Chatsworth House, Derbyshire

If you have an ounce of a soul in you, you'd probably enjoy Chatsworth House, at least today. Today was filled with gorgeous art and baby animals and gardens and beautiful spaces and flowers. After a WARM night (must have worked to our benefit that I tipped up the furnace) Tabitha and I woke happy. Lisa, our hostess, drove us down to the bus stop to catch the 9:12 to Chatsworth House in Peaks National Park. It is the ancestral (and current) home of the 12th Duke and Dutchess of Devonshire.
After a lovely half hour drive in the countryside, we arrived before opening. We got a cup of coffee/tea and wandered through some shops, then into the gardens surrounding the estate. We lucked into arriving on one of the days of the "Florabundance Festival". Even though it was raining, we walked for several miles admiring all the landscaping and flowers in bloom and baby animals (lambs and ducklings). The home exterior was undergoing some renovations, but the gardens and interiors were still fantastic. The tulips were all in bloom, along with about every other flower you can imagine. It was really incredible. Reminded me a bit of Biltmore House, Versailles... you know, houses and gardens erected by really rich people, who now must let the likes of me inside their homes, in order to pay for them!
We dined at the restaurant and then tackled the house itself. The art collection alone was worth the trip: from Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Franz Hals, and Correggio, to Joshua Reynolds, David Hockney, and Lucien Freud. Then there were the awesome interiors. Then the gorgeous flower arrangements. Just my cup of tea, for sure.

Oh, and be sure to watch the upcoming documentary about Chatsworth House on the BBC. It will feature all three of these feet.

Sunshine on snow

I looked out the window and was struck by how happy the shadows on the porch made me. Madge must agree.

You don't want to go down there...

Over the winter one half of my neighborhood is cut off from the other because of the rebuilding of the bridge.

Not that I'm complaining...the old bridge was built of toothpicks. But it makes walking the dog to our usual spot difficult, unless we feel like running across a water pipe. And it makes driving the direct route to many of my regular places impossible. But in this ice, it could really be dangerous to turn down this street!

Beaver Dam Free Will Baptist Church

Along the ride....

Day is done, gone the sun

Sorghum field at sunset.

I'm just wonderin'

The newspaper headline today says that marijuana was found in a restricted area at the nuclear power plant. It sure gives me a great feeling.

This is my view recently of the same power plant from the air. If I could get this close, what's to keep terrorists from doing so? Especially if all the Homer Simpsons working below are high?

South Kakkalacky looks pretty darn lovely

I was the support "team" ("team"=1 woman and a dog) for Bill's adventure race this past weekend. The race ran through the most rugged terrain in South Carolina, and some of the loveliest. I love that in 30-40 minutes I can be in the midst of such beautiful scenery, or in a few hours be at the beach.

Aerial photos

My boss on Friday afternoon borrowed my camera to take some shots from above. The top photo shows our school. It is bordered to the right by I-85 North, and appears in the upper right corner of the "block" you see. The lower right corner is a CarMax, the lower left corner is a factory, and the upper left corner (new construction) is a new public high school. It's amazing how an aerial shot flattens a landscape. St. Joseph's is perched overlooking I-85 and the rest of the block on a hill that is almost undetectable from the photo.



Anyone who's blood runs orange will recognize Death Valley in the lower photo, with Littlejohn Colosseum in the foreground. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, it's Clemson University's stadium.

Thanks to my guest photographer Charlie for the shots!

Pinhole camera: Landscape

Yellow Adirondacks

77 degrees

Everyone's trying to stay cool, peeling off clothes, opening the windows, going barefoot, or In the case of these cows, even going for a swim!

Dereliction

Abandoned gas station, abandoned car, abandoned building. And lots of weeds.

Filtered Sunlight

in my neighborhood.

Cool and clear, a perfect autumn

Interstate 85

Some days I feel as though I live my life on this road. Tuesday I took my daughter back to college, and travelled north. Most other days, I head south to take the boys to school. In fact, if I want to go to the doctor, the vet, shops, downtown, the airport, or church, I get on 85.

Welcome to my house

Farmer's Market

I'm not a huge fan of mums, but I did like seeing them all massed together on my trip to the farmer's market.

Split Tree

Farewell for now (Monday's photo)