Glory Along The Natchez Trace Parkway

On a recent trip to the Nashville area to visit our son, we traveled up the Natchez Trace from Clinton, Mississippi, to the Terminus near Franklin, Tennessee.  The Trace is such a beautiful and peaceful way to travel, and I highly recommend it if you are not in a hurry. The speed limit is 50 miles an hour and is strictly enforced by Park Rangers, but there are so many interesting and scenic places to stop along the way, that you probably won't mind driving a little slower.  We passed several deer and turkeys along the roadsides and stopped at several of the mile marker posts which feature historic sites, beautiful pastoral scenes, and serene creeks and waterfalls.

One of our favorite stops on this trip was at Milepost Marker 404.7, a place called Jackson Falls, named after, who else, but Andrew Jackson.  [You can click on the map to enlarge it]

Although viewing the waterfalls requires a 900-foot walk down a paved, stepped down path, I think it was well worth the effort (even the return trip UP the path) ... as you can see in the pictures below.  At the bottom a bench welcomes you, as does a cooler atmosphere, and many flat rocks to jump across to get a close up view of the falls.  

We were the only ones there at the time, and I spent a pleasant 40 or so minutes enjoying the serenity and mesmerizing sound of the water cascading over the falls and gurgling over the rocky creek bed.  I did my best to capture a little of the beauty of the moment with my camera, but it is something you have to experience for yourself to really appreciate it.  

I hope you enjoy my pictures and, if you are ever traveling close by, I encourage you to take the time to visit Jackson Falls.  I think you will agree that it is well worth the detour ... and the climb back up the path.

  

A "cave" and small waterfall "terrarium" along the pathway ...

God's glory never fails to inspire me.

 

This old gnarled cedar tree stands next to the path, its twisted limbs worn smooth by weather and time, a sculpture created by God Himself ... greeting visitors to the falls.
  

 

 

I invite you to join me next time to read about another one of my favorite stops ... a picturesque place called Grassy Cove, Tennessee.

Fire and Water

This is what I saw outside my kitchen window at twilight yesterday ... The underwater lights had just come on in our waterfall, and I couldn't resist capturing the red blossoms of my Bougainvillea plant against the dark background of the Little Gem Magnolias and Azaleas behind the waterfall. I love the contrast between the flowers and the rocks and water, which were bathed in golden light and reminded me of fire. Best wishes to you for a weekend filled with unexpected pleasures like this one.

The Beauty of Icicles

I'd like to thank our gracious hostess Susan, at A Southern Daydreamer, for taking the time to host our "Outdoor Wednesdays."

This time of year is an interesting time to share our outdoors, and I hope you will visit Susan and her friends to see their posts.

The last couple of days, we have been having very cold temperatures here in Mississippi, and yesterday afternoon I noticed some icicles around the waterfall in our courtyard. The temperature was around 34 or 35 degrees, but the icicles were in the shade, and had just begun to melt when I captured them with my camera. It is truly awesome to see, up close, the exquisite beauty of a simple thing like ice on rocks. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them if you'd like.

Waterford and Swarovski will never come close to creating crystal as magnificent as God's crystal!

Even though the waterfall was beautiful with its glaze of ice, I can't wait 'til spring when it looks like this again ...

I know, I know ... wishful thinking ... winter is just beginning, and we've got a lot of cold weather to get through before then. In fact, we have a 70% chance of snow forecast for later in the week.

If the weatherman is right, perhaps I'll have an opportunity to get some pictures of our "snow-covered waterfall" to share for our next "Outdoors Wednesday." Hope to see you then!

P.S. -- When I looked out at our waterfall this morning, I was delighted to see a new accumulation of even prettier icicles than the ones from yesterday afternoon, so I grabbed my camera and got these shots to add this post. If you look closely at the right side of the last photo, you can see a drop of water just beginning to fall. That was my lagniappe for the day!

The Beauty in Your Own Backyard ...

This is my first time to participate in "Outdoor Wednesday," graciously hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. I invite you to visit Susan's lovely blog to see more posts featuring the great outdoors.

---

I spent yesterday morning driving around Vicksburg, taking pictures for a future post. When I got home, it occurred to me that I could probably just walk around my yard and find interesting things to capture with my camera (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them, if you'd like).

I started my tour in our courtyard and took this shot of "Henry," our blue heron. My parents gave him to us for Christmas, and he seems to be quite happy there by the waterfall ...

And my little girl statue looks pretty, even though the plants around her are in their "winter drab" mode ...

I quickly discovered that "winter drab" has a beauty all its own, as shown in these Crepe Myrtle pods ...

The Crepe Myrtle shadows seem to creep along this wall ...

Even this "Corkscrew" plant growing in our pond is interesting ...

I love the way the water mingles the colors of the rocks in the bottom of the little stream that connects the waterfall to the pond ...

Last summer my mint plant got out of hand and I had to cut it back two or three times. It's very hardy and continues to pop up in the flower bed, even in freezing temperatures. Isn't it pretty ... and so green!

One of my favorite evergreen shrubs is Sweet Olive, and we have several planted in the front and back yards. It has delicate little flower clusters which give off the most heavenly scent ...

I discovered this beautiful little Yuletide Sasanqua hidden under some leaves. If you click on it, you can see a single drop of dew ...

I see my sun wind chime has "weathered" to a nice rusty patina ...

This is my favorite picture ... it's a knothole in the fence behind our house.

I tried to get a photo through the knothole of the trees behind the house, but I needed to be a little taller (oh, okay ... a lot taller) to get the camera to focus properly.

I forgot to show you my yellow pansies planted in urns in the courtyard. If you look closely at the first picture, you can see some kind of bug on one of the blooms, which I didn't see until I was editing the pictures ...

This is a little clump of wildflowers growing beside the fence (some people would call them "weeds," but there's no way those delicate little blue flowers could be weeds!) ...

I was happy to see my Louisiana Irises poking through the pine straw and leaves ...

Here is a picture I took of one in bloom last year ... doesn't it look like a miniature Fleur-de-Lis?

I hope you enjoyed my walk around my yard. I had fun discovering (and uncovering) its winter beauty, and was amazed that it was right there all the time ... in my own backyard.

I would love to see the beauty in your backyard -- even if it's covered with snow.