Mag, which means Great! Amazing! and Spectacular! all in one word!

I thought it fitting that the sign, for such a beautiful tree, be in black and white. A green street sign will not work. And, here I have illuminated the red, stop light, so you take time to stop and look at the Magnolias. Just for the record I only saw one magnolia on Magnolia Street in Roswell, Georgia. Where did all the Magnolias go?

I began taking photographs in Brookhaven at 5:55 PM and finished at 6:37 PM in Brookhaven. I moved to three locations, which were all a few minutes apart. Here are my takes.

Christmas in March

Do you drive around to look at Christmas lights? Well, load up your car with the family and head on out down this route and count how many gorgeous pink japanese magnolia trees you find. In fact, it's only 1.26 miles, so walk it, so you can really enjoy the view. The route starts at Or ve Shalom Synagogue on North Druid Hills and ends at the Brookhaven Marta Station. There aren't any magnolias past the Brookhaven United Methodist Church; the church was beautiful with Cherry Trees. Pictured below on the left is the Cross Keys Elementary School. On the right is my interactive route.

View Larger Map

Beginning Gardening

I used to believe gardening to be an all or nothing adventure. My big yard was always overwelming. No more. Over the last few years, I have managed to make one or two changes to my yard each year. These changes have been successful for the most part, so they motivate me to try something new each year.

Last year I purchased five different varieties of irises and 3/5 bloomed. I checked back with the supplier and it was a fact that they all wouldn't bloom the first year. At the same time we planted a nice long row of tulips and they are coming up this year again too. But one of the best changes I made was to move my hydranga. They were originally planted in too much shade, so I dug them up and moved them. At the same time I bought 5 more to make a long hedge. All of the hydranga have new growth this season.

This year's experiment was to purchase ranunculus bulbs.I bought them a little late, so I am refrigerating them. We'll see how it all works out. I will plant them behind the tulips and remove a few pine tree sprouts after a large tree is removed from my yard.

The year before I planted several butterfly bushes. I only needed one, but it has taken off nicely and attracts lots of butterflies each summer. I notice that several of my neighbors have also planted butterfly bushes... I will add photographs a little later.

Flowers in Bulloch Hall

When I was a child, my mother took me to lots of historic places, and I didn't see the point then. And, I thought they were all rather musty smelling. But perhaps this gentle prodding is why I like art museums so much now.

The Roswell Photographic Society recently had a field trip to Bulloch Hall in Roswell Georgia. And, I dragged along a friend who is a history buff just to see what was inside. (I was secretly planning on taking photographs outside.) But quickly learned that for our upcoming exhibit the photographs must be taken inside. The image to the right is Flowers in the Window. The image below is Lace Flower.

So I set about looking for something I liked. It did not take long as I am crazy about flowers. I found plenty of flower images to take within the historic home. There were flowered handkerchiefs, flowered curtains, flowers on clothing...  Here are my two favorites from the group. And, yes, they were both juried into the upcoming show, which opens April 1, 2010. Learn more by searching for Magmoment Photography on Facebook.

Northside Hospital Preemie Knitting Project

For my daughter's bat mitzvah we are knitting and crocheting beanies for the premature infants born at Northside Hospital. We toured the hospital and learned that about 1,800 preemies spend an average of 3-4 months at the hospital gaining weight, lung and kidney functions. Because the babies are so small, there aren't a lot of clothes available and cute hats are a necessity to keeping the babies warm.

Please join us and send a beanie to us:

The Bergers
P.O.Box 72906
Marietta, GA 30007

I worked up a simple knit beanie pattern (use size 6 needles) and a simple crochet pattern (use a size G hook) (because my sister prefers crocheting). This knitting pattern is perfect for a beginner. You knit many rows until you get the hang of it and then add purling. I eliminated the binding off at the end. You just pull your yarn through and tighten instead of binding off.
We also took these samples to the hospital to check the size. The hats should fit an orange for a preemie. Click the Knitting for Peace logo on the left side of my blog to learn more about other possible projects.

Footnote:  We visited the hospital and have turned in the beanies, but can drop off more, so if you find the urge to knit for a cause, please send us/me your beannies and we will take to Northside Hospital in Atlanta.

Eric Clapton Concert a Contrast

Saw Eric Clapton in Gwinnett on Tuesday, and he did not interact with the audience, and I don't think I saw him smile once. I don't own any of his CDs, but found his music applaudible. He had four pianos on stage with two piano players. I would love to listen to his music without the bass... but the bass is his personal trademark and skill and success, so that would be ironic.

My favorite songs were the acoustic guitar songs: "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," "Running on Faith," and "I've Got a Rock 'N' Roll Heart." I also loved "Accuse Me" because it reminded me of eating at Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Rochester, Minnesota when I was young. There was lots of loud piano music on this song. Many were disappointed that Clapton skiped "Layla" in this concert. I did wonder after the concert if Bob Marley sang "Who Shot the Sherrif" first or Clapton. Turns out Bob Marley authored the song, but it is Clapton's only number one hit on his own. He took the song much further on the charts than Marley.

But the photography and screens really interested me during the show. There are photographs included in this review: http://blogs.pitch.com/wayward/2010/03/concert_review_eric_clapton.php.  Opening act, Roger Daltrey's video screens were projected in black and white with lots of fading, which was very cool. Clapton's screens mostly focused on photos of him. I was really interested in the 21 screens behind him that were interjected with color between them. The cameraman played video clips during two songs; one was "I've got a Rock and Roll Heart." They also showed his guitar in between the colors during the acoustic songs, but really didn't do much with these 21 screens besides add color to the background.
 
So, this show was quite a contrast between the last concert I attended, which was Taylor Swift. She totally utilized her five video screens (even changing her outfit), interacted with the audience and smiled one smile after another even during her sad breakup songs. Either Clapton has a lot of clothes that look alike, or he wore the exact same clothes in Kansas.

This review I include a link to says that it was okay because Clapton's guitar playing was flawless. According to Wikipedia,, "Clapton was ranked fourth in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the '100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.'" As I am not really into heavy bass, I was not that aware at the concert. But I did already add an album with his more mellow stuff on it to my amazon shopping cart . Which is the point of a show... to sell albums. So it worked on some level.

Etsy Treasury

Treasuries are fun to make and serve several purposes on Etsy. Treasuries are a great way to meet other sellers (through their treasuries and by adding new sellers to your own treasuries). I enjoy the challenge of pulling together 12 different artists' works and making the composition work. Treasuries last only 2-3 days.

Another reason to make a treasury is to promote a team on Etsy. There are many teams. I am a member of the POE (Photographers of Etsy) team, and this treasury is all POE photographers' works. This group is active especially in a forum on Etsy. Our team also has a monthly slide show on UTube.

Here I searched Etsy for purple poe art. I found most of these items by looking through pages of photos, but serached  "violet poe art" and "blue poe art" towards the end for a few more different items. I also added "not flower" because I had collected too many flowers. When creating a treasury it is important to have a variety of items, but they need something in common to keep them together. Keeping a color theme constant makes the treasury work best as a whole.

Kathryn Kolb Critques Motion Photographs

I learned a lot on Monday night during the Roswell Photographic Society's monthly critique. Kathryn Kolb pointed out positives and negatives about members' photos. Critique's theme was motion. Kathryn is a free-lance photographer living in Atlanta. She is also director of the new Serenbe Photography Center, located in Palmetto Georgia.
At the beginning of the critique Kathryn told us she would measure the images on the following:

Does it match the category (in this case motion)?
Does the image work or not?
Was it successful in communicating what the photographer intended overall?
Is this an image we've seen before?

Interesting enough there were many shots of "moving water" presented that weren't good illustrations of motion. I haven't really thought about that, but it clearly made sense during the review. The water was frozen in time, so it did not show motion. Some of the best motion shots were of a girl swinging, a swirling coke bottle, a train leaving the station and movement through a car tunnel. Kathryn said the swirling coke bottle formed a circular read on the photograph, which keeps the reader's eye in the shot longer, which made it better.

One shot that stuck out to me was a basketball "moving" outside of a picturesque barn with elements of the barn in the image. Kathryn suggested this shot worked more as fine art than as a movement shot because the ball, though blurred in motion, really served more as a design element in an image that was basically "still life."

Kathryn spoke about the weight of the subject. She explained that the item of emphasis needs more weight in the shot because the areas within a photograph have different visual "weights" and that the item of emphasis needs more weight than secondary elements in the shot. She said, "When there are equal weights we don't know what you want us to focus on." She also added that people in the photograph add emotions to shot.

Here is one of my motion images titled "Before the Game," which was not in the critique. And, certainly benefits from my new found knowledge from Kathryn Kolb.

Color Negative in Curves using Photoshop

I loved this photograph on the left for many months before I knew what to do with it. I thought it needed a little punch, but I wasn't sure what to do. Recently, I hit upon the color negative feature in curves and loved what happened to this ordinary scene taken in Tennessee at my parents' farm. Now, this image titled Family is one of my favorite canvas works.

Picturing This: How to: Open Photoshop. Pull in a photograph. Click on the background in the layer panel. (Click on window/layers if layers are not visible.) Left click on the 'Create a new fill or adjustment layer' icon shown here with the red arrow. Left click on [Curves]. In the Curves preset box select 'Color negative RGB' and your image is reversed. I also played with hue and saturation to obtain the image on the right above. Show me your images, if you try this photoshop trick.

Picturing This is a new feature on MagMoment blog about art, craft and photography. This feature will delve into photoshop topics and also send other random art and craft tricks your way.

Weingarten Pallette Series' Links to Painters

Lumiere Gallery hosted an amazing video conference with photographer Robert Weingarten on Saturday. Of course I was was right there taking notes. He spoke about his various series. I thought the discussion about the Palette Series would make for a nice post. These photographs were shot between 2004-2007. The works are close up photographs of contemporary painter's work spaces.

His original question was whether the palettes' hues resembled the location of the artist or weather of the day. He set out to discover whether there were any correlations. And, Weingarten determined their palettes were pretty random, artists painting what they wanted to paint. View their photographed palettes at Lumiere Gallery or on Weingarten's website.

I thought it would be fun to look at the paintings behind Weingarten's palette series artists. Here are the links to some of the painters he specifically mentioned during the video conference.

Jasper Johns
Ed Moses
Richard Estes
Chuck Arnoldi
Eric Fischl
David Salle
Robert Kushner

Also, pictured to the left is my palette. I use styrofoam plates and popsicle sticks to mix my paints together.

** Send me your palette photo at hazel at hazelberger dot com by March 1st and I will include in an upcoming post with your shop link. **

Lumiere has Weingarten on View Now

What a fun stop on my way home! I rushed into Lumiere Gallery to take some notes on the current show and ended up spending almost one hour. I had a  nice chat with Tony Casadonte @LumiereGallery on twitter. Tony is the Gallery Director and very charming, yet down to earth.

But back to the Robert Weingarten show, which should not be missed and is in Atlanta at Lumiere Gallery until March 20, 2010. The works are for sale and range in price from $4000-$50,000. The smallest is 11x14" and the largest 40x60". The links below are to Weingarten's site and inlcude more work than is at the gallery. The works at the gallery may not be on the site as well. The links are just meant to inspire and motivate you while giving you the flavor of the photographer.

At Lumiere there are
15 photographs from the series 6:30 AM
13 black and white Amish photographs
13 works in the palette series
11 images from the landscape as a symphony series
2 images from Portrait Unbound the new exhibit at the High Museum. (which I will review next)

As a special highlight, the gallery is hosting a video conference with Weingarten on Saturday, Feb. 20 from 1 -2 PM. This will be a nice opportunity to learn more about photography and the artist.

By far my favorites were in the 6:30 AM series. The sunsets were all about color and clouds. These 15 works were all taken during 2003 from Weingarten's home in California overlooking the Santa Monica Bay. I am so jealous! His series stems from Alfred Steiglitz's coment that "no photographer should travel anywhere for a picture if he cannnot find one close to home." Of course, Weingarten can take a beautiful, breathe taking photograph from anywhere. I imagine...

My thought and recommendation has always been to take the photogaphs in your own yard because no other photograph lives there. Your yard/neighborhood can become your niche or in to the world of photography or any medium.

No Time to Stuff Shells

Last night my daughter requested stuffed shells. I only had a few minutes to prepare dinner though, so I improvised with this original creation. It uses the ingredients for stuffed shells without the work.

No Time to Stuff Shells
by Hazel Berger

Cook penne pasta (or another small pasta) according to package directions. Do not overcook. While the pasta is cooking, mix together the following:

2 eggs

1.5 lb ricotta cheese

1/2 C grated parmesan cheese

1 T dried parsley flakes

1 T dried basil

1 t salt

1/4 t pepper

Cover bottom of steep casserole dish with ricotta mixture. Pour drained, cooked noodles on top of ricotta. Cover with the following in order.


1 C mozzarella cheese
1 jar of Prego Heart Smart Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic 26 oz jar mixed with 1/2 jar of water
1C mozzarella cheese
1/2 C parmesan cheese

Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Cover casserole with tin foil, if cheese starts to get too dark.

NCAA Lacrosse Duke vs Bucknell

I attended my first lacrosse game this weekend. It seemed faster than football and soccer. But the ball was hard to find in a player's cage. The game kept my interest. Duke and Bucknell seemed pretty evenly matched as the game was officially tied until an overtime was played. Duke scored in the sudden death playoff and won 12-11.

Each team had 10 players on the field at a time. There is a white/pink colored ball about the size of a tennis ball that is tossed around with these sticks pictured. Three players guard the goal in addition to the goalkeeper. Three attack the opponent's goal and three midfielders play the whole field. These college teams were made up of about 40 players each. The game seemed agressive, but not that physical. The four quarters went by quickly. This game was played at McEachern High School and the stands were fairly full for it to have just snowed in Georgia and all other activities at the cobb county schools were cancelled.

Impressions on our Children

Last night I attended a play in Atlanta titled "Brownie Points" written by Janece Shaffer at the Theatrical Outfit downtown. The play tackled motherhood, friendship, race, history, dealing with our pasts, anti-Semitism, class lines and being nice all in one and a half hours. Yes, Janece did an amazing job of making it work. But what was her message? In my mind, the play was heavy. After a long day of children and working, I wasn't really in the mindset for thinking. I believe that plays and stories in general are more effective when the message is less obvious. There seemed to be message packed into every line. Yet, she and the actresses (They were amazing!) did their job of making me think.

After the show, the audience, facilitated by Gail Evans, Georgia Tech professor, discussed racism in our society today. So, I will write about my own African American world. My son is very curious about black people and busy learning about rap music. He studied rap's history and has filled me in on the battles of the east coast and west coast. But the impression I have (through his information and his radio stations) is that two major figures in black history today think they are above the law. In that both T.I. and Lil Wayne, major players in the rap world, have/are going to serve time for possession of weapons. These aren't people I want my children knowing or associating with (white or black), yet they love the music. I'll admit Dead and Gone (T.I.) is catchy and enjoyable. But, T. I. is singing this song because he is going to jail. It's interesting to note here that also Tiger Woods and Michael Vic have not set the best examples for our children of late. (I acknowledge there are plenty of negative actions by white major players (Bill Clinton and  Bernard Madoff) as well, but since we are white, I am speaking about the black impressions my son is experiencing right now.)

What would I do if I had the ear of so many children? But better yet, why aren't our children interested in other things? Like going on a brownie, girl scout, cub/boy scout or 4-H camping trip?

My youngest had George Washington and George Washington Carver mixed up and thought our first president was black just recently. Think about this. What a great idea that our 1st, not the 44th, president was African American. What a different world we would live in! Perhaps Janece's point and question is what to do about all these negative impressions on our children. Maybe this is why the camping brownies were missing from the production. Hopefully Barack Obama (and Michelle) will set the solid example for our white and black children and white and black adults.

"Brownie Points" is running through Feb. 28, 2010. Take a look. http://www.theatricaloutfit.org/.

Do YOU care?

It's that time of year when caring is paramount. But caring should be part of our EVERY day. This is one of the challenges of parenthood. Raising children that care. How to teach it?

This is my latest that I created around caring. I love making treasuries because I can make a statement with other people's artwork. I did add my Adopt a Pet plaque because I am so crazy about my dog I found recently. I did not want her to go to the pound, so I brought her home. What a good choice! But it was a caring one.

Children learn from example and setting them daily is the best way to get the lesson across. But first of all I make it a point to be caring in my relationships. I care that my daughter forgot her sleepover bag and was willing to take it to her. I care that my son forgot his homework and drove it to school. I care that my youngest is sad and try to discover what's up through caring conversation. I care that my son's team is playing and go to basketball games. Give it a shot.

Lemons and Tangerines Treasury

My poster sketch was saving my treasury I forgot to capture as a jpg and post here. Found it today. Just for history's sake. Here are the artists.

This treasury is made up mostly of poe team photographs.  I searched Etsy for "POE Team yellow' and "poe team orange." It's amazing what you can find. Etsy must be a decorator's heaven because they are so looking for a certain color this or that.

There are two treasuries on Etsy. One is the West Treasury and one is the main Treasury. The West has 222 treasuries at a time and the Main 333. Once they fall below these numbers we can add a treasury. Only one per artist.

John Mariana Speaks at Roswell Photographic Society

This past Monday John Mariana presented highlights from his two books to the Roswell Photographic Society's members. John showed us many photographs and illustrated the before (photoshop) and after versions of many shots. One of his suggestions was to darken the corners of the photograph using the burn tool.

I didn't realize that you can really change a photograph in camera raw before bringing it into photoshop. He showed us the sliders on the different screens within raw. Pictured to the right is a flower photograph that I altered only using camera raw. Not bad... I will note that you cannot view the photograph without the "layer" if you don't have layers, so this means you have to start over if you can't remember what you did to the photo.

Another tool John pointed out was the ability to change the color within the photograph using the targeted adjustment tool. This looks cool and could save a lot of time pulling out highlights in shadows for example. He used many other buttons duing our meeting, but I think it might be easier to buy the book then decifer my notes.

Southeastern Flower Show Opens Today

The SE Flower Show opens today and I am so honored to have four images in the show. But best of all, I have received a third place for my image titled Joy, pictured to the left. And, two of my flowers, Waltzing and Spring received honorable mentions.

The Flower Show is Thurs., Fri., and Sat 10 AM until 8 PM at the Cobb Galleria. There are 105 images in the photography exhibit, chosen from 400 submissions. It was judged by Larry Winslett and Marianne Lambert. Following is the list of winners.

P-6 - Landscape

1st Phyllis Hlavac Middle Prong River - Best in Show!
2nd Tom Query Forest Primeval
3rd George Bradfield Grand

Honorable Mentions:  Kim Bates Trunks and Shadows; David Dennard Tree; Gail Stewart First Light

P-9 Flowers (this class is double the size of the others)

1st Alan Thiese Night Blooming Cereus
2nd George Bradfield Bud & Bloom
3rd John Enslow Bedazzled

Honorable Mentions: Hazel Berger Waltzing; Hazel Berger Spring; David Foster Backlit Tulip; Valerie Gruner Coneflower; Rita Songer Poppies; Murphy Townsend White Tulip; Murphy Townsend Orange Dahlia; Brad Wilson Cypripedium parviflorum; Anne Wisgo Interlude

P-11 Travel

1st John Mariana Tyrolean Village
2nd Anne Wisgo Caution
3rd Leslie Clements Margarita Island

Honorable Mentions: Leslie Clements Zapote; Roy Gordon Tuscan Landscape; Jerome Roberts Ghosts of the Past

P-13 People and Other Critters

1st John Clemmer Wet Hawk
2nd Pamela Keene Maasai Elder
3rd Hazel Berger Joy

Honorable Mentions: Kim Bates American Icon; David Dennard Dog; John Enslow Waipu'ilani; Brad Wilson Thread-waisted wasps

P-12 Water Features

1st. Jennifer Clements Naples Botanical Garden - Most Creative Image!
2nd Debbie Paulding Cypress Party
3rd Roy Gordon Biltmore Reflections

Honorable Mentions: Karen Beedle Fall Ripple; Al Levine Flow; Gittel Price Water Crystals


P-16 All Things Green

1st Meg Dreyer Untitled (Green 2-for i.d. purposes)
2nd Brad Wilson Froghouette
3rd Ted Maloof Swampscape 3

Honorable Mentions: Kim Bates Beyond Green; Brad Wilson Green Tree Frog

David Akoubian Judges RPS Critique

We had a great judge last night, Jan 25, 2010, at the Roswell Photographic Society's (RPS) monthly critique. David Akoubian was very succinct with his comments and funny. He is a nature photographer and holds many workshops. Visit his website at http://www.bearwoodsphotography.com/.

I learned a lot during the evaluations. David said, "Photography is painting with light." His strongest recommendation was to buy a polarizing filter. He suggested adding a filter to most of the water and sky shots. His pet peeve was not to leave some space between the edge of the photo and the subject, many subjects were cut off. There were many sunsets to judge last night, and he said that the sky should be the richest element in the image. To meter for it, he suggested metering for the brightest spot and opening up one stop.

David said our goal was to pull the viewer in visually and emotionally. He suggested verbalizing what we are doing before taking the photograph. David said, "I edit before I release the shutter."  Because the eye goes to the brightest thing first in the photo, this needs to be the subject or be toned down.

From the RPS photo review and David's comments, it seems like it would be smart to take one of his workshops.

Five Quarts of Delicious

Created this last night and it was so good thought I would share.

Five Quarts of Delicious
Recipe by Hazel Berger

1 lb+ ground sirloin
parmesan cheese, shredded
fresh spinach leaves
angel hair pasta
Prego Heart Smart Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic 26 oz jar
2 C Mozzarela cheese
1/4 C shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400°. Brown the ground beef in a 5 quart oven safe dish. Rinse and drain the meat and return to the pan. Cook the angel hair pasta as directed. Drain and add a little country crock to keep noodles from sticking together.

Cover the meat with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese in the 5 quart pan. Add a layer or two of spinach leaves. Layer the noodles on top of the spinach. Add half of the jar of sauce carefully covering (but not rearranging) the dish. Add water to the jar and mix with remaining sauce. Cover the rest of the dish with the sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarela cheese and then top with parmesan.

Bake at 400° for 25 minutes. Check to see that the cheese does not burn. Cover with tin foil if it gets too dark. Cool 5 minutes.

Serves 4-6

Robert Weingarten Exhibits to Open

How exciting that Robert Weingarten has two photography exhibits in Atlanta, at the same time, opening next week. If you are in Atlanta, don't miss these photos.

Lumiere hosts The Road Less Traveled Jan. 23 - Mar. 20, 2010
The High Museum of Art exhibits The Portrait Unbound Jan. 23 - May 30, 2010

Weingarten's landscapes are amazing and full of color. The American was born in NYC in 1941. The photographer's website is http://www.weingartenphotography.com/. Lumiere Gallery sells his work in Atlanta.

After I view these exbibits I will update this blog entry. Can't wait!

Peaceful Easy Feeling

There are days when peace is elusive. So, I created this Etsy Treasury to the right this past week. It will expire this morning. You can find the link in my shop. Like everyone, I do stress about things sometimes and in the last few years I have learned that singing (of all things) and knitting are two easy things I can do to relieve stress and help me find peace.

I love country music and play it full blast and intentionally sing (even though I am not in the mood) when I am mad or sad. This helps a lot because I have to totally focus on the song.

Knitting is repetitive, so that the flow of the project and focusing on the steps help me relax. For years, I felt I needed to go to a gym to relax more, but working out is not for me. BUT, I didn’t need to.

In the end, the best relaxation, stress reducer has been the dog. She is still a puppy. This is her most recent photograph. I adopted her about 5 months ago and what a pick she was. (Although, she picked me by showing up at my mother’s farm.) There are days I can’t believe I found such a good, smart dog. Tennessee is helping reduce stress by getting me to walk at least once a day. She actually pulls on my jeans at the hem (kind of a tug of war) to get me outside on a walk. And, my sweet dog is always there with a friendly hello and lick whenever I need a break. You can adopt a dog in Atlanta at Petco. Their next adoption is Sat., Jan. 16th.

The Treasury above (a collection of 12 items for sale on Etsy that I fit together through color and theme) is titled “Peaceful Easy Feeling” after the Eagles’ song. You can find these items on http://www.etsy.com/ by searching for the name under the photo.

Georgia Aquarium Creates Photo Op

Thanks to StarCreations for the push to take my camera to the Georgia Aquarium. It was fun!

This is one of my favorites "Through the Looking Glass" to the right.

This fish below had the most personality...

And, then there were these... definitely took the most photos of these guys. This is titled "Mystery Fish." I love how they moved back and forth like they were on stage in the rockettes line up. They also created very nice diagonal lines for me. but this shot is cool because of the overhead light.

New Year's Day Hike

On New Year's Day, we traveled just west of Calhoun, Georgia to visit Keown Falls on John's Mountain. The hike consists of two loops: a moderate 1.8 mile loop to the falls and a more difficult 3.5 mile loop hike up to the view the valley (mileage according to Highroad Guide to the Georgia Mountains.) This area is in this book on pages 38-39. The hike to the top was harder, and there were many times I thought my heart was going to race right into an attack, but I survived and even declared "That was FUN!"

I have not hiked much, so this is a great blog to bookmark as I begin hiking. My preference is to bike, but it is too cold to bike in the winter. I cannot wait to return to Kennesaw and John's Mountain in the Spring looking for flowers!

But the best part, of course, was what I was able to do with my camera. I did wonder out loud if there were photographers who hired people to tag a long on hikes to carry the camera. I would like this...

(And, I was looking forward to a day of knitting in front of football. But... I did knit in the car back and forth.) This hiking spot is about one hour northwest of Atlanta. The guide books says that the waterfalls may be dry in the summer, but that wasn't what impressed me, obviously.

Walk in the Woods

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield is just waiting for exploring. The battle of June 27, 1864 left behind  many earthworks to explore. Now there are many trails on the mountain. The park is just 3 or 4 miles off of highway 75 at Barrett Parkway just north of Atlanta. We went hiking with the puppy on a leash this past weekend. What a great family outing! Here is my treasure from the trip. Just listed on Etsy.