Summer Photos

Even though it has been very hot here in the South for a few weeks,  Summertime did not officially begin  for us until this Sunday, June 21st.

It is so much fun for me to take my camera and try to capture some of life's moments with photos.  I also enjoy trying to capture some of the awesome beauty the good Lord has given all of us to enjoy.

I thought I would share some of the photos I have taken in the last couple of weeks as we enter into Summertime.  Often times when I walk around the yard I take my camera just in case I see something I want to remember ...

Our home in the early evening light.

I love ferns on the front porch, but our porch is so shaded I often have to take
the ferns and place them where they can get a little more sunlight.

I like the simplicity of this Dogwood blossom wreath with the pretty green bow.

The green paint on the door is called "Pine Green, " appropriately named because it is the color of pine tree leaves.  It is also the color of most of the green leaves of Summer.   All of the rocking chairs on the front porch and the back porch are all painted this color.

                                 Summertime makes everything so pretty and green.

 During the Summer months here in the South we often have to
water the grass, especially if we have a long dry spell.

If you look closely you can spot the fish pond all the way down the hill past the trees.

We planted this rose bush as seen in the below photo in the wrong place because it is a climber.  

We have to prune this Dr. Van Fleet Rose bush often or it would be everywhere.

Another blooming rose on the front fence.

   Mr. Blue jay often comes by for a visit and a bite to eat.  He usually brings lots of friends with him.

A pretty little wild rose growing in the front yard.

Yes, and this early Summer saw the graduation of two of our grandsons from 

high school, both at the same time. It was a fun "Congrats!" party.

Looking at these '2015' cookies makes me hungry ... 

Our daughter's friend made these for the party.

And, yes, we had another  graduation party for two of our grandchildren who live in South Florida.  They were graduating from 5th grade and going into middle school.  The local Publix Grocery Store made this very nice 'Congratulation' cake.

We visited with Grandson Connor who also lives in South Florida.  He too just 

graduated from High School this year.   This was his celebration cake.

These pretty roses were the centerpiece for the graduation party table.  It is amazing how two photos of the same arrangement can look so different.

The below photo shows up much lighter than the actual conditions.  It was late evening and I was trying to capture the lightening bugs that were flying around all over the place.  You really have to use your imagination to see them. 

And in the below photo I was walking down the same trail, again trying to get a good photo of the lightening bugs.  They were everywhere, but I only see a couple in this picture ... Do you see them?
Lightening bugs do always remind me of the joys of Summer.

I snapped this photo of the Angel hair fern which lives on the back porch.  I have had her for about 4 years and she always just barely survived.  Then I finally re-potted her to a much larger pot in the early Spring and now look how nicely she is doing.

Plants are like people I guess, they really need to be cared for in a kind and caring way.  I also give her a little Miracle Grow when I think she might need a little something extra.

She has tripled in size with just a little tender loving care.

Even though the raccoons get most of the corn each year I still planted the garden.  I do wonder how the real farmers are so successful and how they manage to keep the raccoons out of their corn.  Plus the other evening I saw Peter Rabbit hopping around the garden.  He too was looking for something good to eat.

The corn is just beginning to grow on the stalks ... always amazing to me how these miracles happen.

And another miracle as these tiny green peppers begin to grow.

And grow and grow.

And, the tomatoes too.

I planted the flat Italian green beans this year for the first time and they grow just as nicely as the regular green beans and they taste very good too.   We also have gotten a little squash from the garden.

I planted the mammoth sunflower seeds, but as you can see the flowers that are beginning to bloom down in the garden are not huge. 

To me there is nothing like a Sunflower in the Summertime!

As Mr. Kilmer said so nicely in his "Trees" poem, Only God can make a tree.  He could have added so many more things to that list,  including Sunflowers and vegetables in the garden.

True to Summertime it has been very warm here already, but we have had some nice rains to cool things off.  Hopefully those nice rains will be good for the garden as well.

I hope you are having a very nice Summertime also wherever you may be.

Symphony Show House In Atlanta, Georgia

The last time we traveled through Atlanta, Georgia we decided to take time to visit the local Decorators' Show House & Gardens.  This is a Springtime annual event and a fundraiser for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.  Each year leading interior designers from across Atlanta grace one of the city's beautiful estates with their designer talents.  Each room in the home has been decorated by a different designer.

Since 1970 this has been a very successful fundraising event, attracting thousands of interested folks to some of Atlanta's most amazingly beautiful homes.

We were interested in seeing this lovely home in Atlanta,  and of course,  I took my camera.  To my great surprise photos were allowed inside.

There were dozens of people milling around admiring the inside of this beautiful home making it difficult to avoid getting some of the visitors in the photos.

Symphony Show House 2015

These beautiful Petunias were planted in the large planters on each side of the stairway entrance.

This lovely home is called "Chateau Soleil," which is a French style estate located at 4701 Northside Drive in Atlanta, Georgia,  in the heart of the Buckhead area.

 

This amazing home was designed by renowned architect William T. Baker and is displayed in his book:   New Classicists:  American Architecture.

We enter into the twenty-six-foot-high domed marble foyer.

And walking to the right of the foyer we enter into this very colorful living room.

I really like the nice colorful pillows.  If you look closely they bring out the 

small touches of the same colors in the wallpaper.

And the painting on the back wall brings out the same colors as well.

I loved the ceiling color.  It too corresponds with the green in the other areas of the room.

Walking back into the foyer and going forward we enter into a very large and beautiful family room.

Everything in this room was so very nice.  This room was perfect for entertaining a large group.

Leaving the large living room area we move on into the dining room.

Blue is such a pretty and peaceful color.

And then, on into the kitchen ...

A desk area located at the side of the kitchen.

Walking immediately out of the kitchen we walk through what looked like another less formal dining room area.

And then we walk forward into another living room space with another beautiful fireplace.

    Walking out a side door from that living room we walked onto this peaceful and beautiful patio.

Looking down from the patio we could see the  beautiful woods, 

patio and pool area down below.

This is the first bedroom we saw.  It was an amazingly large room.

An adjoining bathroom area.

Walking into the next bedroom was a treat.  I loved the more traditional look of this room.  

As you can see there is lots and lots of blue and white wallpaper.

And walking from the bedroom we walked on into the master bathroom which had the same color scheme as the bedroom.  This was an amazing bathroom/closet area that was so huge.

There is something so pretty about monogrammed linens!

And more monogrammed towels on this luxury jacuzzi bathtub.

We walk from the huge bathroom area into the equally huge closet with many rooms.

Yes, this is still part of the closet ...

And this is also part of the closet.

These yellow roses were so pretty setting on a table with all of that blue.

From here we go upstairs for a tour of a couple more bedrooms.

The below photo shows another bedroom with a somewhat unusual look.

And then walking across the hall we enter into a more traditional Southern-look bedroom.

The room was very pretty with the blue, white and green fabrics.  

The monogrammed pillow is such a nice finishing touch.

Even the chairs and curtains in the bedroom had matching fabrics.

We walk to the left side of the room in this bedroom, and enter into this 

lovely bathroom with the old-fashioned bathtub and the more traditional shower.

What a beautiful view out the window from the bathtub!

Across the hall we enter into this very different bedroom.   

With each room being so very different,  it is easy to see that each 

room was  decorated by a different designer.

 On the wall behind the bed is what looks like a very old vintage 

prom-type dress or even possibly a wedding dress.

There was a vintage baby-bed in the corner of the room as well.

Framed on the wall across from the bed was this very old looking 

Christening gown with matching bonnet.

This was my favorite decorating idea in the whole house.

Adjoining this old vintage decorated bedroom we entered into a bathroom 

decorated with the same color scheme as the bedroom.

A very beautiful shower curtain.

And then down the hall we entered into this nice large laundry room.

Then we followed the back stair-way down to the outside of the home.

Walking outside we again could see the pool area.

In the below photo I was taking this photo from the backside of the pool looking up toward the house.
You can see the upstairs balcony where we had been standing earlier looking down at the pool.

This grand estate was built  in the year 1998.  It sits on two beautifully landscaped acres.  The home has 14,000 square-feet and is one of the finest examples of European-style craftsmanship in Atlanta.

The home has six bedrooms, seven baths, four half-baths, three family rooms and a separate library and study.  The ceilings in the home are 16-feet high.

It is always a treat to visit Atlanta, Georgia and to drive through the lovely neighborhood of Buckhead.  It is so nice to sight see in this part of Atlanta, driving along the beautiful rolling hills of this central Georgia city.

I hope you enjoyed taking the tour of this lovely estate along with us today. Just a note:  This lovely Show House is no longer open to the public.

Blessings to you wherever you may be.