Friday evening - outside of Fayetteville, NC

W: Just outside of Fayetteville, NC in a very nice KOA. KOA’s are funny animals. Some of them are a little seedy while others, such as this one, are quite nice.

We are roughly 400 miles from Fernandina Beach. We’re not sure how far we’ll travel tomorrow. Although I thought the house would be finished by Saturday night, we’ve just learned that the cleaning crew is coming on Sunday – so it wouldn’t be good to arrive too early on Sunday – let them finish! What a treat that will be, our own house, finished, cleaned and more importantly, empty!!!!

Weather today has been beautiful in the Southeast – upper 70’s with brilliant blue skies. We had fair amount of traffic, but not too bad. I know Margaret has been making notes of sights seen so I’ll let her add some before we post.

M. Odd’s and end’s: the campground we left was a buzz of activity for tomorrow’s Scottish Fair. Tents were going up, platforms and stages being constructed, food being delivered, and vendor plots being measured and outlined with chalk into the mowed grass. There was a van that opened on the side to offer Scottish family trees, heraldry, crests, etc. Looked like fun.

Passed a florist shop called A Wild Bunch, a road named Henpeck Road, and Chickahominy Creek (it still sounds like a strange Southern cooking dish). I-95 in North Carolina was ablaze with red and white flowers planted in long strips so it appeared as a waving flag; wildflowers in the medians; and cotton fields ready for picking. Also saw three large tom turkeys foraging in a harvested field. Their tail feathers were displayed and they were puffed up and strutting! Must have been some hens around I didn’t see.

The days are warmer, but the air is cool in the shade. Summer is fading. I’ll be glad to get home!

W: I thought I was done, but before posting I received notice of the on-line auction in Brattleboro, VT

http://auction.insight-photography.org/12.shtml

I don’t recall mentioning it, but while at the photo workshop in early September, there was a young man (Stephen Dybas – Program Director) attending from Insight-Photography (home page http://www.insight-photography.org/1/index.shtml). Insight-Photography teaches disadvantaged youth about photography and seeing the world differently. It was interesting that they do not use digital photography – costs for computers for the quantity needed are too high – so they use film (how quaint) and chemical darkroom.

Every year they have an auction to raise money for the organization. After seeing some of my photos, Stephen asked if I would donate a print for the auction, which I was glad to oblige. The first link above is to the web-site for the auction and the details. My photo is #113 on page 12. The second link is to their home page. You may enjoy reading about what they’re doing.

Unfortunately(?), the photo on the web doesn’t do it justice. But hopefully folks attending the Gallery Walk in Vermont will appreciate the original print. And for those of you not planning on going to Vermont for the auction – I will be having my very first photo show in Fernandina Beach starting on 10 December 2008. The print being auctioned will be included with many others taken over the last four years. Margaret and I haven’t decided yet on how many to show, but when we left home in August, we had over 120 printed, matted, and mounted. And I have more from this trip. I doubt we’ll use them all at the show, but who knows what kind of reception they will receive.

Speaking of photographs, allow me to thank all of you who have told me how much you like the photographs used on this blog. On those days we have been fortunate enough to be in a “target-rich-enviroment”, it’s been a challenge to choose which photos to use – and that’s good. Other days, the camera(s) don’t even get turned on. What’s wrong with us?

Our photo for the day was taken outside Clyde’s Willow Brook Farm at Broadlands, VA. You may recall we had brunch there Sunday morning (Sep 28) with Kathy and Gary when the fox hunt got canceled due to wet ground.