First & Last Stop

This Memorial Day weekend I went on a little road trip along highway 42 here in NC. Love driving through the backroads. And highway 42 in particular. Some parts along it makes you think time stood still for at least a little while... So I passed this old gas station. And just had to stop to take a closer look.

All the little details the building still showed. Like what was there to love at one point, as it was written In big red letters on the wall? Someone must have painted that on the building for a reason. And then the name of it. First & Last Stop? Thought it was funny. How can a gas station be your last stop? Isn't it supposed to get you further anyway? That alone made me wonder.

At least they had some Coca Cola while you were on your "First and last stop". And bait and tackle, let's not forget those! You wouldn't ever want to be without that right? Especially on your last stop.

I didn't know the place at all, but I'm sure it has provided some special memories to people that were living in this area at a certain point in time. And like all memories.... We don't remember days, we remember moments.

 

Twins!

Meet Nicki & Sammi


Two cute little twin sisters!





With some great laughs.....



And such a joy to work with!

Grace

Meet Grace. Grace is getting married this Summer and her mom needed some pictures to announce the wedding in the newspaper.

So I took some profile pictures of her not too long ago. It was great meeting her and she is going to be such a beautiful bride in July!

Close your eyes.....

Real, real tight...... And when you open them, you have become....... A butterfly!

This weekend I went to the Raleigh Arts festival called Artsplosure. I think Raleigh's festivals are fun to visit, but this one especially. Artsplosure gives me an international vibe. All of a sudden you hear different languages among the people around you. Quite the change from the familiar and always welcoming "y'all" version.

When ever do you see someone playing his piano on wheels in the middle of a busy street crossing? I mean not often right?

Or a blushing mermaid being sculped by her artist? I am telling you it is special.

Colorful people and beautiful sights....

 

Although being a creative artist can be exhausting.

When I just parked the car I saw that there was a circus tent right in front of the Raleigh auditorium. Not a real big circus tent, but still of decent size. Around it were all the familiar RV's and there I saw a man and his dog. They were practising their act. So I stopped, as it was a fun thing to watch. He had the dog jump through a hoop, which he was holding himself. I asked him if I could take a picture. And got an OK from him by him nodding his head. Great! But besides that, he showed his trick a couple of times more. Nice! That's how you please the photographer. The circus had big signs saying that it was all the way from Italy. So I asked him if he was Italian. But told me he was from Germany. So I said in my best rusty German that I was from Holland. He looked up and gave me a big smile..... And then started talking Dutch. Awesome! Didn't see that one coming. Ok, they might not have been the kind of words you want to repeat in front of a big audience but it was so funny. We exchanged some Dutch/German words from there. Still funny! So there you have it, the German guy traveling with an Italian circus through America and speaking Dutch. How more international can it get?

Just lovely my dear.......

When I went to Duke gardens a few weeks ago, I noticed that they also had an enormous amount of peonies planted. At that time not in bloom yet. So really I had to go back, because I just love peonies. Besides roses & hydrangeas that is. They come in that order on my favorites list too. And yes indeed, so true. I really love the "drama" flowers. So I took my chances this morning and drove up again. And ah..., they were so beautiful!

As like walking in one of those old English gardens somewhere in Cotswold. They all had the signs of an high tea just waiting to happen. "Just lovely my dear"....

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.  ~Gerard de Nerval

Spring trip to Sullivan's island

This week I went on a short trip to Sullivan's island near Charleston.

There is a little boardwalk along side the harbor which I love.

This friendly and a bit nosy pelican was also there.

Somehow seeing pelicans around me, gives me the ultimate vacation feeling. It means I'm near water and near warmer temperatures ;-)

Even spotted some dolphins in the harbor, that probably were hoping to get some leftover fish from the fishing boats.

Sullivan's island beach in the early morning.

The dogs had a great time on the beach since they are allowed to go off-leash there at certain times a day.

Some of the other visitor's on the beach.

 

There were a lot of Sand dollars to be seen at the beach that morning. And there was me thinking those are very rare shells to find. Not on Sullivan's Island at least.

 

On the way back home the GPS really had a hard time to get back on the I95. And kept directing to all these backroads of backroads. So we ended up passing through a town called Lakeview. Which, as the name suggests, had a really nice lake. Although, more of a swamp if you ask me. It would be the perfect spot to film a very scary horror movie there!

Right at the edge of the lake there was this old cabin. Which said it was from 1870 and was called Page's mill Pond.

The wooden deck had holes and big cracks in it, so did not take my chance to stand on it.

Very mysterious place don't you think? After this little town the GPS suggested to take a right on Chicken road and then a left on Turkey Branch (Seriously! :-) ) and then the first right was I95. Just had to laugh about that! But made it home safe again.

 

Trip to Pungo lake in NC

Last weekend I went to Pocosin / Pungo lake here in North Carolina. The photography club of Holly Springs went on a trip to this beautiful nature park and naturalist Mike Dunn would be our guide for that day.

And just minutes after we entered the park Mike spotted a corn snake in the middle of the road and he managed to block it before it got away. So we could take some pictures of it.

Impressive creature right? Have to say I am not used to snakes of this sort and size at all. Where I'm from the only snakes that live in the wild are called worms and those are a lot smaller! Seriously! I am not a snake fan, but getting this opportunity that close? Couldn't resist. The photographer in me won over my fear of snakes.

After a few seconds the snake wanted to get away from us and took an even more impressive pose. So I did enjoy taking pictures of him but was happy to be using a nice zoom lens.

We were hoping to see some bears that live in Pocosin, but while driving around we did see some very nice wild flowers like the yellow thistle. And below the cinnamon fern, which does justice to its name. Loved it's color.

Also saw some very interesting scenery.

And unused roads full of wild flower

But then Mike saw the first bears of the day in a field. A mom and two yearlings!

I was so happy! We did see some bears! But it even got better!

More bears in the marshes.

What an experience! Thanks to Mike we ended up seeing 19 bears that day! Wow! What a beautiful day this had turned out to be.

Mike also spotted a Nutria rat and an otter. This day kept getting better and better!

B.t.w. if you really like nature and/or photography you should check out Mike Dunn's blog. Which is full of great information & beautiful pictures! You might even be interested in going to one of his future educational trips he has planned for this year. And see all that nature has to offer yourself!