captured at last

Breaking news!

I learned in an email this morning that my spring sonnet won the challenge at (in)courage!

I will receive a $25 gift card for use at that site. Ba da bing! I'm still in shock.

And now back to our regularly scheduled post for the day.

The University of the South is situated primarily on one "main drag," University Avenue, in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is a lovely campus dominated by the Gothic-styled All Saints Chapel. It is an Episcopal school, founded by a collection of southern bishops whose dioceses share oversight and representation on the board of regents, and is also home to one of the Episcopal Church's eleven seminaries.

When you drive down University Avenue the architecture on either side of the street competes for attention. Victorian homes, large and small, have a commanding presence among the more solid structures built with Sewanee stone. And then there's this old log home with its gingerbread cornice eaves and the wisteria covered front porch. Rebel's Rest is the site of a home of Louisiana Bishop Leonidas Polk before the Civil War, and after the war the location of the first two post-Civil War log homes to be built in Sewanee. There is significance in the history of the university of its use for meetings and gatherings.

Though I lived and worked in Sewanee and its surrounding communities through three springs, I never managed to capture the wisteria in bloom. Last week's time at St. Mary's, however, afforded me the opportunity to take some time to visit it up close and capture these pictures on a clear-blue day. I have my pictures of the Sewanee cross and the chapel, and now I can close the chapter, photographically, on this distinctive place. Closure is a good thing, pleasant, even, when it comes in the form of such loveliness and peace.