Ruby Falls

So, after the "warm" ride this morning, it was time to do something cool. How about tour a cave!
Yesterday, when I purchased my ticket for Rock City, I got the "double play" ticket - Rock City and Ruby Falls. Its not easy to find Ruby Falls from the back side (from the battlefield). Most signs are to point from the Interstate.
Eventually I found the route, and parked at Ruby Falls. The falls is underground - some 260 feet down. An elevator takes visitors to the cave. Once in the cave, its an over 2000 foot walk underground to the waterfall.
During the tour, the guide and signs point out special features of the cave. I shot a good number of photos during the hike.
While the cave was interesting, it was nothing like the waterfall at the end of the tour. The walk/hike was worth it. The waterfall is incredible!
The hike back was uneventful. After the tour, I at the snack stand - was getting pretty hungry. Then time to call it a day, and head for the motel. From the ride and the hike, I was tired.

New chickens

The newer chickens never seem in the mood for portraiture.

We came up on the losing end of the chicken lottery this time. Out of eight mystery chick picks, five were cockerels (males), and only three were pullets (females).
What kind of homesteading woman am I, if I couldn't watch what had to happen?

The squeamish kind, I guess.
Hubby is just as content to do it all himself, I think, to avoid having me standing over his shoulder. "Offering suggestions," as I see it... "Bossing me around," according to him. "And stressing me out."
We made the rookie mistake (according the the Backyard Chicken Forum) of cooking them without letting them rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours, so they were a little tough.

100 years ago

I was bitten by the genealogy bug.
I was also bitten by the 19th century fashion bug. More precisely, the bug pertaining to the period of fashion between 1840 and 1920. (The better to date old photos.)
The side effect is that I have become one of those people who wants to shout out historical inaccuracies in the middle of movies.
"They won an academy award for this?! Women didn't wear bustles in 1900!"
Or, "That sleeve wasn't invented until 1880!"
Even, "That dress has an 1840s bodice and a 1910 sleeve!"
And so on.
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The photo was taken in northwest Georgia, a little over 100 years ago. Judging from the baby's age and the plant growth: around September 1905. The two men in the middle (wearing bowties) are my ancestors three and four generations back. The older woman is my great-great-grandmother Martha, born in 1852. She's the daughter of Julia Ann of the broken heart.
The baby in this picture, Ennis, died in a Typhoid outbreak in July of 1921. A relative wrote:
"During the huckleberry season, about 9 people in our community had typhoid fever from drinking water from the stream in the mountain. Grace and I recovered." Seven others died.
My Mom told me that they normally started picking huckleberries on the 4th of July every year. Ennis died at one o'clock in the afternoon, on Sunday July 17th. He was 16 years old. (Antibiotic treatment for typhoid would not be available for another 27 years.)
I imagine his family had been frantic, calling two different doctors to see him. He had two death certificates, filled out by different doctors. The first began treating him on July 10th, and the second on July 13th.*
I love collecting stories about relatives from the past, but they are often so tragic.
The inscription on Ennis' tombstone reads, "Just in the morning of his day, In youth and love he died." This was apparently a fairly common saying to put on a young person's stone, and I wondered if it was from a poem.
I found in "Hymns for Christian Devotion" (copyright 1853!) one called "Death of a Scholar". It includes the lines,
Death has been here, and borne away
A brother from our side :
Just in the morning of his day,
As young as we he died.
I believe this was later changed in some churches, to this version I found listed from another tombstone:
Death has been here and born away
a brother from our side :
Just in the morning of his day,
In youth and love he died.
I also found "so fair and young he died" as an ending for this epitaph. It seemed to have been common to use just the last two lines.
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* A historian at the Georgia State Archives told me that she'd seen two death certificates for the same person before, but never from two different doctors.

The weekend has started

This could be the start of something awesome here. This morning was only supposed to be a warm-up ride through Currumbin Valley, but look at the results.







As I said, if a warm-up can offer this, who knows what the real thing is going to be like?

Passing Time on Mt. Maude

This is my favorite picture from last weekend's night shooting sessions. It takes a bit of planning and preparation to pull off a shot like this but when you take your time and set things up right, the results are worth it. After about 20 "test" shots to dial in the composition I was ready to start the long exposure. This was a 96 minute exposure that I started at exactly 10:00 PM on September 3rd. The lens aperture was set at f4, and the camera's ISO was set at 100. Careful placement of the North star makes (I believe) for a very compelling composition. Taken with a Canon 5D Mark II camera and Canon EF 17-40mm lens.

Icy Afternoon

Here's a photo from a couple of days ago, before the weather turned cold. We took a walk through the woods and along the shoreline in Grand Portage and found this beach that was covered in ice chunks both on the beach and rolling around in the waves. Even though this winter has not been up to snuff in terms of snowfall and major ice build-up, I have still been finding lots of fun ice to photograph. Today the sky is gray and it is snowing, so enjoy this photo from a sunshiney day!

Dog Days

Got out for a couple bike rides in the last couple weeks. Seems like I am busy, its too hot, or its too windy. When it stuck my head out of the door this morning, it was looking to be a great morning for a ride. Kitted up and loaded the hybrid on the car rack and headed for the Wabash Trace Trailhead.

The thermometer in the car registered 74 degrees - not too bad! But when I arrived at the trailhead and unloaded the bike, I realized it was also very humid this morning. Well, I am here, see how it goes.

Plan was to ride to and around Lake Manawa. That was same route as my last ride (and had logged the fastest speed for the year). That was a little cooler morning, knew I was not going to make that speed.

Took it easy on the way down to Lake Manawa. Decided to ride the Nature Trail ti add a little distance to my ride. Besides, I had not ridden that loop for some time. Today's photo was taken on the Nature Trail.

Continued on the Indian Creek Bridge. By the time there, it was getting a bit HOT. Turned back towards the trailhead. Did a short detour to the levee at the mountain bike trails. Back to the main trail and on up to the Wabash. By the time I got back to the car, I had enough.

Its time to change to early morning ride - like sunrise.

Where My Lines Are Laid

I've been listening to The Wind in the Willows on podcast and am thoroughly entranced! I've never read it before. Pom Pom, don't be ashamed of me. I have a copy of the book with illustrations by Michael Hague and am leafing through looking at the beautiful paintings. This was my favorite section from the entire book; and one very appropriate since I was listening to it on our way back from Oklahoma.
"As he hurried along, eagerly anticipating the moment when he would be at home again among the things he knew and liked, the Mole saw clearly that he was an animal of tilled field and hedgerow, linked to the ploughed furrow, the frequented pasture, the lane of evening lingerings, the cultivated garden plot. For others the asperities, the stubborn endurance, or the clash of actual conflict, that went with Nature in the rough; he must be wise, must keep to the pleasant places in which his lines were laid and which held adventure enough , in their way, to last for a lifetime."
I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Mole. I'm a creature of tilled field and hedgerow, linked to pasture and lane of evening lingerings. My lines are laid in pleasant country places with adventures enough for my lifetime.

We had a new visitor on our deck

For some reason, my wife is afraid of frogs...

He was politely asked to leave, and then kicked off the deck.