Tag: Photography

Posted in Joy, Humor

Happy Anniversary!

Posted on by Neal Saye

So today is my anniversary! Well, not just mine. It’s Robert’s too … our Fifth Wedding Anniversary … December 9th! (We’ve been together longer, but purist Robert didn’t want to get married until we could legally do so in Georgia— back in 2016.)

We’re in Atlanta to celebrate. The Alliance Theatre’s new adaptation of A Christmas Carol last night. So good, with deeper character development than usual. God blessed us everyone! And heading to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas with the ASO tonight. “Culture” is our middle name.

Here’s the very cool anniversary pop-up (or is it pop-out?) card Robert gave me.

Again, always the purist, he likes to find cards that are made Specifically for Gay Folks. (Whereas I just grab one from the Dollar Tree and use white out to get rid of the woman’s hair and … etc. and use a permanent black magic marker to messily but effectively transform “wife” into “husband.”)

Isn’t it cute? I loved it. It’s so pop-uppy, colorful and GAY — in every sense of the word!

TIB (Truth in Blogging): We’re not both black.

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And here’s a little anniversary bouquet we got for our midtown Atlanta rental’s little “dining room” table.

Wait, you need a close-up, don’t you? Let me snap one real quick.

Here you go. Well, Lo and Behold! Look toward the back of the pic above. Santa pants! And we all know from yesterday’s post “Robert and …” #6 EXACTLY what that means: Robert’s nearby!

So I interrupted him fussing around in the kitchen doing who knows what (he’s always throwing it up to me that he went to ”Chef’s School”) and told him to wave at our thousands, hundreds, dozens single-digits of blog fans.

P.S. Google just reminded me that a traditional Fifth Anniversary gift is Wood. (And my phone’s calculator cruelly taunted me that I’ll be 114 on our Fiftieth Diamond Anniversary! I just depowered my phone.) Anyway, on the off chance that you haven’t gotten our Wooden Gift yet, here are a couple of suggestions:

We watched The Queen’s Gambit! And I would like to try that looking-up-at-the-ceiling strategy.

I see nothing.

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This wooden nutcracker would SO come in handy. Remember that big bowl of nuts from yesterday’s post?

“Robert and …” #6

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Wedding Day, 2016
With daughters Amy and Sarah
Posted in Countdown to Christmas

12/7/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree and Georgia State Parks

Posted on by Neal Saye

For this blog category, “Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks,” each day between December 1 and 25, I take a pic of a state park ornament on our Travel Tree and briefly highlight that park.

We stopped by Reed Bingham, just north of Valdosta, on our way back home from a trip to west Georgia. Named after the man responsible for securing the land to establish the park, it is a feast for nature lovers, with hiking trails meandering down sandy paths and through seemingly never ending waves of saw palmetto and wire grass, all underneath my beloved, scattered Longleaf.

We actually saw a gopher tortoise, but he scooted down his hole before we could take a picture.

Quiet and peaceful.

Posted in Robert and …

“Robert and …” #6

Posted on by Neal Saye

A blog category of pics I’ve taken of Hubby Robert and … well, just about anything.

Robert and a Bunch of Stuff

Robert and a big bowl of nuts, as Benny and Boopers vie for prime real estate on his Santa pants lap and edge toward his gay vodka t-shirt, as he balances his iPad in his right hand and shows off his wedding ring on his left, while leaning away from his mounted guitar. (Whew)

Posted in Countdown to Christmas

12/6/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on by Neal Saye

For this blog category, “Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks,” each day between December 1 and 25, I take a pic of a state park ornament on our Travel Tree and briefly highlight that park.

Our first pandemic Georgia State Park trip, back in March of 2020, was a simple weekday excursion an hour and a half up the road to Magnolia Springs State Park near Millen. We reasoned that few people would be around during the week, and we were right. We had the park almost to ourselves.

We liked the park (and getting out of the house) so much that this short venture started our recurring overnight pattern of heading to a park on Monday, renting a cabin and returning before the weekend crowd arrived.

TIB (Truth in Blogging): Today’s countdown post is sorta long, so you might want to grab a snack and change into comfortable shoes. I’m incorporating three Magnolia Springs trips into one post.

The park website: “Beautiful Magnolia Springs State Park is known for its crystal clear springs flowing 7,000,000 gallons per day, and a boardwalk spans the cool water, allowing visitors to look for alligators, turtles and other wildlife near the springs.”

“Yeah, right, they’re just saying that about the big bad alligators,” I thought haughtily, standing in the sun by the springs, staring out at the water, daydreaming about our upcoming picnic lunch and my special sandwich.

Oh. My. Goodness …

Jeff Bezos couldn’t pay me enough to fish, feed or approach.

The Longleaf Pine’s distinctive orangish, peely bark.

As I I have mentioned before, Robert and I love the Longleaf Pine, which excessive logging has cut to the brink of extinction, but is now making a bit of a comeback. Magnolia Springs has quite a number of majestic, mature specimens. (And so unlike with the alligators, I am simply not afraid of the Longleaf.)

I LOVE hiking through a forest replete with the beauty and aroma of Longleaf Pine.

The Longleaf pine cones are huge.

Oh, here’s my new walking stick. I MEAN HIKING STICK!

Our cabin (and the goings-on inside and out) at Magnolia Springs. Come on in.

And looky here, it’s me leading a little impromptu (and free!) “Everyone is Welcome—Morning Yoga and Mental Cleanse Workshop.”

Even Robert didn’t show. He chose (non-supportingly) to sleep in.

But here he is, gay-ly, pridefully starting a fire.

I need to end this post, don’t I? It’s getting out of hand.

We really do love our nearby Magnolia Springs State Park.

Well, most of it.

Posted in Countdown to Christmas

12/4/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on by Neal Saye

For this blog category, “Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks,” each day between December 1 and 25, I take a pic of a state park ornament on our Travel Tree and briefly highlight that park.

On this fourth day of the countdown, we take a quick look at F.D. Roosevelt State Park. It’s Georgia’s largest state park with 9,049 acres and more than 40 miles of trails. (That made me tired just thinking about it.)

The park’s website explains that “in 1924, FDR came to this part of Georgia to swim in naturally warm springs that offered relief from polio.”

Quite a few of the buildings were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, including the little cottage where Robert and I stayed …

What’s wrong with us?! Who brings cut flowers to a rustic cabin?

What a gorgeous spot in our Peach State.

I experienced abject terror only one time, when we came across Bigfoot lurking near our cabin—although at first I didn’t see him.

After the Bigfoot fiasco, Robert being all state park lovey-dovey …

While FDR was our home base, we also ventured over to nearby Callaway Gardens. We really love the peace of the little Ida Cason Memorial Chapel.

And the garden’s azaleas …

And the butterfly house …

State parks! They allow you to fly away to another world.

Posted in Countdown to Christmas

12/3/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on by Neal Saye

For this blog category, “Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks,” each day between December 1 and 25, I take a pic of a state park ornament on our Travel Tree and briefly highlight that park.

High Falls State Park is a naturally beautiful oasis along the Towaliga River just off I-75 between Macon and Atlanta, near Jackson, Georgia.

The water was a bit muddy the day we visited. (But then again, I’m a bit muddy some days as well.)

Here’s a one-minute “meditation” (we’ll call it). Close your eyes and listen to the cleansing sounds of nature …

Moving Peace.

At one point I paused by the water and chatted with … an animal. It looked like a camel. I think it was a camel.

See? Don’t you agree?

It never answered back. And Robert would have no part of it.

High Falls was just a short stopover on our way home from Atlanta, so we want to go back for a longer trek one of these days.

(I hope the camel will still be there. Robert assured me, with a bit of an attitude, that it “wood” still be there.)