2009 Day 157

Lauren, George, Mama, Laura, Jonathan

I've found that I tend to forget to take pictures of people, and usually come home with shots of flowers and animals and anything but people. I started out making an effort to do better, but at the end of the trip I discovered a woeful lack of people photos!


At any rate, I did get some people shots on this phase of the trip, out by the old oak tree. Above are the three generations: Mama, me, Lauren.

2009 Day 156

Matthew learned to take photos, along with some help from Tony (who was trying to lean sideways to compensate for the wild angle of Matthew's aim!

Brothers: Michael and Matthew

2009 Day 155 The Wedding Day

June 6 we attended the wedding of Terri Wilbanks and Jim Rice in Mobile. Terri and I have been friends since college. What a wonderful day!! Click for more wedding photos: Wedding

2009 Day 154 Southern Trip Begins

June 5 I started the morning early, in the pouring rain, cleaning my fish pond pump. Then I sat in traffic forever before finally heading toward Atlanta, about 1.5 hours later than planned. After picking up Tony around lunchtime, we drove to Auburn where we added my nephew Michael to our carload, and finally arrived in St. Elmo in time for a Shrimp Feast.

We had boiled shrimp from the boat, George's famous french fries, and fresh corn on the cob. Like in my childhood, we simply put newspaper on the table and dove in. What a meal!! Family, good memories, and delicious food--it doesn't get much better than that.

2009 6/2 Day 153 The Remains

Irene's house. Basically the chimney and tin roof remain. You can see the tip of the smokehouse roof directly behind where the house was, and the barn to the right. Neither were damaged. My heart hurts. (Guest photographer)

2009 6/1 Day 152

2009 5/31 Sunday Day 151 Gone

Irene's house--full of memories, love, and irreplaceable family items--gone. Arson.

How many times have I seen Irene sitting out here chatting? Gone. Senseless arson.


It's a sort of death. Wiped out without warning, with no appeal, by an incomprehensible act of arson. I'm grieving the loss.