.....enormous loveliness...........

Just discovered (again) a very good thing about digital pictures! The camera records what day!!! And now that I'm worse than ever at keeping track of time and days, thank goodness I can look at the pictures I took and they will tell me what day they were taken! Sooooo...............

The day after going to Locust Fork we drove out to Trussville. (Cool name!!) we had to take a car to the Elders so theirs could be fixed. I wish I had started taking pictures of cemeteries when we first got here. They have some of the most enormous old cemeteries I have ever seen! We drive by one nearly every week on our way to church and I wish I could just take an afternoon and wander through it. I also find myself wishing I could photograph it for "1,000,000 graves".......oooooo........that would be a mammoth project! But so cool!!!!! Anyway.........I digress.........

After dropping off the car and Roger was driving so I was free to gawk--which I do whenever he drives. We drove past an old cemetery and in it the most enormous magnolia tree!!!!! A huge tree by any standards! But a magnolia!!!?!?!?? I would love to see it in bloom! We drove in at the end of the cemetery--onto the grass but obviously where people park to walk into the cemetery. It's there, behind the other trees.........

Roger drove really slowly so I could take some pictures from the street. While I like to find a "good shot", I am also a lazy photographer. If I can stay in the car, I will. Besides, I didn't know how much time we had to spare and he had already turned around for me. Such a patient man!

You can tell I wasn't really paying attention to the "form" of the photo..........as I cut off the top of the tree...........I remember saying I couldn't get the whole thing in the picture. But now I see I have plenty of the rock wall! :-)

Thursday warmed up really nicely and we determined that we had time to go walk around "Star Lake". It's really a drainage "lake". They built a dam above the golf course, so now the neighborhood has a lovely little lake with the requisite geese and ducks--even a magnificent pair of swans. When there has been no rain for a couple of weeks there is quite a large "beach" area for the birds. No people are allowed in the water. I hate to imagine how dirty it is! Anyway........it's a lovely little place for a walk. We have gone there before and I have told you about it. Well........Thursday night was spectacular!!!! It was not anywhere close to this yellow..........in fact......there was no yellow at all!

 It was all pink and lavender like these pictures..........and there are two of them.......just because I like them both and I can...........

 There are lots of geese and ducks there. It's fun to watch them stand straight on their heads. At least, I think that's what they are doing, as their tails are straight in the air! And they can hold their breath for an unbelievable length of time! You can see the wake of one lone duck swimming across the lake and the ripples catching the colors of the sunset. So lovely.......... We were a little later last night, and before we got in the car, most of them had tucked their beaks under their wings as they floated softly on the water...........

I get more and more convinced these are bald cypress........but probably because I don't know anything else they could be.......not from a vast knowledge of trees, but out of my limited knowledge! I'm excited to see them begin to put out their new spring leaves.........I wonder what they will look like? ...........Yeah........Roger was wondering what in the world I could be taking a picture of!!!