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I snapped this picture of my Beautiful Bride in March, 2010. We were celebrating my birthday in a cabin at Serenity Falls near Cosby, Tennessee, in the Great Smoky Mountains. We were both learning how to use our new cameras at that time, and Betsy was on the deck of the cabin taking picture of the waterfall while I was on the ground below. I snapped this picture while we were discussing camera settings.

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Betsy is still my favorite hiking partner. This picture was taken several days ago when we visited Rutledge Falls near Tullahoma, Tennessee.

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Betsy and I enjoy hiking in the winter, although that is not always the ideal time to see waterfalls at their best. But hiking in January is usually more pleasant than hiking in the heat of August. This picture was taken during a January hike to Northrup Falls, which is only about 20 miles from our home in Fairfield Glade. Betsy and I were on opposites of the waterfall when I snapped this picture.

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Betsy and I visited one of our favorite places -- the Smoky Mountains -- in December, and we stopped just inside the Townsend, Tennessee, entrance to the park to enjoy the river. I used Photoshop to create this line drawing of Betsy from a photograph taken at the river side.

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Betsy and I would like to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Blessed New Year. We hope that Santa is good to you, and all of your memories are happy ones. We'll see you in 2012.

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Betsy attended a high school football game one evening earlier this month to see Landon, Betsy's grandson, play in his high school band. When the home team scored a touchdown, these fireworks lit up the sky.

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This picture, taken in August, 2006, when we were at Old Stone Fort State Park near Manchester, Tennessee, shows my beautiful, and favorite, hiking partner. How can anyone look at this picture and not smile back?

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Betsy was smiling when I took this picture in June while we were visiting the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. We were heading up the mountain getting closer to that snow you see in the background.

Betsy is smiling today because she has a birthday tomorrow. If you would like to help make that smile even brighter, click HERE and wish her a Happy Birthday.

I'm trying my best to have a proper birthday celebration, so we may not have much computer time through the weekend. But we'll both be back on Monday.

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I took this picture (using a tripod and timer) on our first day at the Grand Canyon. The canyon was as grand as the name implies. Our only regret was that pictures can't do the canyon justice -- it needs to be seen to be appreciated.

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Betsy enjoys a mountain stream almost as much as she enjoys waterfalls. This picture was taken in March, 2009, along the Little Pigeon River in the Greenbrier section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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Black Mountain, which is fairly near us, is part of the Cumberland Trail State Park. I captured this picture of my favorite hiking partner at the South Overlook on top of Black Mountain in July, 2007.

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Jen at Unglazed is hosting a mini meme, Colors on Monday. This week's color is Black.

I had to do some searching to come up with photos with black in them, but I decided I would post this picture of a black bear that Betsy and I saw as we were stopped at an overlook on Skyline Drive in Virginia. The bear was quite a way below us on the side of the mountain, but I was able to get this picture with my telephoto lens.



About half an hour later traffic on the road came to a halt as a Mama bear with three cubs meandered along the road before crossing it. Betsy was able to snap this picture of the family before they disappeared from view.



But my favorite picture showing the color black is a picture of my Beautiful-Bride-to-Be. This picture was taken about a month before we got married. We had taken my parents to Barren River State Park in Kentucky.

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Jen at Unglazed is hosting a mini meme, Colors on Monday. This week's color is Purple.

We have purple in our yard each Spring when our crocus bloom. The picture above is of Pickwick crocus.



It may be stretching the definition of purple a bit, but our Sweetness Rose looks purple to me. It has a wonderful fragrance as well.



But my favorite picture of purple is this photo of my Beautiful Bride-to-be and me. This picture was taken at my parent's house shortly after we got engaged. We were going out to dinner and the theater.

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I can't resist posting pictures of Betsy taken on some of our hike -- it's just too bad that some old guy is with her in some of the pictures. This picture was taken back in 2006 at Lost Creek Falls here in Tennessee. Lost Creek gets its name from the fact that it disappears underground about a mile from this waterfall, emerges from a cave at the top of this descent, and then disappears underground again just to the right of the pool shown.

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Jen at Unglazed is hosting a mini meme, Colors on Monday. This week's color is Blue.

The deep blue of periwinkle blossoms (above) tell us that Spring really has arrived. We have periwinkle growing where rock slabs and tree roots make mowing almost impossible.



The sky above Fairfield Glade is often a gorgeous blue, even during the cold days of winter.



But my favorite blue is the blue brought out in my Beautiful Bride's eyes when she's wearing blue.

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Jen at Unglazed is hosting a mini meme, Colors on Monday. This week's color is Green.

When I think of 'green' I think of the Spring grass in our lawn, the new leaves coming out on the trees and the spring flowers growing in our flower beds.



The terraces of Bali showed different shades of green. (The picture above was scanned from a slide.)



But my favorite green is the green socks Betsy wore on our first visit to Fall Creek Falls when we were first dating back in 2001.

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Jen at Unglazed is hosting a mini meme, Colors on Monday. This week's color is Orange.

Fortunately we have a rose with orange coloring -- Tahitian Sunset. This rose (pictured above) is now blooming for us in our front yard.



We saw orange in the sky last week when we were on our trip to celebrate Betsy's Birthday. This picture was taken as the sun was setting at the Peaks of Otter along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia.



But no post about the color orange would be complete without a picture of Big Orange's greatest fan. It's almost football time in Tennessee!!!

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In May, 2009, we stopped at the Nantahala River on the way home from visiting friends. I took this picture of Betsy on a pedestrian bridge across the river at the Nantahala Outdoor Center

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The picture above was taken last year on the eighth anniversary of our date and first kiss at Fall Creek Falls State Park here in Tennessee. That kiss took place in the clearing in front of us (behind the camera) along the bank of Cane Creek. The picnic tables weren't there in 2001, but that doesn't stop us from reliving some very happy memories.

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Black Mountain is a part of the Cumberland Trail State Park here in Tennessee. In addition to the cross-state trail that passes over the mountain, there is a loop trail around the mountain top. The loop trail has a couple of nice overlooks and with the help of our trusty tripod, I got this picture of me and my favorite hiking partner on a summer hike.