spring woods

i took a walk by the river and there was chartreuse everywhere. love this time of year!

photographs and words by rebecca wood

dead lakes

we just returned from an inspiring beach trip to cape san blas florida.  one day we headed inland and explored. my daughter has always loved (and me too) cypress forests.  we both love how the water is like mirrors, and the trees are the perfect homes for little forest fairies.  they always seem to allow our imaginations to run wild!  

we were obviously pretty excited to stumble upon the dead forests in wewahitchka.  we just marveled at their stillness for an hour or two and my daughter may have seen a fairy or two!

photographs and words by kristen bach

overcome by thorns

lots of times, when you spy an old house on the side of the road, you can't get to it to explore because it's gotten so overgrown. usually privet and thorns are the culprit. gradually, the house will get taken over, and then covered up by vegetation. probably a nice habitation for animals!

photographs and words by rebecca wood

sharecropper's cabin

i've spied this old cabin for years sitting out in a field. i finally decided 'what the heck', and went down the dirt road to take a look, even though it's on private property. there was a 'for sale' sign, so i figured it was okay.

this sharecroppers cabin is so classic, and so in a southerners' d.n.a. , it tore at my heart. there's just two rooms that share a fireplace. one room for cooking and living, one room for sleeping. there would have been an outhouse. no sign of plumbing or electricity. it used to have granite stairs that have since fallen down. inside, the walls and ceilings were whitewashed to brighten it up. deserted long ago, it's gradually becoming one with the field it sits in, like an old tree, existing silently.

danielsville

i headed north one day and stopped to admire the lines of this old church. no sign to say what denomination it was or when it was built. nothing left to do but admire it.

photographs and words by rebecca wood

foggy woods

Spring is getting close around here, but last week in the woods, it was foggy and misty...everything was quiet & muted...

words and photographs by rinne allen

shed

someone told me where to find this old shed. it was under some pecan trees a little ways out of town.

it was like a miniature salt box, but so tiny. it could have been a stable, but the porcelain door knob made it seem more like a home. maybe it was a combo. anyway, i couldn't get past the briars to look in the open window in back, so i'll just have to keep wondering...

photographs by rebecca wood

thailand: khao sok national park

khao sok national park in southern thailand is a hidden gem that i am thankful to have experienced. the park is home to the oldest evergreen rainforest in the world, as well as dense caves, emerald green lakes, and massive limestone cliffs. the park rangers live in these floating shacks for a couple weeks each month and commute by bamboo raft, complete with a diesel motor rigged onto the back.

old oglethorpe

a friend told me about this old house. the insurance people said they had to tear it down, but the owners don't want it destroyed. now it's looking for a new life somewhere, though there's not much life left in it. everywhere inside was evidence of trying to keep the cold out. layers and layers of whatever people had; wall paper, plastic, linoleum, tar paper, carpet, whatever. i've frozen to death in enough rustic old places to know what that's like. now it sits dark and cold, peeling all its' layers in silence.

old church

this is the old beth-salem presbyterian church in lexington , georgia. it was built in 1785, before lexington was even a city. then, it was a far outpost into indian territory by presbyterian missionaries.

i've always loved its uneven spires. enjoy.

on the side of the road

i had never noticed this one before, but someone put a road in next to it and so it was uncovered. i love the picture of the old house next to the freshly torn up red clay. this one had the classic floor plan: a central hall that led to a covered porch out back. the two front rooms were 'fancy', as in plaster walls and an amazing blue ceiling in both rooms! i've seen another house that had the same plaster walls and blue ceiling. how pretty it must have been, back in the day! polished wood floors, white walls, and blue above. all looking out on green and prosperous fields… wish i could have seen it with the furniture they had in there.

words and photographs by rebecca wood

a week of favorites: books on country living

continuing our week of favorite books today with books on living in the country...

rebecca:
of course, foxfire books are a goldmine of old country ways and wisdom...everything from cooking to cures, and hogs to homes...filled with interviews with old appalachian people living on the land. this book on alex stewart is also a goldmine, but fewer people have heard of it. it's from years of interviews by a college lad, and has so many facts and ways of living you can hardly imagine today. fascinating, and i was so sad when it when it was over!

kristen:
lovely photographs by gordon parks that document segregation and southern history. 
:

kristen: 
rinne and i picked the same book....for different days.  this book holds photographs by william christenberry that capture the beauty of the south.  everytime i page through this book i am reminded of the landscape that i fell in love with.  several years ago i read an interview with him and he said something so perfectly, "i find beauty in what's old and changing, like we are all changing".  

rinne:
deeply moving images of the southern landscape.

rinne:
inspiration from the countryside.

rinne:
things to forage for in the countryside.

thank you for reading!

oglethorpe county shack

winter is a great time to drive around hunting for shacks. they are much more easy to spot once all the vines and weeds have died down!

this one is right near a grand old house that is well kept. nine times out of ten, these old shacks are full of hay, like this one was. still, good bones and stories to tell, if we could only hear them. mysteries and beauty are all that's left.

photographs & words by rebecca wood

winter scenes

it took a while for winter to arrive...we had milder than normal temperatures in december, as did most of the country...but, now winter is here, as evidenced by the frost outside and wilting camellia blossoms...

here are a few images from the beauty everyday book of past winters...we hope you enjoy the quiet palette and frosty textures...

photographs by rinne allen, kristen bach, and rebecca wood

muhly grass beauty

i was out at the bot garden and passed this beautiful white variety of muhly grass. it was actually a light celery color that was so pretty. i love how the pictures of this grass look like drawings or paintings. very energetic!

photographs and words by rebecca wood

florence, alabama

a few weeks ago, I took Rebecca and our friend susan with me to Florence, Alabama to visit Alabama Chanin...one day while I was working, they hopped in the car and explored all over the Shoals area, crawling around old warehouses and neat buildings, taking pictures. Here are a few things that susan found.

words by rinne allen, photographs by susan hable

approaching winter

a recent walk in the woods revealed a shift in colors to the bleached-out browns and grey-greens of winter...with only a hint of fall's color remaining...

words and photographs by rinne allen

cotton

autumn in south georgia means one thing: cotton. it was such a treat to see so many fields of white on my drive south to jacksonville. this one field in particular lured me to a pull over for a quick stop. with no other cars in sight, all i could see was sky, trees, and cotton.

photographs and words by kristin karch

neat pieces antiques

neat pieces in carlton, georgia is a true treasure. only 30 minutes outside of athens, it seems like you are driving to nowhere when all of a sudden, a big old building appears with loads of amazing finds. owner jimmy poss seems to know where every little thing came from, and he even showed me this amazing 1800's train car he is restoring. running into friends mandy and steve from 3 porch farm was the icing on the cake.

photographs and words by kristin karch

soft fall

we don't have so many maples and hickories like up north, so our fall is often more subdued, but no less gorgeous. check out these amazing color palettes! thrilling subtlety.

words and photographs by rebecca wood