Memphis

One of my best friends and I met for a weekend in Memphis. Besides eating wonderful food and browsing the bookstore, we spent most of our time looking at art and gardens. We saw the Jacob Lawrence exhibition at the Brooks Museum of Art, toured the Memphis Botanic Garden, and went to the Civil War exhibition and gardens at The Dixon Gallery and Gardens. I would heartily recommend all of these venues, but if you only have time to do one thing in Memphis, go to The Dixon!

Because I am contemplating a camera upgrade, my friend Sarah loaned me her Nikon D70 to try out for the weekend. I took these photos and many more in the gardens, but these were some of my favorites. The red sunflower is from The Dixon, but the rest are from the Memphis Botanic Garden.

The butterfly was in "the butterfly garden." My friend had just remarked that she didn't see any butterflies when she suddenly saw it. At first, she wondered whether it might not be real, but when I moved in closer to take a photograph, it fluttered its wings.

The swan was in the lake of the Japanese Gardens. A Korean couple was rehearsing for their wedding ceremony to begin shortly. The bride looked like a beautiful, large flower in her bright pink and blue gown, and I hoped that the swan would glide gently over the waters behind her for the wedding.

It was a lovely weekend spent doing some of the things I love most in life: learning more about art, gardens, theater, and photography, and sharing all of this with a most wonderful, steadfast friend.Thank you, Eileen.