direction we turned.
It is instinctive for me to head straight to the flowers.
It was as if God had reached down with a giant paintbrush and changed our world from black and white to full living color.
We were so busy looking at everything around us that we almost missed these guys quietly watching us. We sat there for several minutes, afraid to even breathe for fear that they would run away.
It was then we realized that there was one lone deer behind us that they must have been waiting for, so we continued on our way.
I couldn’t help it. I had to take one more flower photo.
The sun was nearly gone when I glanced back at the edge of the stream, and it nearly took my breath away.
In that moment, I realized what my heart has been missing.
I don’t just like to be surrounded by the natural beauty of nature, I thrive on it. Soon it will be time to consider another move – back out to a country setting where I feel most at home.
On the lighter side, we learned a very valuable lesson today. Never, I mean never, even consider drinking a 32 ounce iced coffee drink before heading out for an early evening drive down a long country road. 🙂
