Tennessee – Oh, the Places We See . . .

Love in bloom: Lens-Artists Challenge #189 Odds and Ends

Don’t get upset with me. It’s not what you think. I’m all for Tina’s interesting challenge this week called “Odds and Ends.” It’s just that I’ve been totally self-absorbed in something else — something I’ve written about before. Something that makes me grab my camera and head outside my back door several times during several […]

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Lens-Artists Challenge #172: A Day at Bald River Falls

It was a beautiful, bright autumn day, with air like cider and a sky so blue you could drown in it. Diana Gabaldon The last week of October 2021 offered us a day that we should have spent years ago and then again and again each recurring year: a day at Bald River Falls off […]

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Adding a touch of color to Knoxville: Sunflowers at Forks of the River

Continuing our Summer Travel series focusing on places now open and ready for tourists, here’s another of our Places To See for those of you venturing forth whether near or far. A sunflower field is like a sky with a thousand suns. Corina Abdulahm-Negura They’re back . . . and it’s once again time to […]

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Elkmont: Once upon a time in the Great Smokies

Summertime is always the best of what might be. Charles Bowden If you stand still at Elkmont, you can almost hear summer. Kids laughing as they play tag around the old log cabins. Or waiting for lightning bugs to flicker at dusk. Mothers calling their kids in for supper. Old timers swapping tales of the […]

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Enjoy the Roses

We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon — instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today. Dale Carnegie Perhaps the coordinators of Knoxville’s 2021 Dogwood Arts Festival events had Dale Carnegie’s quote in mind as they invited guests to stroll through Open Rose Gardens two weekends in a […]

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #142: You Pick It — Spring Happens 2020 & 2021

Note: This post was first published April 1, 2020. At that time, the news of a pandemic was fresh, but not fully understood. The impact, of course, was in the beginning stages. I’m republishing so that you can read my thoughts last April — and now my new thoughts in April 2021. One thing’s for […]

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #140: Change of Scenery

One thing we’ve learned from the recent Pandemic brought on by COVID-19 is that we not only desire a change of scenery — we desperately need one! This week, Beth of Wandering Dawgs has asked us all to “get out and look for a change of scenery.” But, you see, we’re quite fortunate, living so […]

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #123: Found in the Neighborhood

Thanks to Ann-Christine for the photo challenge this week: Found in the Neighborhood. As she states so beautifully: “There is so much to discover, if only you open your mind and all your senses.” We like to be out in nature so much because it has no opinion on us. Nietzsche We’ve been taking walks lately, not just for […]

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #117: A Photo Walk

Usually if I take pictures of flowers in the UT Gardens in Knoxville, Tennessee, it’s during spring when redbuds and dogwoods and tulips burst forth. But since Amy has given us this challenge — A Photo Walk — in the fall, let’s see what the gardens have to offer. Life starts all over again when […]

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East TN Quilt Shop Hop (Part II): Fresh new looks!

One thing I learned after writing my first post on the 2020 East TN Quilt Shop Hop was that all ten of the participating shops have something new to share — a new technique, a quilting gizmo to make your life easier, or new fabrics (lighter and brighter, by the way!) to liven up the […]