52nd annual Mountain Laurel Festival in Clarkesville, GA - May 17th, 2014

"A flower's appeal is in its contradictions — so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance, so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect." ~ Terri Guillemets

I went from February to August to June and now I am back, or up, depending on your following of my blog, into May. All this cold weather is making me dream of warmer days, or hallucinate. A few days ago I was walking around in a tee and shorts. Today, I am bundled up like it was Christmas - even wearing my Christmas sweater, not the ugly one, the gift one.

While cleaning files, I ran up on this photo of the Mountain Laurel Festival, and thought, "Wow! Pretty soon our yard, mostly filled with mountain laurel, will be ablaze in pink and white. And with the Mountain Laurel Festival just around the corner, it must be almost spring!"

I did not take a lot of photos at the festival, but I had a great time enjoying my first trip back in 10 years.

Happy Almost Spring!

No, those are not Mountain Laurels in the photo.

Now, what is wrong with the below photo?

I saw the goof in this photo before I took it, but decided not to move the plastic cup on the railing. Doesn't take much to mess up a good photo.  However, if I had been taking this for the newspaper, I would have had 2 choices: 1. Wait until someone moved the cup, not an option when on a deadline. 2. Shoot the photo as it now appears. Why? News photographers are not supposed to tamper with photos. Remember the award winning AP photographer who took a combat photo and photo-shopped another cameraman's photo out of the photo?  He lost his job.

BTW, I attended my first Taste of Clarkesville event this past Fall. I took no photos, but I was impressed with the event. I think this September (moving right along with those months, aren't I? Might as well keep my Christmas sweater nearby) will be their 5th year. Mark your calendars for September 27, 2014, and come on an empty stomach. Most likely, I will be camera-free again this year; I will need both hands to shovel all that food into my mouth.

Update: No, no, no...I have no more photos from last year. And no, I will not be taking photos this year - well, perhaps 1 or 2, for me. Habersham County is awash in photographers; they have you covered.  And yes, our yard is now full of blooming mountain laurel. No, I have not taken any photos.