glorious weekend . . .

I love weekends. It sounds kind of silly when you think of it ... I don't work and Todd doesn't work a traditional 9-5, 5-days-a-week kind of job, so you might be tempted to think one day was pretty much just like the next for us, but no. Weekends are football and family (because our son and son-in-law do work more traditional hours) and worship and activities at the camp . . . yup, I do love me weekends!

This weekend we've got a group coming into the camp for a fellowship supper; it's a returning group -- they come out in the spring and fall, and they're always fun and *always* bring great food and invite us to eat with them! And then tomorrow, my sister and her family arrive for the WEEK!!! I'm so excited! (Oh, and with that tidbit of news comes the caveat that my posting for the next week *may* be a little slim! Maybe not. We'll see.)

So we're getting ready to head out and be busy and get things spruced up around here. In the meantime, I did have some things to share . . .

Sawyer's first finger painting. I wish you could see the huge grin on my face when I see this! Doesn't it look like he just had a blast?!? And I love the fall colors, too! I can kind of see a turkey in there . . .

I told you last weekend that all the kids were up here; Jason was taking pics for Kim and James for the Christmas cards. He captured some great shots, like this one . . .

Aren't they a darling family?

Sawyer had a really great nap that afternoon. It makes a world of difference when you're taking his pictures after 4:00 pm! Of course, his favorite Aunt Jocelyn was there helping, too!

I love this one . . . walking in the tall grass! It's so sweet how nicely he holds hands!

And this one is darling, too!

And a great transition to this one . . .

Funny, funny story on this one -- it evidently took a whole lot of attempts to finally get this one. Every time James would lean over to kiss Kim, Sawyer would have a fit and start kicking his feet and waving his hands. Jocelyn said it was hysterical to watch! Finally they were able to get one where it actually looks like Sawyer's grinning as his daddy kisses his mommy. So sweet -- but a lot more fun if you know the background story on it!

Okay, so thanks for indulging me in sharing one of my favorite things ... family. I'm off to get busy!! Have a happy Saturday! (Oh, and ROLL TIDE!)

:)

the trail less taken . . .

This last weekend was quiet up at the camp. We didn't have any picnickers or campers which was a shame, because the weather would have been just glorious for such activities. Todd was on shift Saturday, so it was a very quiet day for me -- especially since Joc was having a lovely, quiet weekend on the lake with her hubby and in-laws. I didn't mind ... I enjoy my peaceful quiet days every once in a while! But I also didn't get out into my beautiful surroundings. I'm not confident in going down the front steps (or really, coming back up) by myself on crutches. If something were to happen ... well, I don't do it, so I'm not going to think about it!

Sunday, though, after church, Todd and I loaded up in Easy and headed out for a perimeter check of the camp. Our first trek was down to the lower meadow and into the Hidden Path trail. Todd had a purpose . . .

Yeah, I wouldn't have understood what he was doing either, if he hadn't told me. He'd bought a buck rock, and wanted to plant it in a path where he was pretty sure he knew deer were crossing.

[Added Note: A buck rock is the same thing as a mineral rock. It's similar to a salt block only it's made of salt *and* other minerals/nutrients that deer need, and it's shaped like a big ol' rock. The deer up here much appreciate finding these!]

How'd he know? Ah ... the mighty game camera, strapped to the tree. We have them all over the place through the camp. He checks them regularly and even moves them around. It's been an interesting (informal) study!

We'll give this buck rock (↑ directly above) a couple of weeks to a month and then check and see if the camera has captured anything worthy of reporting!

From there, we headed down to Serenity Pond. Todd had purchased some floating fish food and wanted to throw it off the dock for the little fishies!

It was a *gorgeous* day, and the sun was absolutely brilliant!! There was a bit of a breeze, too. If you look a the surface of the pond above, you can see how ripply the water is as the wind swept down from the hill, over the surface. Again, gorgeous!

I loved this shot -- the sun was so bright, it nearly completely washed out the color from the trees on the hillside.

But look how green the reflection is in the pond! Those were mostly evergreens and firs on the hillside and they did look so green and beautiful -- but you can only tell if you look at their reflection!

From the pond we came down the High Ridge Trail and up the back side of the drive. As you come around the (very steep) curve to the pavilion, there is a limb that hangs over the road.

It's a little hard to see in this picture, but this one will give you perspective for the next one. The limb is about 20' long and has been hanging there like that since before we moved out here in November, 2009.

Todd told me that the Disaster Relief teams that comes out here and trains (and helped us clear trees after the tornadoes in the spring), called that branch a 'widow maker'. Because you never know when it's going to go or who it's going to catch when it does.

It's a big ol' branch. I can't believe all the wind and storms and tornadoes we had out here in the spring -- and all the trees we lost -- and this branch maintained it's hanging position. Crazy! I watch it every time we drive under it. LOL!

Speaking of downed trees and tornadoes, the trail that took the biggest hit was the north end of the High Ridge Trail. We could travel that trail from the road to the pond, but much past that, and it was impassable. We had a group come out to the camp in early October -- Challengers from Whitesburg Baptist -- and they were able to do what even the guys from the Disaster Relief Team wouldn't touch. They cleared the entire trail, with the exception of one uprooted tree. We blogged about their visit over on the Camp MACOBA blog HERE. These young men did a phenomenal job, and had a good time doing it, too!

So Todd and I started from the camp ground end of the High Ridge Trail and followed it to the last block. Ummm, yep, the trail is definitely blocked! So we turned around and I snapped a quick shot so you could understand all the work that had to be done to get us as far as we got!

It was a twisted, tangled mass of huge trees all over the hillside and the path there. These trees didn't come down in the big tornado storm of April 27th, but actually came down a month later, when a freak storm hit us in the middle of the night. I'm fairly certain an F0 or F1 came right over our heads and continued East. This trees down on the trail are due east from the RV. It was crazy!

Of course, this trail has the most extreme ups and downs of any of the trails. And my day wouldn't be complete if I went touring around the camp on Easy, and Easy didn't have some problems. Which of course, he did. At the bottom of the hill on the High Ridge Trail -- we still had a ways to go, too! We let him sit for a minute and then he chugged along like a champ. Whew! That would not have been pretty!

From there we stayed on level land and headed up to the upper meadow. The farmer who owns the adjoining land had his cows up in pasture.

This lovely bovine was quite interested in me. I do love cows. I don't know why.

This bunch of shrub berries caught me by surprise! I'd never seen them before, and there were a lot of them!

I don't imagine they'll last long -- the birds will be enjoying them, no doubt!

And then we headed back . . . home sweet home!

I felt welcomed and happy to be back, for sure. Time for a hot chocolate!

Yesterday was a working day ... lots of administrative stuff. Today my Joc will be here. Yay!! So I'm off to be in it!!

:)