Labor Day Weekend

What a wonderful weekend we had.  Celebrated two birthdays - my 85 year young sweet Mother and our 3 year old granddaughter.

The weather was beautiful.  The lake had lots of boaters.

The birds were well fed and happy!

Anne's petunias were delerious!

And we ate too much!  This is only the Saturday night feast.

Aubie & Addie had a contest to see who could blow the hardest without blowing out the candle.

The contest did not last long.

We revisited Halloween.

Aubrey got to terrify her little sister with the Halloween mask.  That's Addie running for her life.

Addie discovered cherry tomatoes are just her size.

Did I mention, we ate too much.  This is Eric getting ready to grill Sunday's feast.

Monday, Labor Day, I truly felt like I was about to go into labor. 

Is it just a southern thing or does everyone eat too much on holiday weekends?

A perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Labor Day Vacation Plans

I was in town the other day when someone mentioned Labor Day and asked where I was going for the holiday weekend.

It kind of threw me for a loop because - you see - I now live in the place that I always used to go to on vacation. Kentucky Lake at Paris Landing. - and - it’s one of the hottest vacation spots in this neck of the woods.

Right now, things are pretty quite out here at the lake. Very little traffic, not much going on except for the store vendors stocking up for the holiday.

But Friday afternoon folks will start pouring in. There will be more cars than you can shake a stick at - boats, Rvs, golf carts, motorcycles. Saturday morning the folks down at the 4 Way Grill and the Trading Post will have more customers than can find parking places. The boat ramps will be backed up and by late morning the lake will be buzzing with all kinds of boats.

For three days these folks will wear shorts, tee shirts, bathing suits, flip flops, tennis shoes, and not much else. They will leave their suits and silk dresses at home. They may or may not brush their hair as skiing and boating seem to have a way of rearranging hairdos. They will be boating, skiing, seadoing, fishing, swimming and just about anything else you can legally do in a large body of water - any maybe some of the illegal stuff too. Some of them will get crazy and do things they would never do at home. They will play and have so much fun that when it gets dark they will just be worn out. They will sleep hard and wake up the next day and do it all over again. Until finally - late Monday they will head back home. And then I can go back on vacation. Me and the few other folks who live in this little corner of the world year round will once again have the place all to ourselves.

September Wall Calendars

September!!!  Wonderful, glorious, beautiful September!  September is one of my favorite months because:

• August is over and August is always the hottest, driest, most miserable month around here.
• Some of my favorite people were born this month.
• It's the beginning of fall and cooler weather - but not winter.
• There's just something about September that makes me frisky!

So - I have these wall calendars I do every month for your desk top.  They are local scenes from around my neighborhood.  Not sure how well they will work from this blog.  The whole idea is that you right click on the image you want to use, then you go down to "save as" and click, then save it where ever you store photos for your desktop.  If it comes out blurry or bitmap from this blog go to my fan page on Facebook at Artist Lee Owenby and click on the image to get the big version, then right click, etc.

This little boy who is playing with a rabbit in a pot full of petunias lives in my Mom's front yard.  He is there year round with his rabbit.  We've become very attached to him.  My sister, Anne is the goddess of petunias.  She only has to plant them once and they come back every year.  When I plant them they die.

I know it's a little late in the year for wild roses but I just had to squeeze this in before winter.  In May, every year the wild roses bloom in Henry County.  This particular batch grows in the right of way next to our driveway.  It always amazes me that despite the fact that the county sprays them with Round Up every year and mows them down several times during the summer - they always come back.  And they are gorgeous!  Wild roses seem to have the most fragrant blooms of all roses.  Just had to share.  I love these roses!

Sunrise On Antioch Road

This is how my backyard looked this morning at sunrise. The landscape takes a dip behind those trees and on some mornings it gets this foggy look with the sun shining through it.

To buy a print please visit my online art gallery shown in the top right corner of this page. 

I actually took the photo for this image several years ago and did very little to enhance it. I almost titled it “Rejoice” because that was the way this sunrise made me feel. There was nothing really special about that morning until I opened the curtains and saw this scene in my backyard.

I grabbed the camera and ran out the door. I know folks driving down Antioch Road that morning probably got a kick out of that crazy woman running around in her backyard in nothing but her nightgown while she snapped photos.

It doesn’t look this way every morning. I wish it did.

Traffic! Who Needs It???

Eric and I recently made a trip to the Atlanta, Georgia area and I was reminded of one of the major reasons I like living out here in the boonies - TRAFFIC - or rather, the lack of traffic.

I lived in Memphis, Houston, and Dallas where I had to fight the traffic everyday to get to and from work. Houston was probably the worst. It took about 45 minutes for my daily 5 mile commute. Here it takes me about 20 minutes to go 15 miles.

This is the Lake Highway at about 7:20 am on a Tuesday morning. It’s the only road running from the lake to Paris.

School Zone!

Here it is just a few blocks from downtown.

Out here at the lake we love to tell stories about how two passing cars can stop in the middle of the road. The drivers can have a full conversation, just sitting in the middle of the road, before another car comes along. It’s true, except around July 4th or Memorial Day or just about sun up in the spring when the crappie spawn. Then you just might get run over by a boat.

Calendars for August

Desktop calendars for your computer.  Take your pick!

Our cat Murphy giving me the evil eye.

Shhh!  A quiet spot overlooking the lake.