The Lily Barn 2015

Harmony lilies

The Lily Barn --Peak Season 2015

Wednesday July 2, 2015

Dana Koogler

Pictures are here starting with frame 80

(images are a compilation of various trips with the most

recent being from frame 80 onward)

The Lily Barn 2015

   

   I love where I live. I love the Great Smoky Mountains. I love Townsend and 

all the little tucked away places to visit.   I go to The Lily Barn  just about every year

during peak bloom which is around July 4th.     It is a lily farm and perennial nursery.

It is also an event center owned by Dr. Janice Filmore.   As long as they don't have

an event going on it is fine to stroll the grounds or picnic there.  They have always 

been most welcoming and gracious.    It will always be a special place of quiet meditation

for me.  It is a photographers dream!  

      I had an appointment yesterday and home obligations, but I was trying to squeeze in 

some time for myself to do something fun.  I needed to rent a carpet cleaning machine.

It occurred to me that they rent them at Village Market IGA in Townsend.  I decided I'd do my grocery shopping in Townsend and rent my carpet machine there too. It would give me the needed excuse to drop by The Lily Barn seeing as how it is peak season! I spent an hour and a half strolling the grounds and taking pictures.   It was like a mini vacation from chores! 
Even the drive back through the holler to reach it is quiet and pretty.  

     I rounded a curve in the road and as I caught sight of the place my heart leaped for joyand my eyes welled up with tears.   I always love this time of year when I Consider the Lilies.
They break my heart and I can just imagine Jesus sitting here in this place telling the parable
of how God clothes the lilies more splendidly than any human garments.

27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?   Luke 12: 27-28

I think I may get this one printed large size and frame it.  Such beauty! 

      

Waves of color.  







Lovely shades of orange.


Golden lilies


The Lily Barn itself.

Creek winding through the grounds

Zebra grass, phlox, yarrow, hostas, and cone flowers.



Peach lilies, lambs ear, and river oats.  River oats are beautiful and they are a native species.
I recall sea oats at the beach on the dunes, but river oats are our own native plant that helps secure river banks. I first saw them last Summer along the Caney Fork.  They are very delicate and beautiful in their own right as well as serving an important purpose.


Hedge Maze. In all my previous visits I never noticed this before!
It is small, but very pretty.


Down the primrose path.  White phlox, Red Lucifer Crocosmia, blue ballon flower, orange blackberry lilies, pink crepe myrtle.


Blackberry lilies were everywhere!  These were popular with the old settlers of the Great Smoky Mountains and Cades Cove area.   I think they bloom at some of the old home sites in Cades Cove.
I plan to plant some late this Summer/Early Autumn so they'll bloom next year for me.





Lotus pond and water gardens.


I am including some directions how to find and visit The Lily Barn.
Please respect the grounds and abide by the rules of avoiding the place when they are hosting
events so that it remains open to all to enjoy.  Please patronize them and support the local economy
by purchasing their plants and using their services!?

From Walland head into Townsend along Hwy 73/321. Turn LEFT onto Webb Rd next to the Phillips 66 gas station. Cross the bridge and proceed straight out Webb Rd. which turns into Carrs Creek Rd. Stay on the main road for about 3 miles and it is on your RIGHT. It is free to visit. They sell lilies and other perennials.

   I wrapped up my day by tearing myself away and going to the store in Townsend after that
carpet shampooer I had nearly forgotten about.   I was dumbstruck at encountering
Rush Hour in Townsend!  There were exactly five grocery buggies left to use when I went in the store!   Even so I had a great time even in the grocery store.  Everyone is so friendly and sweet.
If every rush hour was like this what a world we'd live in!

Cathy and Curtis' Wedding

Cathy's beautiful bouquet

Curtis and Cathy's Wedding 

Saturday June 27, 2015 

1:00 pm

Mountain Valley Wedding Chapel

Pigeon Forge, TN

Cathy's Wedding Pictures

   

  Today I had the privilege of attending the wedding of my best friend to her new spouse.

I didn't want to cry, but I did a little bit anyway.  We both did. Happy tears though.  

I have been friends with this lady for sixteen years. I have her cousin.. Kelvin Taylor to thank for that!  KT and I became friends first then we all became friends meeting up for our first camping

and hiking trip at Hanging Rock State Park.   My family enlarged that day because they 

became my extended family. The ones you get to pick out.  Not the one  you're born to.

The importance of that could not have been fully known to me at that time.  I watched

Kelvin's prayer warrior mom pray daily for me and my family through some of the darkest days of my life. I give God the glory, but she helped move His hands to restore my own marriage and broken home to health.   That was the start of the blessings on my life.

             Cathy is the kind of friend everyone should hope for.   We go periods of time without

seeing one another but when we meet up no time has passed.  Sometimes we see each other frequently.  Other times not so much.  She has held my feet to the fire on important issues in life

and corrected my path and errors with convicting scripture.  She has shared experiences out on the trail with me. She has prayed with me.  She has seen me through some dark times and faithfully prayed over my son that he would recover from substance abuse and thank you Lord he did!

         Cathy had been seeking a partner for life.  She is a Christian woman and we prayed about it

for a long time.   Last year there was a possible answer to those prayers, but something took place before us both and we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this wasn't the guy.   That was hard. 

That hurt her.   When God shuts one door he really will open another one. A better one. 

The answer came in the form of Curtis Boyette. She met him in Wal-Mart!    I won't say love at

first sight, but immediate recognition that something special was happening. Instant attraction and instant realization on by all parties that the Lord was in this.   

            They started dating in November and the rest is history!

Their story is still being written, but meeting him for the first time was a blessing.

I knew right off I was going to like this man. He is hard not to like.  I gained a brother.

He has a wonderful sense of fun and play and he treats my friend like she is made of gold.

You know its going to be ok when your best friend's groom is carrying on like he just won the lottery!    I also knew when I stood by him and told him "You realize you are the answer to a prayer?"

And he said I know!  and he really does know.  I love him already for loving my friend. My sister.

     They are perfect together. May God bless their lives together and continue to grow our family and make us fit servants for his purpose.

Curtis and Cathy Boyette

My favorite photo of them because it shows that they are in the mountains.   That's where she always wanted to be!