Making the Loop

Today Aj and I joined our great friend, and fellow artist, Gene Albritton on a scenic drive. The goal was to take pictures and enjoy the beauty that God had laid out before us. Mission accomplished! Here are a few photos from our journey. Enjoy!

I will start with what Gene called "the new growth". There were so many beautiful flowers and plants! We could have filled up the camera in one spot! Here are some violets. So small and simple, yet still so beautiful. And in three wonderful colors! I'm glad to know God likes variety as much as I do!

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We nearly drove pass the trillium. I noticed one so we stopped, then we stumbled into an entire patch. The ones with pink in the middle were new to us, we had to look them up upon our return home. Very exciting!

Sweet White Trillium (trillium simile)

Painted Trillium (trillium undulatum)

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Here is a neat plant that we found as we were collecting jewelweed. It is known as Common Jack-in-the-pulpit. (Note: We use the jewelweed to make salve for poison ivy rashes and bee stings.)

Arisaema triphyllum

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These are baby ferns, also known as fiddleheads. Unfortunately, we were too late in the season to collect them to eat. I wasn't sure about their edibility, so I sent a picture to a friend who would know. He said they were too mature thus too high in carcinogens to eat. Maybe next year!

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Here's the undisclosed road where most of the pictures where taken. The perfect amount of sun and shade!

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My favorite thing about North Carolina is how much bigger all the bugs are compared to my home state of Georgia.

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Sometimes when you want good pictures, you have to take the road less traveled. Sometimes it isn't a road at all.

Gettin' right down in it.

Aj, aka, Camera 1 (I think you can see Gene in the mirror!)

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These are the last three pictures of the journey, on our way back to civilization. Too bad we couldn't just stay out there.

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Like I said, it was a great day and the company wasn't bad either! Can't wait to do it again. Maybe next time we'll just take the tents!

-Liz Nance

Pictures by Gene, Liz and Aj!