This is the time of year when cotton is harvested here, and you can often smell the cotton seed oil aroma before you even see the field (I like that smell). It looks almost like a dusting of snow, doesn't it?
Located in Rossville, just outside the Collierville and Piperton area, Tom's Farm has long been our favorite destination for choosing our pumpkins, gourds, and Indian corn each Fall season. You can find their address and contact information here (be sure to check out the aerial view of the corn maze!).
All of our beautiful photos today are courtesy of a sweet friend and regular reader, Glenda/Mid-South. I recently put out a call for someone to share photos of the beautiful horses that had been placed around the Germantown area for the past several months, and she enthusiastically and graciously agreed to share the photos she had taken of them.
Didn't she do a wonderful job capturing these horses in all their glory? The horses are the creations of local artists and were placed around the Germantown Charity Horse Show arena in June, and later around the city of Germantown after the Germantown Charity Horse Show had ended. 
Some citizens expressed wishes that they might become permanent additions to the city...everyone has enjoyed their presence so much. They are being auctioned for charity this weekend, and I'm so glad that Glenda captured their beauty in her photos so that we can remember and enjoy them any time we wish.
My observant and thoughtful husband noticed that the horses had been displayed one last time at Saddle Creek Mall in Germantown this weekend. We took photos of each horse yesterday, and my father went with us. I think that he enjoyed them as much as we did, and we took some photos of him by one of the horses, too. He took my sister and niece to see them today, and they enjoyed seeing them, also.
I will be sharing photos of each of the 20 artists' horses, including photos of the detail of their beautiful work, occasionally over the next few weeks, and I hope that you will enjoy seeing them as much as we have in this area. 
Once again, thank you so much to our friend Glenda for her great eye and generosity, and this great preview of some of the horses commissioned for this charity auction. We so enjoyed your photos!!If you are near the Memphis area during the fall season, be sure to drop by the Collierville Town Square. The city employees do a wonderful job decorating the entire charming historic area each year, and it will certainly get you into the fall spirit. I will be sharing more photos of the Town Square area soon.
Once again, thank you so much for the kind messages! I didn't realize that CityDailyPhoto had added me back onto their link pages, and it is so nice to see everyone again! Work is overwhelming this week, and I will try to catch up on my correspondence in just a few days.
This has always been one of my favorite times of the year in Memphis. This is the season when everything is so green, it's still not too humid and hot to get out in the middle of the day, school is just about to get out for the summer, and the magnolias are in bloom. Aaaahhhh...
Another view of one of my favorite places, the Japanese Garden of Tranquility at Memphis Botanical Garden.
Railroad tracks in historic Collierville, just to the south of the Collierville Town Square.
Feeding the Koi is a favorite activity for visitors to the Memphis Botanic Garden. The lake in the Japanese Garden of Tranquility is brimming with Koi, who enjoy this activity even more than the visitors, as you can see in the second photo.
Hello! I've been away from the computer for several days, so I figured I owed you a few photos in this post. This is the Tennessee Bicentennial Iris Garden at the Memphis Botanic Garden. It was the first garden at the Memphis Botanical Garden, and the plantings are primarily the results of donations from the personal collection of a Memphis family. The sculpture in the center of the fountain is the Iris Goddess (first photo above). Most of these irises bloom in mid-to-late April, but some also bloom in late autumn.
My father and I visited the Memphis Botanic Garden last week, and were delighted to find the iris garden in full bloom. The Iris Garden is quite large, and centered around a fountain with a gorgeous statue in the middle. I will try to share a few photos of this beautiful spot in the next few days.
When I posted recently about the nesting Canadian Geese in this post, several of you asked for me to please update you when the babies arrived. Well, this weekend we spied this lovely goose family enjoying a family outing on Chickasaw Gardens lake. Definitely an "awwww" moment for DH and me, and I hope for you, too.
I also want to introduce you to a blogging friend of mine, Pat, who is an excellent photographer, and an even sweeter and most genuine friend. I have known her through her personal/homemaking blog, Back Porch Musings, for over a year, and now she has a new photo blog. She took that gorgeous lily photo above. You can find her photo blog, Snapshots from the Back Porch, here. Every visit to Pat's blog is a delight, and I am always inspired by her beautiful photos, and I think that you will enjoy them, also. When I have a few more minutes, I will be adding her link to my sidebar. Please stop by and enjoy her beautiful photography, and welcome her to the photo blogging community.
We stopped by the annual Collierville festival, "Fair on the Square", for some traditional spring fun with lots of food, talent acts, arts and crafts, and of course, lots of animals.
This is the Oaklawn Garden residence, built in 1854. 
They don't make 'em like this anymore (as the railroad caboose is now found in very limited numbers)...but you can find this Norfolk and Western Caboose (1944) anytime in Harry Cloyes' collection of Germantown artifacts at his home, Oaklawn Garden. He and his wife, Becky, generously open their garden and vast collection for the public to enjoy each day, and have bequeathed their home and garden to Germantown (just outside the Memphis city limits) for future generations to enjoy. I will share a photo of the Cloyes' home, built in 1854, tomorrow. You can see why this garden was a favorite spot for my boys to visit...Mr. Cloyes' collection of railroad, municipal, and military artifacts delights both little boys and grown-up boys alike. 
This is the original jail for the Germantown community, which can be seen at Oaklawn Garden, the home of Harry and Becky Cloyes. You can see photos of Mr. Cloyes here.
