I recently went with my family to a wedding in North Carolina where we got to spend a lot of time with relatives that we don’t see all the time. The wedding was amazing, although a bit hot. The next day, several of us headed up to Lake James for a day of R&R. I anticipated quite a stressful day being on a lake with my two little non-swimmers, but I was pleasantly surprised how calm everything was. Life vests helped calm me, as did the boat ride that put the toddler to sleep within minutes. (If only a boat ride was available in the middle of the night!) The lake has the ability to put a spell on you — even active kids — and make you relax.

We ended up staying way later than I anticipated — we just couldn’t leave this beautiful place. We stayed until the very end when the sun set deep into the mountains.

Wonderful.

Photos used with permission. Thanks, honey! Copyright (c) Christopher M. Murray. All rights reserved.

The Pioneer Woman had a photography contest on her website (notice how quickly I’ve adapted to the new AP style for the former Web site!) and it gave me the idea to shoot my own green photos and post some here on Earth Day. While mine are not nearly as amazing as the ones submitted to TPW, I had a good time being out and taking some shots.

I love how this vine is wrapped around the fence post. What I love more is all the color in the background.

Green, yellow and purple. It’s like Mardi Gras in April.

Just another shot of the green up close with the color in the background.

This plant was really unusual and i love the texture of the leaves.

This one is all green, but I saved it as black and white for variety and love how it turned out with the lights and darks.

I just love tiny feet. They are so incredibly cute. They even smell good.

What’s better than seeing cute, tiny little feet in the sand?

This photo was taken just over a week ago in North Carolina. It was the tree outside my hotel window. I just love being able to see the small, drops of water on the thinned out branches. Makes me think of winter.

I know it’s nearly December and the Christmas decorations have started to pop up, but last week I found some beautiful trees with their last bits of fall color in Western North Carolina. Here’s some amazing red color that I captured from one tree — this is for you Stacey.