Silent Sunday – Motivational – Someone left a little kindness here.
Silent? A Stone Has Something to Say!
What’s this, someone left this among the leaves… a message for us.
“Yes, you!” A little stone makes itself perfectly clear.
“You Got This.” Thank you, little stone… I’m glad you were in my path!
THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
Stay… the stone isn’t finished!
Plenty of footsteps passed this way, yet you stopped. Now I would love to hear what made you pause and feel grateful today. Pause, Reflect, I’m listening.
“Before next Sunday, tell us what little kindness stopped you in your tracks?”
“Kindness for a stranger. That may be you today or me tomorrow.”
And this stop had goats running back and forth along the roadside fence. Well, hello there!
Not all farms stretch across acres and acres of land. Here was a shack beside the road, with local items you could choose and pay for yourself. We got our farm stamp, then headed back toward the car… which was when I spotted one last goat.
“Set your mind at ease for a moment. The open road will still be there.”
– Robert Smith
There he was, peering around a tree. I did a double take. “Oh, Hi there little fella!” Out came the camera.
That face! As if he had been waiting for me to notice him. I could almost hear, “Ahem… you missed one.”
“You weren’t leaving without my picture, were you?”
Another goat on the welcoming committee. This one brought the address! I love the art work!
Even the Nu Sunrise Farms sign had a goat ready to greet us.
By now, I was checking the faces on everything. Anybody else want a picture before we go?
THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
Who goes there? Say hello!
Our tree-peeking fellow has appointed himself the official roadside greeter. Tell him about your own surprise hello in the comments… he’s collecting stories while he waits for the next car. Ha! He never leaves the farm, make it a good tale!
“Just wondering myself, who gave you your most unexpected hello?”
“Give me an open road and time to pull over… No rush, Neal and I will get there, but I may have a few new faces in the camera”.
Neal and I were walking through Ace Hardware’s Lawn & Garden section when a large stone head caught my attention.
There he sat among the blooming roses, looking like some Greek god who had been left in charge of the place. Of course, statues can’t talk… but this fellow seemed determined to get a word in.
“I’m happy to stop and smell the roses. Being called over by the garden décor takes a little getting used to.”
– Robert
A little sunshine on his forehead… and apparently a lot on his mind.
I glanced toward Neal, then back at that face, waiting to see whether I’d imagined the whole thing.
“Psss… hey there.” Oh, good. The statue was going to make this awkward.
A Rose Under His Nose
I leaned closer, which is apparently what I do when a garden statue starts whispering. From this angle, I could see a yellow rose tucked just beneath his nose.
The answer was right under his nose. Someone had to tell him.
He couldn’t turn his head to investigate, and that rose wasn’t offering any explanation. I was beginning to understand why he needed a passing shopper.
THIS WEEK I NOTICED
Quite a Face for Friday Flowers
Humor is a part of reality and fantasy is part of life. I came away with photographs of yellow roses and far more close-ups of a nose than I’d expected. You can see how it happened. Put that serious face beside those petals, and I’m going to wonder what he’s thinking. By then, I’d already given him a voice… might as well introduce myself.
Psss… Hey, Buddy!
“Did I hear someone?” I asked, looking around.
“Hey, buddy, over here,” said the statue. “As you can see, I can’t move around from this spot.”
“Oh, hi there. My name is Robert. How can I help you?”
“Well, Robert, Granite Greg here. Am I crazy, or do I smell a rose… under my nose?”
Now, I hadn’t expected to be discussing nasal concerns with a large stone head at Ace Hardware. But he’d asked politely.
“I don’t mean to point out the obvious, Greg, but there is a yellow rose under your nose. I suppose that observation was a bit… on the nose!”
Ha Ha, Hee Hee! (The crowd of flowers in the garden section erupted into laughter!)
“Thank you, oh thank you!” Greg said. “I’m not crazy! That rose has been tickling me under there.”
“Well, whatever you do, try not to sneeze. I’m standing awfully close.”
I strolled back over to Neal and promised myself I would “not” mention this to anyone. A quick look back turned into a double take. Granite Greg gave me a wink, apparently satisfied that his secret was safe with me.
And here I am telling you. Greg really should have asked whether I had a blog.
Who would buy a talking statue, anyway? Days later… maybe I need to head back and buy that cool guy Greg. I wonder how I’m going to explain this one to Neal.
Gorgeous bloom looking this innocent after tickling a statue… impressive.
I had to give the rose a photograph of its own after all the trouble it had caused. Greg would probably request that I move it a few inches to the left.
THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
Does Imagination have a Smell?
Pull up beside Greg and tell me what your imagination smells in these photographs. He’s had plenty of time to consider the question, but I suspect his answer will be “roses.”
“Can you almost smell that yellow rose, or do your eyes need your nose to confirm it? Tell me below, and come back for the next Flower Hour… I’ll keep an ear out among the pots.”
“Writing is my kind of art. I can give a stone fellow a voice, wander off with his story, and keep going as far as my imagination likes. There’s always another ‘what if’ to follow.“
The door may lead outside, but the sunlight has already found its way in.
Blue sky beyond the glass, sunlight across the floor leaving suddenly feels optional.
THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
Stay In, Step Out
Point of view. A door usually asks us to go somewhere. This one made me pause before crossing the threshold. The light, shadows, and sky had already turned the inside into part of the destination.
“Stay inside and enjoy the view or open the door and follow the light?”
“Give me an unusual challenge and I will gladly look twice. The fun begins when the obvious subject turns out not to be the only thing worth seeing.”
Let’s travel to Jacksonville Neal, you said you wanted to visit the Jacksonville Arboretum & Botanical Gardens. We have a love for botanical gardens! This one boasts wonderful walking trails, curated gardens and beautiful views.
These days Neal and I choose shorter nature trails, and I am learning not to measure an outing by mileage. (TIB – Truth in Blogging: We are not spring chickens anymore, Ha!) A friendly woman at the entrance pointed us toward The Lake Loop, only 0.3 miles around Lake Ray. That sounded just right.
“Photography gives me a reason to look. Walking gives me the time. Good company reminds me that seeing was never meant to be rushed”
— Robert Smith
A short walk brought me here lovely Lake Ray, three fountains, and one very good reason to stop awhile.
The trail did not need to be long to make us stop. One look across the lake, and I understood why we had come.
Three Reasons to Pause
The lake was already beautiful, but the fountains gave my eyes somewhere to settle. Three bursts of water rising above lily pads and reflections made the whole scene feel alive. And alive it was, the ecosystem did not need me to confirm nor validate its existence but the living presence enhanced our serenity.
Three fountains rise from Lake Ray, each adding its own rhythm to the stillness around it.
I came expecting a pleasant walk through the arboretum. Lake Ray gave us a destination without ever feeling like we had been in a hurry to reach it. The path gave us plenty of shade and opportunities to sit along the way. The gardens had plenty of well-placed benches, many gifted by donors whose names remained on small plaques.
THIS WEEK I NOTICED
Less Distance, Not Less Discovery
I used to think a good nature walk needed a little mileage behind it. Now I notice something different here in a botanical garden.
A shorter trail can give me more time to stop, look across the water, notice reflections, listen, photograph, and simply stay with a view instead of moving quickly toward the next one. Ask Neal, he will gladly point out how I spend “too long” on one subject.
The trail may be shorter. My attention does not have to be.
Neal took in the view while the fountains turned a quiet lake into the center of our walk.
Neal standing there reminded me that part of these walks is simply sharing the same view. We do not have to cover much ground for a place to become part of our story. Well worth the drive from Ponte Vedra.
THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
Take the Shorter Trail
A nature walk does not have to leave me sweaty and tired to leave me fulfilled. A shorter path can make room for slower marveling, longer pauses, and the pleasure of staying with one beautiful place instead of rushing toward another. Ask me the question you would have asked if you had been walking beside Neal and me.
“Given the choice, would you stay longer or move deeper into the gardens?“
“Nature rewards the adventurer! Sit or walk, you will be pleased!”
Wordless Wednesday – One Bloom Waiting for Evening
One small bloom catches the last warm light of the day.
THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
Stay With Light
The day is not finished just because the sun starts dropping lower. Golden hour has a way of giving ordinary things one last chance to be noticed.
“When the light begins to fade, do you head home or linger long enough for one more discovery?”
”I like giving the day one more look before night takes over. Not just for photography either. There is usually a little beauty still waiting in the light.”
Thoughtful on Tuesday – I Found a Question at My Feet
Who Left This Behind?
Morning walks teach me to look ahead, around me, and increasingly, down. That is where I found it a small silver crucifix lying almost blending in with the rough street.
No chain. No owner. No explanation waiting nearby.
I could pick up the cross. Then what?
How had something so seemingly precious simply fallen unnoticed, or had someone reached a moment when carrying it became… a little too much? A burden to wear?
Standing there, I realized I was no longer thinking only about a lost pendant.
“An object can fall from our hands. Faith raises the harder question: when we lay it down, have we lost it or are we deciding what we are willing to carry?“
– Robert
There it was at my feet a small silver cross surrounded by nothing that could explain how it got there.
I bent down because the cross caught my eye. I stood back up carrying questions that had not been there a few steps earlier.
Close Enough to Claim
Up close I noticed the heart-shaped ends of the cross. A symbol of suffering surrounded by little hearts. Huge representations of pain, devotion, and love, all occupying the same few inches of silver.
Up close, the hearts at each end made the discovery feel even more personal. Someone chose this. Someone wore it. Someone lost or left it.
Picking it up would be easy. Claiming everything it represents is another kind of act. Faith can hang from a chain, but whether it lives close to the heart asks more of us than simply putting it around our neck.
No, I left the cross there where it first “found me“. The owner or someone needing a new set of questions would be better served by placing it in their hands. Right now I have my faith and resolve to wrestle with!
THIS WEEK I NOTICED
Objects Carry Invisible Stories
A lost glove makes me think someone will come back looking for it. A coin on the sidewalk feels somewhat lucky. A photograph on the ground makes me wonder who is pictured.
This cross did something different.
Its meaning arrived before its story did.
I knew nothing about the person who had carried it, yet I immediately began imagining loss, rejection, devotion, doubt, accident, choice. Yeah, I admit that’s a lot! The object had become a doorway into someone else’s unseen life and then, just as quickly, into my own thoughts about belief.
Finding something does not give me its history. Although it does gives me a reason to wonder.
THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
Carry What You Find
Walking without a particular destination leaves room for encounters I could never plan. I went out looking for nothing in particular and came home thinking about faith, loss, choice, and a little silver cross that had been waiting in the street.
“Imagine finding this at your feet. Would you leave it there, pick it up, or carry the question home with you?”
”I walk to discover, not to prove that I know what I am looking for. The road has a way of placing its own questions right in front of me.”
Coffee break with my travel buddy. Boofle appears to be checking whether I plan to share.
THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
Why Choose or Pick Favorites
A good day does not always need a grand plan. Give me something warm to drink, a familiar companion nearby, and a reason to smile at the ordinary things sitting right in front of me.
“Be honest with me, if Boofle and coffee were competing for my attention, which one should feel jealous”
“I have stopped trying to rank the things I love. I am perfectly happy making room for both.”
Savannah Photo Club – No Assignment. Just a Look Around
Walking Is Part of Seeing
I can leave home carrying a camera, iPhone Pro Max, multiple lenses and still have no idea what I am looking for. If you know me, I enjoy that uncertainty. Put on comfortable shoes, cool threads (I mean I will be meeting other hip folks today) step outside, and let the street introduce itself.
A photo walk gives that wandering a little company. Truth is I need that these day! Someone moves ahead, someone stays behind, someone stops for the thing I completely missed. “Yup, I see that too!“ Between shutter clicks, we talk, laugh, look again and keep walking.
“Photography gives me a reason to look. Walking gives me the time. Good company reminds me that seeing was never meant to be rushed”
– Robert Smith
Camera ready, walking shoes on. Now all I need is somewhere worth wandering which, in Savannah, is not difficult to find.
My camera gets me out the door, but curiosity keeps me moving. Yes, watching people who enjoy looking closely, and even streets I know can hand me something new.
Before anyone starts looking for photographs, there is time to gather, greet familiar faces, and enjoy being among people who understand the urge to look closer.
Where the Walk Slows Down
Nobody announces the photograph worth stopping for. It can be very quite at times, being alone then… One person simply sees something, slows down, bends closer as the rest of the world keeps moving.
Photo worthy does not always mean eye level. Every now and then, the picture asks you to get down there with it.
Imagine if you can: Photograph begins before the shutter. It begins in the decision to pay attention when walking past would have been easier.
THIS WEEK I NOTICED
Attention Is Contagious
I noticed how quickly one person’s pause changes the pace of everyone around them. I mean for the most part. Ha!
A camera points upward. Someone turns back. Another person crouches beside a tree. Before long, a place we thought we were simply walking through has become a place worth examining. I look around and the group’s content has changed, different walkers have appeared from seemingly nowhere.
The gift is not that we all notice the same thing.
Walking together reminds me to keep looking.
Sunday, Community is Key
Photography like any hobby gives me plenty of opportunities to be alone, and I value that quiet. Even walking with Neal. I’ll stop, lay down on ground “to see” a plant, a bug. All the while Neal has walked off talking to no one beside him.
But I also need people who understand why a patch of light can make me stop in the first place, why a doorway deserves another angle, or why ten minutes can disappear while somebody works out a frame. A Sunday photo walk gives that kind of attention “somewhere” A space to belong!
There is a particular kind of anticipation in holding a camera before the walk really gets underway. The street has not shown its hand yet.Cameras start conversations too. About lenses, settings, straps, stories, advice, and the inevitable “let me see that.”
Community changes the walk. One person moves ahead while another lingers. I see her point toward something half the group missed.He trades camera talk, stories, observations, jokes and, occasionally, silence. Nobody needs to make the same choice or photograph.
The neighborhood changes too. Streets I already know get handed back to me through other people’s eyes. Most of the time I’m driving these very streets not having time nor hands free to “snap” that photo.
Having like-minded souls beside me prompting, leading, following, wandering off and eventually catching up encourages me to look more carefully and stay curious a little longer.
Every Eye Finds Something
The same route gives each of us a different reason to lift a camera.
The group keeps moving until one person sees a reason to stop. Then the photograph becomes more important than keeping pace.The photographs are everywhere once we slow down enough to notice them even through the leaves.
One photographer follows light, another follows people, someone looks up, someone looks through—and the street keeps offering reasons to pause.
One person becomes the subject, another finds the frame, and the walk pauses long enough for a portrait.A photo walk teaches the neck to swivel: up into the trees, across the street, behind you anywhere but straight ahead for too long.
The difference is the point. We do not need to return with the same photographs to know we shared the same walk.
The walk has its own rhythm: notice, pause, frame, move on. No whistle needed.
By this point in the walk, the rhythm feels natural look, pause, frame, move again. The conversation continues even when nobody is talking.
Savannah Photo Club: August and November Photowalks 2025
THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
Walk With Me
A camera gives us a reason to slow down. Walking beside other curious people changes what we notice. Someone points, someone waits, someone wanders ahead—and for a little while we borrow one another’s eyes.
Think of the person you would invite on a slow walk with nowhere particular to be. Why them?
“I walk to stay curious, photograph to remember what stopped me, and welcome the company because a shared look can turn an ordinary street into a conversation.”
