Several months ago, we introduced the Puzzle Pieces series, hoping to share what we love about our homes, to bring out more knowledge about various areas of the country we all love. We have fallen behind in the series, so I thought this patriotic weekend would be a good time to get back to it.

I would like to share a little history, a little folklore, a little of my love of my home state, Georgia. (more…)

“If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.”  The official state motto of Michigan encourages both visitors and residents to enjoy their surroundings.

 People who have never visited my home state think of it as an industrial state, home of the Big Three auto makers, so this statement may seem strange to you:  Michigan is one of the most unusual of the fifty states.  It is split into two peninsulas, and is surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes, giving it 3,200 miles of coastline, more than the Atlantic coast of the United States.  It has a beautiful and diverse landscape – virgin pine forests, beautiful waterfalls and inland lakes, fertile farmlands, and the tallest sand dunes in North America. (more…)

Friday afternoon I decided to return home for the weekend through some back roads in the Smokies rather than the faster method of the interstate. It took me four and a half hours instead of the usual two and a half, and it was an afternoon of pure pleasure. Let me tell you a little about my former home state, the state I was raised in and called home until 2001. But first, spend an afternoon in the beautiful Smokies with me.  (more…)