Sunny, warm Christmas Eve....

Our Location: Devencrest Rv Park, Albany, GA

A fabulous day, one of our best ones yet. The overnight temps stayed warm, around 51 F/ 10 C, which was comfortable for sleeping. When we left for our walk around 9:30 am it had warmed up a bit and we only needed light sweaters. Our walk was once again at Radium Spring Gardens (RSG), it is  such a lovely spot. All of today's pictures are taken there. 

 Many Magnolia trees grace the lands here in Georgia and this one is extremely eye catching with bright green on the top and an almost rust coloured brown on the underside of the leaves. I believe this tree would have a white flower, but I'm not certain of that. 

             

I have no idea what kind of tree this is but the berries/flowers are a much brighter orange than they appear in the picture. There are loads of berries/seeds in each cluster. It appears more bush than tree as the foliage is dense and reaches all the way to the ground with no stump or trunk showing.

This tree had multiple bunches of these berries on it, they look similar to blueberries but I'm not sure what they are and wasn't interested in tasting them to find out. ~laugh~

 

 

We are always stepping on acorns when we walk, they fall from the Live Oak trees that are everywhere here. The Live Oak is always green, never goes dormant. As you can see the acorns are very small and crush easily under foot.     

Pine Straw (below) is often baled in small square bales and sold as mulch, it can be seen at the foot of many trees and covering many flower beds for insulation against cold nights or light freezes.                           

To the left is Spanish Moss, a close up look. It is filled with some kind of little bugs so handling it isn't advised. It is long and almost wispy up close as you can see. Long center stems with many offshoots or branches. It is varying shades of greeny grey. The older it gets, or the more it takes over the greyer and thicker it gets.

After our walk around the RSG area we came back home and changed into short pants, sleeveless t's and enjoyed the sunshine. Riley had to go back inside as it was too hot for her in the sun. Even the shade was warm and sticky, as the humidity was high. No complaints though, it was still just wonderful. We even put our awning out and played around with how it works (instead of just in and out, we tried lowering one edge, lowering the whole thing, etc), kids with a new toy. ~laugh~ 

Riley has been reading Envy by Sandra Brown, she seems to be enjoying it. I've started Flesh and Blood by Jonathan Kellerman. I've read it before but can't remember the ending, so I'll read it again. Nice way to spend Christmas Eve Day, reading outside in the sunshine. 

We bought a frozen Butterball turkey a few days ago and I've had it in the office refrigerator and today thought I'd better have a look at it. It was still completely frozen, I was surprised there was no thawing of any kind. I think Steve may keep his fridge too cold. ~laugh~ With Roger's aid I moved it into the Clubhouse (he has the key!! It wasn't that the turkey was that big!!) and into a sink of cold water. Checking it a few times over the course of the afternoon and early evening to ensure it's thawing. As of about 6:30 pm it is in the fridge in the Clubhouse, totally thawed and waiting for it's trip to the oven tomorrow. 

This is the view up the trunk of a Georgia Pine in RSG. ~laugh~ Isn't it so straight? It's very, very tall, I can't even begin to guess how tall. 

This tree truly caught my imagination. What a story it would tell if it had a voice. Do you see that one very long limb? It has about 3 heads and all of them are bent. All of the growth of any significance is on the same side of the tree. Two huge branches look to have been cut off from around the bottom of the tree, you can barely see them in the picture but they are the white marks lower down on the trunk. It is the only evergreen tree I've seen that isn't truly straight and equally shaped down here. I'm sure there are others but this one looks so out of place at RSG due to it's unique shape. That one branch makes me wonder what kind of story this tree would tell.

The Dogsled among the Georgia Pines. The trees in the pic have had the tops cut off in this picture but are probably that high again out of the picture. (Understand that measurement? ~laugh~) Makes my little Dogsled seem so tiny, don't ya think?

Dinner tonight was sort of a leftover but with new extras added, so I'm not sure if it was new or old. ~laugh~ Remember the other night I went for soup dinner at the clubhouse? I brought home some veggie soup and tonight I jazzed it up with some fresh veggies, some salsa, a bit of BBQ sauce, topped with shredded cheese when served and it was an excellent meal for us. It had a wee kick and was truly enjoyable. 

This used to be the stone entrance gate way to the parking lot at the Casino at Radium Spring Gardens, circa 1925. 

We walk past this gateway entrance each time we walk at RSG. The stone work is much the same as inside the gardens and always fascinates me. I have no idea if the rocks are local or not but I just love the way they've pieced it together. 

This curve in the road is actually in the old parking lot and we walk past the stone work above to get to this area. This paved half loop stretches between Holly Drive and Radium Spring Road. The stone work is on Radium Spring Road. If you look straight ahead you will see a number of taller pines, the Dogsled in the picture above is parked under THOSE pines. (not in this picture of course). This gives you a better idea of the height of the trees.  I took this pictures yesterday, Dec 23. 

After dinner, doing the dishes, and tidying up we played a game of Yahtzee. I won..I won...I won. ~laugh~ I think the trick for me to winning is to roll the dice first. ~laugh~ I even managed to roll a Yahtzee. I know, good for me, right? ~laugh~ 

I took this picture a couple of days ago with my phone and just uploaded it today. Looks a bit like icicles doesn't it?  It's Spanish Moss with the sunlight behind. Below the tree is water, not grass or mud, but the river. I just thought it was a great photo. 

Surprise....it's US!!! We don't normally do Selfies, but thought we'd throw one in just to annoy folks. ~laugh~  I'm not sure where the stupid look on my face came from but in the other one I had my mouth open, so this one was the best possible 'bad's shot. ~laugh~ As you can see we are having a good time.

So ends another day here in our winter adventures. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. Feel free to leave a comment. 

I would like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. May the joy of this season bring to your home peace, good health, happiness, love and joy throughout the holiday season and the upcoming year. 

Do you hear those sleigh bells??????

Until next time...be safe, take care....