Judy gathered up a lot of blossoms from our Hydrangea bush in our front yard and brought them in and arranged them in two different baskets. We have enjoyed their fragrance this summer as they stood just outside our front door. I found the display by the fireplace intriguing, and even more so, as I took the photo seeing that the background was nearly the same shade as the highlight of the blossoms. In reality, it is not. But something mimicked the color and added to an ordinary photo. Sometimes, maybe often, the photographer gets surprised.

I'm enjoying my new camera and exploring its capabilities. And I couldn't help noticing how the afternoon sun was lighting this hibiscus bloom and casting a shadow on the petals of the stamen. Even the stem appears to be radiant. it's all about light.

I typically try to avoid taking waterfall photos on sunny days. The contrast in the scene usually makes for a rather difficult exposure. So I generally choose to do waterfall photos on cloudy or overcast days. But I found this scene when we were in the Smokes last week as we hiked north of Tremont. I took the photo and admit that I didn't expect much, given what I had seen in the past. But the combination of the lighting through the leaves overhead made for a photo that appeals to me. I see a different energy in the picture because of the interplay of the bright light and the shadowed patterns.

Exposure 1.3 seconds, f/6.3, iso 100. I opened the shadows when I processed it in Lightroom, and tried not to blow out the highlights, which is challenging, given the lighting. Polarizer and neutral density filter used.

Today's photo is from the same parking spot as yesterday's photo in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is different beyond being a horizontal photo as compared to a vertical photo. The fog is different. It's in a different direction. It feels different. Photographs have an emotional as well as a visual quality. If the viewer experiences something beyond the visual, then the photo speaks. There are hints of fall color here, obscured by the fog. Change is in the swirling air. You can almost see it move. I hope you can feel it.

Last week we drove through Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was raining. It was foggy. We had just crossed over the overlook near Clingman's Dome (couldn't see anything, other than the road) and was heading downhill when I pulled off the side of the road. And waited. I got out of the car with my camera and watched the fog come in and dissipate. There was a possibility for wonderful pictures, if one is patient. The trees are always there, in the same spot. But it is a different scene each time, because of the quality and direction of light. Fog is even more fun, with diffuse, even light as it obscures and reveals and hides again. So there were dozens of photos as the scene changed as I stood in the rain. I must have been a sight. Other cars would stop, and the passengers would look to see what I was looking at, and they would shake their heads, and drive on. If they had just waited,...

We had two invitations, but we didn't go. One man even gave us a brochure and described it in detail. "The numbers are 5 feet tall!" he beamed. And the following day, our seatmates on the train couldn't contain their awe, and insisted that we visit the Fields of the Woods on our way back to our motel. "You'll be going right by it. Don't miss it." But we decided to skip the world's largest Ten Commandments as well as other superlative Christian symbols that were prominently displayed on a mountainside that had been cleared of all trees. And, here just one week later, the Old Testament lectionary lesson, Exodus 20:1-20, is the Ten Commandments.

By one count, there are more than 4,000 public displays of the Ten Commandments, and yet less than 10% of Americans can name more than four of the commandments. So much for memorization and prominent monuments, made of rocks set on a mountain of rock.

This photo is of a rock that when illuminated glows like a hot coal. This artifact may be a Cahokian Sun Effigy, 1000 AD.

This is "Freeda James", blooming in our garden on October 3. There are still a number of buds remaining that may bloom, if it doesn't frost first. We purchased several daylilies late in the summer with the intention of having a longer season. Although this flower is blooming in October, it may not bloom so late next year. But if it does, we will have daylilies blooming from late May into October. This is not the only one as "Autumn Minaret" still has blooms as well. And our maple trees are showing red and yellow leaves. Color everywhere.

Another puzzle from our trip along the Hiwassee River...

Tall bush, probably over ten feet in height, with yellow fruit and sharp thorns. What is it?

I wondered if the thorns were preventing me from being poisoned or guarding a delicious snack.

After an internet search, it appears to be Kei-apple plant. Apparently tastes similar to apricots. But it's home is southern Africa. In the late 1940's some kei apple plants were grown in California and Florida, but the fruit was difficult to pick with the large thorns and challenging to process. Some places have used it for a tall, uninviting, but fragrant hedge. So after we discovered what we think it must be, a new mystery emerges---what is it doing in southeast Tennessee? It was thriving along the river, planted behind an old church near Reliance, Tennessee. It makes me wonder who planted it there and how they came across the plants. Life is full of mysteries!