A night at Lake Claiborne

It's Saturday!

Yesterday afternoon, Mom, Emily, and I packed up everything we needed to survive in our aunt and uncle's lake house for a little less than 24 hours (mostly just a lot of food and a change of clothes), and headed down to Lake Claiborne in Claiborne County. Not only was I excited to play around with my camera, but this morning was the women's retreat for the lovely ladies of my church. First church event of the summer!

My Uncle Neill took Emily and me out on his fishing boat Friday afternoon. As you see below, he caught a little fish (and threw him back), but he claims he could have nabbed a bigger one if I hadn't had my camera out... oops! But hey, it's better than I could have done I'm sure.

My dad loves taking pictures of dead trees. It's kind of a running joke in our family, but I must say, he's taken shots of some pretty impressive silhouettes. This is a tribute to his influence.

Yesterday evening, a few of us went on a little walk. I think this is probably my favorite thing to see on the typical walking route. It always makes me chuckle a little bit in my head.

The picture below was taken from my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Paul's lake house after the crazy storm last night (which I most definitely slept through). The sky is still a little ominous, but it cleared up into a beautiful, cool summery day.

Tomorrow is Sunday!

Beginning

Day 2 of summer:

I have decided to create a blog. Honestly, I think blogs have the potential to be really lame.

I'll try to avoid that, but I'm afraid there are no guarantees.

I told a friend yesterday that for a blog to be worthwhile, it needs to have a purpose, so I have decided that my purpose will be photo-documenting my summer at home in the dear state of Mississippi. Armed with a brand new camera, I guess I'm ready to go!

My hope -- through these pictures and stories that are bound to follow -- is that I can share the beauty and the embarrassments, the pride and the shame, the love and the annoyances, the Faith and the weaknesses of this great state of Mississippi. It's such a paradox really.

There's a huge part of me that loves the familiarity and the comfort of Home, but living in the Bible Belt is probably one of the biggest temptations a Christian can face. It's tempting to be complacent, to slip back into the trap of the deep south.

So, here's to a summer of more!