I’m normally very wary of insects, especially ones with stingers on their backsides. The quest for a good shot seems to have deadened my instinct to flee, and instead I find myself pushing in as close as possible, ignoring the buzzing around me as the bees and wasps circle my head, moving from flower to flower. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a macro lens!

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Visit my photoblog for another WW, with easy Photoshop tutorial included!

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I read about Wordless Wednesday with a Twist at Andrea’s blog today. I love WW anyway, and I thought it might be fun to participate with a theme. Unfortunately, finding out about it so late didn’t leave much time for scouting vintage objects to photograph. What it does give me is an opportunity to feature some interesting images from our recent visit to the Smoky Mountain National Park.

I had an amazing high school English teacher. One of our assignments was to make a grave rubbing, the older and more unique, the better. This involved taking a large piece from a roll of white paper, holding it across the front of the headstone, and rubbing a crayon, pencil, or piece of charcoal across the front to make an imprint. Mine was made somewhere in Louisiana on a family trip, and I’ve been fascinated with old headstones ever since.

While visiting Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountain National Forest, I found this tombstone in the cemetery behind the Primitive Baptist Church:

The history of the incident can be found here, a tragic story of a father and son who found themselves on opposite sides in the Civil War.

The park has areas designated as “Quiet Walkways.” Our family spent a delightful afternoon on one of these. At one point our thirteen-year-old son climbed a small hill and veered off of the trail. When he rejoined us, he told me that he had found two graves. I really can’t describe the feeling when I topped that hill, but as I later told my husband, it was intense. Two gravestones stood in a clearing backed by a low stone wall. Upon closer inspection, however, I realized the clearing was full of small, unmarked stone headstones.

A Google search turned up this page about Vance Newman, so now I know the cemetery we found is called Cole Cemetery.

I also posted a new photo with vintage style on my photoblog.

If you subscribe to this blog, I’ve had some feed issues lately so please check your subscription. It totally disappeared on Bloglines.

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I garden in spurts. Perennials are great because they just keep giving, year after year; it feels like my money and effort are well-spent when I plant them. I’m a bit of a tomato snob and only like the fresh ones from the local farmers’ stands instead of the pitiful variety you find in the grocery store, so they’re in my garden, too.

This morning I found the first little cherry tomatoes on the vine!

It sounds like this is a good year to grow your own. We have four plants - two cherry tomatoes and two regular - but one plant died and needs replaced.

When we moved here nearly three years ago, I transplanted a hydrangea from our old house. The first year it was inadvertently sprayed with a heavy dose of weed killer and last year it was hit by a late frost. These are the first blooms we’ve seen in all that time.

Last year we planted a little gardenia. It’s so small that you have to squat way down on hands and knees to smell the blooms, but I look forward to the day when its perfume will fill the air. We had large gardenia bushes at our house when I was expecting our eight-year-old daughter and the smell was rather overpowering during the queasy stage of early pregnancy.

Lily was too busy to stop and smell the flowers.

Who knew a magnolia could be so downright whimsical?

I wasn’t sure what to call this, but discovered a website that describes the evolution of a magnolia blossom. I’ve always wanted magnolias, and we planted two small trees in our yard this year.

I got all carried away and posted another WW on my photoblog.

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FYI, really long post titles (250+ characters) wreak havoc on your feed; I managed to destroy mine for a week until a little googling revealed my mistake, which was easily fixed by shortening the feed-offending title.

Think blogging is good for you? So do scientists. Neat, huh?

Check out this path that draws and calms you on my photoblog.

Is this actually a daisy, or just a cute little weed?

Today is my 2-year bloggiversary!!!

I spent a beautiful afternoon at Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountain National Park, relaxing and taking photos of the family, landscape, and assorted insects and creepy crawlies along the way.

Toward the end of the loop, however, we came across this:

and not 30 minutes later there was this:

Maybe I took the “get the shot” mentality a little too far when pursuing the bear, but I certainly wasn’t the only one. The camera-toting crowd seemed to feel safety in numbers, or maybe we bought into some group mentality that those wild bears wouldn’t think of us as afternoon snacks. Whatever the case, I got the shots (although they’re really not very good, which means I didn’t go too crazy chasing the bears, right?).

Please leave a comment and say hello on my bloggiversary, and check out this beautiful shot from today on my photoblog!!!

Yesterday I sat outside reading and periodically taking pictures of my kids. One of the books I’m reading now is The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby, and I’m currently in the middle of the chapter on photographing people. When I was looking at my shots, I realized that I need to work on one important tip he gave: focus on the eyes.

I’m not sure if you can really appreciate it when looking at these photos which are reduced to 450px wide, but the difference is striking at larger sizes. In the first two shots, the focus is on the eyes:

In the next two, it isn’t:

These shots were taken at the cabin we’re renting on vacation. I love the shot of my daughter behind the heart cutout in the chair, but I’m definitely going to shoot it again later and make sure the focus is on her eyes. I just thought I’d share this tip in case it helps you improve your shots, too.

Check out this shot of my son shooting pool on my photoblog and let me know what you think of the point of focus in that shot.