Georgia's Coastal Ghost Town

 Boat and bayou, Sunbury Road, Liberty County, Georgia.

A skiff lies abandoned on the bank of a small bayou in the lazy sunlight of Georgia's coastal Liberty County near the ancient village of Sunbury. 

Established in 1758 on the south bank of the Midway River, Sunbury soon became an important port city, even rivaling Savannah. Destroyed by the British near the end of the Revolutionary War, the town was later devastated by an epidemic of Yellow Fever and two hurricanes. General Sherman completed the destruction of Sunbury in 1864 and the place became a ghost town.

Sunbury Cemetery, home of the ghosts.

Today, a few people still live in Sunbury, along with its ghosts and its cemetery, the final resting place of many prominent citizens of Sunbury and Midway. It has been estimated that there were hundreds of burials in the cemetery, but only 34 grave markers still stand, the oldest dated 1788.

(Both photographs were made with a Canon EOS 5D Classic digital camera, one of my all-time best workhorse cameras. The lens used for both pictures was the Canon EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 zoom.)

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.50 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     travel      Georgia    coastal Georgia     Sunbury, Georgia     Sunbury cemetery      Canon EOS 5D Classic camera    Canon EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens

Remembering Life on Deer Run Farm

Deer in our backyard. Deer Run Farm, McLemore Cove, January 20, 2018.

It has been three years and two weeks since Louise and I said goodbye to Deer Run Farm. We are busy and active in our new life in Knoxville, but we often remember with fondness the thirty-three years we spent on our little farm in northwest Georgia's McLemore Cove. We named it Deer Run Farm because the deer ran through it every day. (The name was Louise's choice -- I wanted to name the place "Paradise Hill Farm. I guess you know who won.) But it was a good choice.

We don't spend much time on nostalgia, because even nostalgia is not what used to be. But we had a great life there. We were sorry to see it end, but everything has its time. We needed to move on to a new chapter while we were still able. Our two years of full-time RV living were great also, but again, it was time to move on. Now we're enjoying life in our new home in Knoxville, and I guess we'll stay here a while.

What do we miss about the farm? Well, the deer, of course. But I guess what I miss most is the cattle. They left in 2013 and the farm was never quite as much fun after that. I miss our two great dogs, Honey and Rusty, who both died in 2014. I miss the wonderful house we built, and I miss cutting and splitting wood to keep the fireplace going all winter. I miss mowing the pastures with a bush-hog, and in general I miss the openness and freedom of life in the country.

It was a great life, and we feel thankful and privileged to have lived it. But we are also thankful to be where we are now and look forward to whatever God has in store for us.

(Photo: Fuji X-T20 camera, Fujicron 50-230mm telephoto zoom lens.)

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.50 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     northwest Georgia     McLemore Cove     Fuji X-T20 camera     Fujicron 50-230 lens

How Do You Carry Your Camera?

Pencil of Light

  Or should I ask, "Do you carry your camera?" I can say in all honesty that I have never taken a worthwhile picture at a time when I did not have my camera with me.

Since 1969 I have almost never left home without a camera hanging by its strap over my left shoulder and cradled in my left hand. My family refers to it as my growth.

Of course, if I go out specifically for the purpose of making photographs I will carry more equipment. If I'm working on a book or magazine assignment, for instance, I will usually carry a bag with at least two camera bodies and three to five lenses. But one of those cameras will be out of the bag and over my shoulder where I can get to it quickly. On a commercial assignment I will probably be carrying four or five bags holding lights, light stands, and other gear.

My everyday carry camera these days is the Fuji X-T20. But over the years I've carried cameras as small as the tiny Olympus E-PL1 and as large as a Pentax 6x7. Which, as it happened, was what I was carrying one late afternoon when I was walking around our little farm in northwest Georgia's McLemore Cove. The setting sun was coming between two hills and casting a narrow band of light that almost appeared to originate at the little cattle feeder.

I wasn't out and about for the purpose of making pictures, but if I saw something interesting, I had my camera with me. I was ready. And that's the secret to making good pictures.

I say "secret," but truly,there are no deep, dark secrets in photography. There is no magic in buying newer and better cameras and lenses. As the master photographer Elliott Erwitt said, "All the technique in the world doesn't compensate for the inability to notice things." And, “Nothing happens when you sit at home. I always make it a point to carry a camera with me at all times." 

Great advice. And I practice it.

(Pentax 6x7 camera, 105mm f2.4 Takumar lens, and Fujicrome 100 film.)

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography     Pentax 6x7 camera     105mm f2.4 Takumar lens,    Fujicrome 100 film     Fuji X-T20 camera     Elliott Erwitt

Another Photo from Senoia

 

 The McKnight House, Senoia, Georgia

I was busy yesterday and didn't post anything, so here's a brief post for today. I'll be back Friday with another post on life, photography,or travel. Or maybe all three.

The neoclassical McKnight House in Senoia was built by Captain W.D. Linch in 1905 as a wedding gift to his daughter, Mary McKnight. 

If you look carefully, you will see that the front door is offset to the left. Legend says that's because Mary wanted to make room for her grand piano in the chamber on the right. 

The McKnight House is just one of many interesting things to see in and around Senoia. If you visit the town, pick up an Historical Tour brochure at the Senois Welcome Center, 68 Main Street. They're open Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. 

(The photo was made with an Olympus OM-D EM-5 micro 4/3s digital camera and the Panasonic Lumix G-Vario 12-32mm lens.)

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     travel     Georgia     Senoia, Georgia     micro 4/3s cameras     Olympus OM-D E-M5     Panasonic Lumix 12-32mm lens

Georgia Small Towns: Senoia

 

Main Street, downtown Senoia, Georgia.

Senoia first began to be settled around 1860. No one knows for sure how it got its name, but one possibility is that it was named for Senoya, Creek Indian wife of Captain William McIntosh.

Senoia is a center for movie and TV. Some well-known productions include Fried Green Tomatoes and Driving Miss Daisy, as well as The Walking Dead TV series.

Senoi’s historic Main Street has many interesting shops, including the Hollberg Furniture Store, in business since 1894. The 2020 census counted 5016 residents.

The Verandah Historic Inn Bed and Breakfast

An 8,000 square foot Greek Revival mansion built in 1906 as the Hollberg Hotel, the Verandah is one block from Senoia's Main Street. It is also an event venue. The granddaughter of a long-time friend was married there a few years ago, and the wedding breakfast they served was absolutely the best I’ve ever eaten.

Senoia United Methodist Church, built in 1898.

Senoia Methodist Church is still very much in active service. The building is considered by many knowledgeable people to be the best example of Queen Anne architecture in Georgia.

Starr's Mill, one of the most beautiful mills in Georgia.

The first mill at this site on Whitewater Creek three miles north of Senoia was built before 1825, but it was Hilliard Starr, who owned the property from 1866 to 1879, whose name stuck. The first two mills, both of which burned, were of logs. The current mill, built by William T. Glower in 1907, was in service until 1959 and at one time included a dynamo that generated electricity for Senoia. 

(Adapted from my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia.)

All the photos in this post were made with micro 4/3s mirrorless cameras. The pictures of downtown Senoia and Starr's Mill were made with the 12-megapixel Olympus E-Pl1 fitted with the 14-42mm kit lens. This was my first m4/3s camera. The Verandah B&B and the Methodist Church were photographed with a 16-megapixel Olympus OM-D E-M5 and a Panasonic Lumix 12-32mm lens.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     travel     Georgia     Senoia, Georgia     Starr's Mill     Verandah B&B     micro 4/3s cameras     Olympus E-PL1     Olympus OM-D E-M5     Panasonic Lumix 12-32mm lens

Rock City Barns on U.S. 129

 

Rock City Barn TN-36, U.S. Highway 129 south of Maryville, January 13, 1996.

I first photographed this barn in beautiful fall weather in November, 1994, then made the snow scene above on January 13, 1996. I liked the snow, but the book designer chose the fall scene. It's on page 67, if you have the Rock City Barns book.

Rock City Barn TN-36 on November 3, 1994.

The barn is located on U.S. 129 south, about four miles from the intersection with U.S. 441 south of Maryville, Tennessee. If you're traveling away from the 411 intersection your compass will say you're going east, but officially, you're going south because 129 is officially a north-south highway. Also, the barn is on the right side of the highway and well hidden by trees, so if you're going South (east) you won't be able to see it. However, there's an intersection just beyond the church sign you can see in the picture where you can turn around and get a view of the barn.

There's another Rock City barn just beyond this one, but on the left and easy to see. This one was also photographed on November 3, 1994.

 Rock City Barn TN-37. About 200 yards from TN-36.

At the other end of this stretch of U.S. 129 is Robbinsville, North Carolina and another Rock City barn. In between is one of the most famous (or infamous) stretches of highway in the United States -- the twisting, turning, winding road know as "The Dragon." Everyone should drive it once. If you drive it more than once you may need to talk to a counselor. 

Rock City Barn NC-11, Robbinsville, NC

I last photographed this barn in 2019 for an article in Blue Ridge Country magazine. It's looking pretty bedraggled, but still standing.

(The first three photographs were made with Canon EOS film cameras; the Robbinsville barn with a Fuji X-T1 digital camera.)

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    film photography     travel     U.S. Highway 129     Rock City Barns     See Rock City    barns     winter     snow    Fuji X-T1 digital camera     Canon EOS film cameras

Winter Just Got Here. . .

White-out at 8943 Wesley Place.

. . .and already I'm ready for it to leave.

All the talking heads said it was gonna snow, and snow it did. Nine or ten inches in our yard in Knoxville. Now they say it's going to be cold, and I believe them -- It's  nine degrees at 10:45 p.m., with a predicted low of two below zero. It's been quite a few years since we've experienced temperatures that low. Probably around 2012, as best I remember. That was a cold winter, and I remember burning eight ricks of wood in our fireplace -- all of which I cut, split, and stacked by myself.

On the other hand, we lived in Tallahassee, Florida when we were first married (Louise was a student at Florida State), and had a temperature of two below zero one morning in January, 1966. In a Florida house, no less, with jalousie windows, some of which didn't close properly!

Our son Rob says it was 24 below zero one morning in January, 1985 when he was a graduate student at UT. I checked, and that was the lowest temperature ever recorded in Knoxville. So it doesn't look like we're going to break any records this week, at least, and that's totally fine with me.

I cleared a small area in our front lawn for Georgia, our little long-haired Chihuahua, and she has taken care of business in a very business-like way.

I understand some people like winter. I classify that among life's mysteries. True, winter can sometimes be beautiful, but for myself, I can't wait for spring to come.

(Photo: Fuji X-T20 camera, Fujicron XC 16-50mm lens.)

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     winter     snow    Fuji X-T20 camera, Fujicron XC 16-50mm lens

Let It Snow!

 Rock City Barn TN-8. On U.S. 11, three miles south of Louden, TN, in Louden County. What's happening with the Rock City Gardens sign?

It's gonna snow! 

The weather-talking-heads on TV and radio are all a-twitter and a-twerp, as if it has never snowed before, and if it has, there has never been a snow like this one that's coming!

Actually, snow has been kinda rare recently here in northwest Georgia and east Tennessee (not counting in the Smoky Mountains, where they usually get some snow just because of altitude).

In the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and even into the '90s, snow was fairly common. When I was in school in Chattanooga in the mid-'50s to the early '60s, we could usually count on two or three snows of six to ten inches most winters. 

In the 1970s, those people who have a vested interest in controlling the populace by terrorizing us were warning us about global cooling and a new ice age. That didn't pan out, but fortunately (for them) things warmed up a bit and they were able to switch horses, as it were, and terrorize us with global warming, and later, with a fearsome pandemic that turned out in actual fact to be no more dangerous than the flu that goes around every year.

Rock City Barn TN-20. Putting out hay on a snowy day. U.S. Highway 11E in Hamblen County, Tennessee, 1.5 miles south of Bull's Gap.

When I was making photographs for the Rock City Barns book, I wanted to photograph some scenes of barns in snow. One winter day in early 1995, I learned that it had snowed in northeast Tennessee, so the next day Louise and I set out in our old Chevy Blazer (fortunately with four-wheel-drive) to make some pictures. 

We went as far north as Rogersville, where I got a nice barn-in-snow photo and we ate lunch at the historic Hale Springs Inn, built in 1824. We also found a number of other barns to photograph. All in all, it was a really cool day, if you'll excuse the expression.

(Like most of the photographs in the book Rock City Barns: A Passing Era, these were made with Canon EOS A2 film cameras and Canon EF lenses.)

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography     travel     Rock City barns      Rock City Barns: A Passing Era   Tennessee     Rogersville     Hale Springs Inn     Canon EOS A2 camera     Canon EF lenses

Georgia Small Towns: Chickamauga

The Gordon-Lee Mansion. James Gordon began building it in 1840 and finished in 1847.

This will be the first post in an on-and-off series about Georgia small towns I've visited.

The term "small town," of course, is relative. Compared to Atlanta, every town in Georgia is a small town. But some are smaller than others, and I doubt many of the towns I'll write about exceed 20,000 in population. Most will be much smaller.

I'm beginning with Chickamauga in Walker County, in the northwest corner of the state because I know the place well -- we had a Chickamauga address for 33 years, even though we lived 14 miles south of town in McLemore Cove -- and like it. We attended Elizabeth Lee Methodist Church there for a number of years, and Louise was Music Director there twice: 2003-04, and 2013-16. 

Chickamauga is a friendly place, and we have, to this day, many friends there, including some who read this blog. In fact, we always thought we would retire to a small house in Chickamauga after we sold the farm. But life is full of surprises.

The Lee and Gordon mill was built by James Gordon. James Lee was his son-in-law.

Chickamauga was settled by whites during and after the removal of the Cherokee Indians in the late 1830s. (The Cherokees were often more civilized than those who replaced them.) Until 1888 the local post office was known as Crawfish Springs, after the large spring near the center of town that puts out 14 millions of water daily. 

The population was listed as 2917 in the 2020 census.

Crawfish Springs is located in a natural amphitheater across Cove Road from the Gordon-Lee Mansion. The water comes out from under this rock. 

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     travel     Georgia    Walker County    Chickamauga     Gordon-Lee Mansion

Pinestraw Man

Straw for brains -- for real.

Louise and I found this fellow taking his ease on the grounds of Radium Springs park at Albany, Georgia. Don't look for his head, because it's only a sheaf of pinestraw. 

I don't know why he was there. He couldn't speak for himself, and there was non one around to ask. However, it was the middle of October, so he might have been part of preparations for a Hollowe'en celebration at the park.

Radium Springs, Georgia's largest natural spring, is about four miles south of Albany's riverfront area via Radium Springs Road. With a flow of 70,000 gallons of fresh, clear water per minute, Radium Springs is considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia. Traces of radium in the water give it its name. The spring is surrounded by a 95-acre botanical park that includes the ruins of an early 20^th-century casino and resort. 

 Radium Springs, Albany, Georgia

 If you find yourself anywhere near Albany, be sure to visit the spring and also the many other interesting things along the Flint riverfront, including the Riverquarium. 

(I used a Fuji X-H1 camera and a Fujicron XC 16-50mm lens for both photos.)

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     travel     Georgia     Albany     Radium Springs     Fuji X-H1 camera     Fujicron XC 16-50mm lens

My Business Is Going to the Dogs

Miss Biscuit, posing like a pro model.

Ever since we moved into our home in Wesley Place in Knoxville almost a year ago, our neighbor Ashleigh has repeatedly gone out of her way to be kind and helpful in a multitude of ways.

A few months ago she brought home a nondescript and skinny little rescue dog that she named "Biscuit." Sweet and outgoing, Biscuit soon blossomed under loving care, bringing obvious joy to her mistress.

Recently, Louise said to me, "Ashleigh has been to nice and helpful to us, I wish there were something we could do for her."

I said, "Why don't I give her a photo session with her and Biscuit and a good-sized print that she could frame?"

Louise loved the idea, so I contacted Ashleigh, who also loved the idea. We made arrangements to come to her house and set up for the pictures.

One never knows how an animal will react to flashing lights, etc., but Biscuit was perfectly calm and posed like a pro. Ashleigh was delighted to receive 31 proof files and loved them all so much she asked for more time to choose the one to enlarge. (She still hasn't been able to choose.)

Ashleigh and Biscuit

I used a Fuji X-H1 camera for the portrait session, with the Fujicron XC 16-50mm lens set at 50mm (75mm full-frame equivalent) for most of the photos. The lighting was a single Neewer electronic flash, bounced out of an umbrella.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     portraits     animal portraits     Fuji X-H1 camera     Fujicron XC 16-50mm lens     Neewer electronic flash

Historic Buildings in Talbotton, Georgia

The 1832 Warner-Simpson-Jordan House, Talbotton, Georgia

Talbotton is an interesting small city in west central Georgia, about 85 miles from Macon via U.S. Highway 80. It's interesting to me, at least, because of the number of well-preserved historic houses and churches, including the Greek Revival Talbotton United Methodist Church, built in 1857, and the 1848 Zion Episcopal Church, a Tudor-Gothic structure which would look right at home in an English village.

The rare Pilcher pipe organ, installed in 1850, is the oldest one still working in the United States. A $257,000 project to restore the exterior of the church was completed in November, 2020. Worship services are held quarterly.

The Warner-Simpson-Jordon House, at 126 Monroe Street, is one of many great old houses in Talbotton. A Plantation Plain-style house built in 1832 by Judge Hiram Warner, a Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, it was his home and law office. During the Civil War the house was raided by Yankee soldiers. Warner, who was a prominent Rebel leader, resisted, and was sentenced to hang. The Yankees hung him from a tree in his own yard and left him for dead, but he was cut down by a family slave, revived, and lived 16 more years.

The house is obviously well preserved and maintained. I wish I had removed the modern folding chair on the porch, but I am reluctant to go on private property. I usually just take my pictures and move on. As the saying goes, "Take only pictures, leave only footprints."

(Photo: Canon EOS 6D, probably the Canon EF 24-85 f3.5-4.5 lens.)

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    travel     Talbotton     Georgia     Zion Episcopal Church     Canon EOS 6D digital camera     Canoon EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens

The Return of the Handyman

The finished job. New countertop and sinks.

 

 Everyone makes mistakes. I've made a lot of them.

One of the worst mistakes of my young life was letting Louise find out that I could work with my hands. 

After 58 years of remodeling, renovating, and sometimes repainting, five houses, two trailers, and building half of a barn, I was deathly tired of handyman work. I only did it because (1.) it was cheaper than paying someone; (2.) I usually thought I could do a better job than the people available for hire, and (3.) I like being married to Louise. (The third reason is the most important one.) 

But I never liked handyman work. I looked forward to spending my declining years in Knoxville without doing any more of it. Surely, she would have respect for my age.

Sadly, no. It was not to be.

The previous owners of our house had lived there since it was built in 1984. The old lady died there in the fall of 2022 at age 100. Some "upgrading" was needed.

After repainting everything, new carpets in the bedrooms, and new wood floors throughout the rest of the house (which thankfully, I didn't do), Louise's attention turned to the bathrooms. The sinks and mirrors must be replaced. By who? Me.

So the first order of business was replacing the mirror with medicine cabinets.

 New medicine cabinets from Wayfair.

 

I would have preferred to countersink the medicine cabinets, but our neighbors were just on the other side of that wall. 

The barn door came as a bundle of boards and hardware with "some assembly required."

 

 Next, there was no door between the master bedroom and master bath. A barn door came from Wayfair with total assembly required. 

 

And finally, we bought a slab of laminated acacia wood, which I cut to fit and to which Louise applied many, many coats of stain and varnish. The scary part was drilling the holes for the sink drains and faucets, because if I got them in the wrong places the whole project would have to be done over.

 

The physically most difficult part was installing the sink drains, each of which required two sections of flexible tubing and me laying on my back with my head and arms under the counter. But it all came together and it all works. The only thing left to do is install some tile on the walls.

 

Now, can I please remove my handyman hat and throw it away? I really don't want to do this stuff any more.

(Photos: Fuji X-T20 camera, Fujicron XC 16-50mm lens.)

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     handyman     home renovations     Fuji X-T-20 camera     Fujicron XC 16-50mm lens