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6.21.2021: 

"The world's a nicer place in my beautiful balloon 

It wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon 

We can sing a song and sail along the silver sky 

For we can fly we can fly" 

(Garden Shed, Smyrna) 172/365

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6.20.2021: I vaguely remember my first car ride with my dad. Apparently, my mother told dad to take me along to work with him. If I close my eyes, I can still remember the roar of the car engine, and the squealing tires as I slid from one side of the car to the other in the back seat as we rounded curves at a high rate of speed. In the distance I could hear police sirens. To drown out the sirens, my dad turned up the radio and starting singing along to “That Good Old Mountain Dew.” Being the son of a bootlegger was never boring. 

Okay, I don’t remember any of that at all, but when my dad told me that story, I believed him. Happy Father’s Day, dad. Wish you were still with us to spin another yarn or two. Love you! 

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6.19.2021: Self portrait of how I look most days as I am leaving our home to hike Kennesaw Mountain. 

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6.18.2021: Aubree giving Forrest a private piano recital. 169/365

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6.17.2021: "They'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again." -- Terence Mann's soliloquy from the movie "Field of Dreams." 

(Was at Truist Park catching the Braves win over the Cardinals 4-0. Charlie Morton had a no-hitter into the 7th inning. Since it's almost impossible to get my big boy camera into the park, I used my little compact camera to get this shot when the light was just right.) 

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6.16.2021: Saw this Ringneck Snake on the trail today at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. About 12-14 inches long. Ringnecks mostly prey on species smaller than mice, including salamanders and newts, slugs, earthworms, some frogs and toads, and baby snakes. I don't know how it got it's name. 

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6.15.2021: Didn't see anything really interesting while hiking today, but had that eerie feeling that I was being watched. 

166/365

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6.14.2021: On May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation establishing a national Flag Day on June 14. The day commemorates the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States. 

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6.13.2021: Oh, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors. 

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6.12.2021: "Leave the road, take the trails." — Pythagoras 

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6.11.2021: Rainy day ... Hemingway. 

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6.10.2021: Rumor has it that the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Rangers have trained bluebirds to help remind visitors about the entrance fee. Remember, these fees help improve park facilities and infrastructure and provide enhanced services. Also of importance, although not substantiated, those who attempt not to pay the fee may have some surprise “gifts” left on their vehicle windshields by the bluebirds. 

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6.9.2021: 

Why I'm never allowed to visit Greece again. 

1) Total disregard of historic artifacts. 

2) Tasteless choice of pants. 

(1973, Athens, Greece) 

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6.8.2021: Okay, I’m not going to lie. I had to work a bit to get this photo. Trying to get a youngster pose with mom for a family portrait is not easy. First the little lady ran into the woods when she spotted me. (Spotted. See what I did there?) Then, when she emerged from the trees, she just stared at me and didn’t get close to mom. Finally, when she caught up with mom, I had to do my “I’m not paying any attention to you” slow walk so that I could get in position for this shot without scaring them away. Luckily, they both struck a pose. Ten seconds later the little gal had jumped back into the forest. 

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6.7.2021: Bomber with Fighter escort. 

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6.6.2021: 

He can make you love 

He can make you cry 

He will bring you down 

Then he'll get you high 

Somethin' keeps him goin' 

Miles and miles a day 

To find another place to play 

Night after night who treats you right Baby, it's the guitar man 

Who's on the radio You go listen to the guitar man 

157/365

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6.5.2021: For me, it was a Black & White type of day in Dallas, GA. 

156/365

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6.4.2021: Remember how embarrassing it was, as a kid, when your mom would lick her thumb and then wipe something off your face. Well, it's worse if your mom is a deer because she doesn't have a thumb. So, she just licks your entire face. 

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6.3.2021: Nice sunset tonight. As seen from our front porch. 

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6.2.2021: Have you ever looked at an old photograph of yourself and thought to yourself, "I wonder whatever happened to that kid?" Or, in my case, "I wonder whatever happened to that hair?" 

(1973: somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.) 

After looking at this photo I also thought, "Why did I ever buy that shirt?" 

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6.1.2021: The Shadow Knows! 

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