Month: March 2023

(Fort McAllister is a Georgia State Park in Richmond Hill, GA)

During a short stop here one year ago we started the self-guided tour of the fort. The admission includes a 12-minute movie and a small museum too. That day a strong north wind blew and the temperature remained low. In spite of the sun we froze. In addition, every time we attempted to open the brochure to read the history for a marker, the wind blew it closed and one time nearly blew it away. We abandoned the walk for the indoor warmth of the museum and movie, and loved both.

This visit we tried again, on a sunny, warm day just after lunch. The easy to follow self-guided tour took us over an hour at our leisurely pace. The interpretive history is very well done, telling the story of this fort through the Civil War and the directions guidepost of guidepost take you along.

Admission with the self-guided tour, movie, and museum is $9.00 per person, less for seniors and youth up to 17 years old. There is also an admission fee to the park of $5.00, with hiking trails available and a playground.

The long lens on my camera did not work for many shots. Karl took numerous photographs, including the ones here, enjoying the scenic areas and great natural lighting.

I stepped out of the RV our first morning and saw the sun about to rise. I grabbed my camera and hurried across the campground road, through the small park, and to the pier. As I walked to the pier I saw a painter already at work, and another photographer on his way. Whispering a quiet “good morning” as I walked behind the painter, as not to startle her or disturb her from her work, I walked out the pier. I took photographs but also just watched. Scanning the sky for birds flying by, watching the morning light as it hit the trees behind me, one day catching the full moon before it set.

This remained my morning routine for over a week as we camped at Fort McAllister State Park in Richmond Hill, GA. We chose a campsite facing the creek which we admired on a shorter trip to the area. Usually someone joined me on the pier in welcoming the new day, some days a couple with their camera phone, other times a family heading out fishing, only one day just me.

Perhaps I make it sound too idyllic. The gnats, midges, and various assorted other flying insects plagued those of us there at that time in the morning. The painter had to start a new canvas that first day as the insects embedded themselves in the wet paint on the first canvas as she worked. We all suffered in semi-silence, waving our hands frequently to disperse the cloud of them gathering around our faces. But it was worth it, and wonderful to be traveling again. We made big plans of long trips, staying only a couple of days in each location, hitting the road for thousands of miles as in the stories of our fellow campers, but find we prefer to stay long enough to get to experience an area. So for now our range remains the southeastern U.S.

When we moved into this house we found many things left from prior residents. Broken, old, or both described most of them. Three planters with dead plants lined the driveway, the soil completely dried out and the plastic planters weathered to brittleness. We planned to toss all three when I noticed bulbs in one under all the dead vegetation. Two went out, that one I moved to the back of the house near the porch and out of the direct all day sun. There it remained for the past two months, untouched.

The plant never needed my less than green thumb. After a few weeks in the new location, leaves started to grow. I asked several gardeners to identify the plant, none knew. A few days ago as I stood on the porch looking into the distance and enjoying my morning coffee a red patch caught my eye. It soon blossomed into a beautiful flower, with many more to follow based on the new growth. I tried a few standard flower shots, but none captured it properly.

Georgia O’Keeffe is one of Karl’s favorite painters and photographers, and I recently paged through some of the books we have on her work. It inspired me to try a similar view with our new flower. It definitely captured the deepness of the red, darkening almost to black, in the center.