Rose and Lavender

From my Better Half after His Gardening Work

Papercut, Reflections

Six inch square. Cut with tiny scissors.

Purples and Frolics

Purples

Look what flew to my house this week. Thank you, Sarah Y.

Last of summer gladioli.

Frolics

This has been keeping me busy this week. She is very well mannered, but does love to cavort when turn out.

Christ Church Cemetery

A wonderful ending to our visit to Christ Church on St. Simon's Island was a walkabout through the cemetery that surrounded the church and contained many interesting connections to the books of Eugenia Price.

The cemetery is very old; the oldest tombstone dates to 1803.

Many prominent family names of the island are found here.

There is a little plot where the main characters of Price's books are laid to rest.

 They were not mere fictional characters, but real people who led lives here on the island. Here lies Anson Dodge, his first wife buried with him, and his mother...

 Anson's second wife and sons.....

A reader of Beloved Invader will recognize many other surnames in this cemetery. Eugenia Price portrayed many of the real inhabitants of the island in her books.

Born in Scotland, 1759; Died in Georgia 1850.

"Endowed with a fine intellect

A cheerful and amiable disposition

and most liberal

and benevolent feelings

His long life was devoted

to the duty of rendering himself

most acceptable to his creator

by doing most good to His creatures."

I wonder if he worked his way into heaven??

In life she was loving to all

And in death her love is not forgotten

For her

Her husband doth safely trust

Seraphs guarding, angels and

arch-angels waiting

Loved ones now saints- departed,

waving welcome.

Made glorious her coming into

the city of our Lord

For it is written to him that overcometh

will I grant to sit beside me at my throne

"Oh death where is thy sting?

Oh grave where is thy victory?"

There must be an interesting story to the ornament on this grave...

It took some searching for Alyssa and I but we found the resting place of author Eugenia Price.

Have you ever pondered your epitaph? What would it say?

A Special Place on St. Simon's Island, Georgia

Finally, a long over due post about a noteworthy day during my visit to Georgia last May.

Georgia is an endlessly interesting state with a very long history. The last of the original thirteen colonies of the New World it has many sites of colonial history to visit. I hope to post about some of those stops in the future. 

Georgia is on the eastern U. S. seaboard and has a coastline that includes sandy beaches but also marshy, brackish waterways and many islands. 

These areas of marsh are called "Golden Marshes" for the beautiful color of the grasses.

Alyssa and I visited a number of coastal islands and this was the type of scenery as we crossed long bridges from island to island.

When I was a teenager I read a number of books that were set in this area of the world. I remember a strong desire to visit this place that was so different from the woods and cold winters of where I had always lived. This place in the books, Georgia, was stiflingly hot and humid. It grew trees draped in growths of spooky spanish moss, something my imagination couldn't conjure. I dearly wanted to visit but to my teenage self it felt equivalent to wanting to visit the moon.

Gone With the Wind was one of the books I loved that was set in this place. There was another series of books written by the author Eugenia Price who lived on one of these Georgian islands and wrote fiction that was based on the history of her home - St. Simon's Island. Price was a talented author who vividly described the southern culture and marshy island setting of her stories and gave me a strong desire to visit that place.

Imagine my excitement when one day I was actually driving (a short distance really) with my daughter to spend some time exploring St. Simon's Island!!!

I had somehow forgotten about the details of Price's books until we were actually arriving on the island. My brain brought back the memory of a church that was important in the stories and I began to wonder if that church actually existed. While my daughter and I discussed what to explore on this island and did some internet research I found a tourist marker for Christ Episcopal Church. Was that the church of Price's novels?? 

My heart began to beat faster as I realized what I was about to find. I had forgotten the story and details of the books I loved so much in the three decades since I had read them. But as we pulled the car up to the church I knew that I was about to walk into the books I had loved so much years ago.

 The original Christ Episcopal Church was built in 1820 but was destroyed by Union soldiers during the Civil War. It was later rebuilt by a man named Anson Dodge in 1884. Eugenia Price's novel Beloved Invader tells the story of this church and the life of Anson Dodge.

When I left on my trip to Georgia, I found my old battered paperback copy of Beloved Invader and threw it in my bag, thinking that a trip to Georgia would be a good time to revisit the story. I had not yet started to read it when we visited St. Simon's. But I did bring it along on our tour of the island (and read it completely again soon after).

 The church is filled with beautiful stained glass windows. This one, with the church's history, greets visitors as they enter.

 This one depicts the Rev. Anson Dodge in memory of his founding of a home for orphaned boys.

 The church is so famous that it is open daily for visitors. We were greeted by a current pastor who told us about the long history of the church and described its features. There were a number of other visitors there that day also.

The wood is noteworthy as it is native pine and all original to the rebuilding by Anson Dodge.

The many stained glass windows depict Biblical scenes as well as historical scenes of St. Simon's Island. 

It is a humble church but well appointed.

This is the choir area.

The baptismal font.

 The humble pews, all original.

These windows depict the history of the ministry of Charles and John Wesley in the area.

Anson Phelps Dodge came from a wealthy family. His father had a mill on the island in the early nineteenth century. This is a marble bust of Anson when he was a boy and is in the back of the church.

How many times in one's life can a person walk through the real historical setting of a book? I have never done it before. Even looking at these pictures again now, I'm moved by the thrill of doing so last spring. The stories in Price's books are those of life- love, learning, loss- but so lovingly and vividly described by the author as to feel one has met the characters. To go where they lived the story was truly special.

There are many places on the internet to read the long history of this old, old church. A good place to start is here, the church's website. 

Practices and Hikes

From Leah

Watercolor practice. I was told I'm doing good! It's pretty fun and takes patience. :)

This is a painting in progress, of a picture I took at the Oregon coast. My painting teacher wanted me to do another landscape and so I chose a water scape. I think we're planning on making a wave but we might just finish this up and move on.

This was a "finished project" of the illustration thing I was doing. I don't like the colors, but it turned out ok and was satisfying to the teacher so that's fine with me! That's what ya get for last-minute homework!

From Sarah

Homework mishmash again -- sorry. That is pretty much how my brain sees the stuff right now anyway, haha.

Just keep swimming... IT'S ALL GOOD! XD

Refreshingly, though, I took an awesome hike this past week. The view was fabulous, the company was good, and the fresh air and exercise was needed (a little too much for all at once though, haha).

Gorge-ous! XD I love it...

I'm still waiting in apprehension for the soreness and stuff to catch up with me... but it's not really happening??? Weird. Maybe saying so online will jinx it into showing up.

Okay, I'll stop rambling now. It would probably help if I got some sleep tonight. I was accidentally up until three yesterday...

Actual footage of my brain this week -- jk I'm not THAT crazy...yet lol

[So, I feel like my posts are getting more and more random, and odd, and scary?? Please let me know if I'm getting out of hand, or if the stuff I put up is super not enjoyable to go through at all and my bits of words feel like a chore to read... 'Kay? Thanks! :) ]

P.S. The GIF is from the movie Meet the Robinsons.