Things I'm Thankful For

 Old Dial Road, Fannin County, Georgia

 

1. I'm thankful for God. Actually, God and I have had somewhat of a rocky relationship. He keeps insisting that he's God and I'm not. Nonetheless, he has loved me with such an excessive love that he gave his only begotten son to endure the separation from him that should have been mine. All he asks is that I recognize that I am a sinner, which I am, totally unable to help myself; believe that he has fully paid the penalty for my sins; receive the son who died in my place as my own savior; and in him receive eternal life as an absolutely free gift. (I Corinthians 15:1-5.) I can never be thankful enough. (He offers this gift to you, too.)

 

2. I'm thankful for Louise Devlin Jenkins.When we began dating I was a widower with a small son whom I was not willing to entrust to just any pretty face. Fortunately, Louise was a very pretty face indeed, and as I grew to know her I soon realized that she was and is a person of deep character. Fifty-eight years of life's ups and downs and many adventures together have proved the wisdom of my choice.

 

3. I'm thankful for my family. Three sons, two daughters-in-law, two granddaughters, four grandsons, one grandson-in-law, three granddaughters-in-law, five great granddaughters, and two great grandsons. What a crew! I am richly blessed. And none of them is in jail! I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and I am indeed thankful.

 

(Photo: Canon EOS 5D Classic digital camera, Canon EF 24-85mm 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 2023 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     Fannin County     Thanksgiving     Canon EOS 5D Classic camera     Canon EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens 

Mr. Thomas Turkey

 Mr. Thomas Turkey. Wild and free on Deer Run Farm.

The blog post which would normally appear on Wednesday will be on Thursday this week. Meanwhile, here's a picture you might like.

(Photo: Fujifilm X-H1 camera, Fujicron XC 50-230mm 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 2023 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    turkeys     Fujifilm X-H1 camera     Fujicron XC 50-230mm lens

Things I Miss

 2020. Our last Christmas at Deer Run Farm in McLemore Cove.

1. I miss our little 29-acre Deer Run Farm in northwest Georgia's McLemore Cove, where we built a home and a life for 33 years. We worked hard and were happy there. And every year, all or most of our kids came to share Christmas, the Fourth of July, and often, Thanksgiving with us. This last year of 2020 only Rob and his crew were able to come. (We've since added to that group another great-grandchild and another granddaughter-in-law.) Just after the first of the year the place was sold and we were in our RV. Those were great years, but it was time to move on.

2. I miss our RV. It was the right thing at the right time. We were extremely comfortable in our 35-foot Grand Design fifth wheel rig for two years and planned to stay longer than we did. But because of the expense of diesel fuel and the general cumbersomeness of setting up and breaking camp with a rig of that size, we didn't travel nearly as much as we had hoped. We decided it was time to find a permanent home and get a smaller rig that will be more conducive to the kind of footloose travel we want to do for several months each year.

3. I miss my studio. It has been 23 years since I closed my photography studio in Chattanooga and switched to a location-based model of commercial photography. My business had changed in the last few years of the 20th century. Most of my work was on location, and the amount of work I was doing in-studio was only about enough to pay the studio rent and expenses. It was time to move on, but it was a wonderful space with a complete darkroom and I still miss it.

When I say I miss these things I don't mean I grieve over them. They were all wonderful experiences and my life has been the richer for them. But I do think about them sometimes and miss them and am very thankful they are part of the story of my life.

(Photograph: Fujifilm X-H1 camera, Fujicron XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 lens, Neewer studio flash.)

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 2023 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    Georgia    McLemore Cove      Grand Design RV     Fujifilm X-H1 camera     Fujicron XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 lens     Neewer flash

But I've Experienced a Lifetime of Beautiful Autumns

Aspen and Douglas fir at DeMotte Campground, Kaibab Plateau, Arizona.

 

This fall may have been a bust for me, but I've had the great privilege of experiencing a long lifetime of beautiful autumns.

In early September, 2018, we hitched our small (22-ft.) travel trailer to our old Chevy 1500 pickup and headed northwest. 

After traveling extensively through South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah, we arrived on September 26 at DeMotte Campground, a National Forest Service facility about seven miles from the entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park's North Rim. (It's about 20 miles further to the Visitor's Center at the North Rim.)

The campground is in a beautiful location at an altitude of 8,800 feet on Arizona's Kaibab Plateau, a large and high plateau (up to 9,200 feet) which forms the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, which, by the way, is 2,000 feet higher than the South Rim. Set in a forest of aspen and Douglas fir, the campground has no hookups for RVs, but at $10 per night, the price is right. We soon had our trailer parked and set off for the canyon.

We woke the next morning to bright sunshine and a crisp, 25-degree temperature -- a fine, late-September morning at 8,800 feet of altitude. The air was sparkling clear and it didn't feel anything like that cold as I went out to make some photographs of the aspen and Douglas fir that framed our campground.

Inspired by the gold of the aspen, the deep green of the fir, and the intense blue of the sky, I carried my Minolta Autocord twin-lens reflex camera loaded with Fujichrome RDPII 100 film. I love the clean look of the pictures it gave and the ease of composing in the square format.

We had planned to go back to the North Rim this morning, but decided there was really nothing else for us to see unless we wanted to hike, which we didn't. The haze in the canyon from distant forest fires also dampened our enthusiasm. We hope to come back when conditions are more favorable. So we took our pictures of the aspen and fir, hooked up our trailer, and hit the road to new adventures.

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 2023 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     Arizona     DeMotte Campground     Grand Canyon    film photography     Minolta Autocord     TLR cameras     Fuji RDP film