April 4, 2009

Dogwood Blooms & A Surprise Gift

dogwood blooms have arrived in east Tennessee
We have returned from our little jaunt to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park! We had a lovely time, and it seems like we were gone longer than an overnight trip. Our blooming dogwoods greeted us when we returned. Isn’t that a pretty cluster in the above picture? I will be going through my photos from the trip and share some in the days ahead!

In the meantime, I have a little surprise gift for a dear blogging friend. I purchased a book, Mountain Home: A Pictorial History of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This special 75th anniversary publication contains over 300 rare photographs of the people of the Smokies, gleaned from Park archival collections, the Smithsonian Institution, and National Archives.

Mountain Home: A Pictorial History of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
I hold my regular visitors in a special place in my heart, and I appreciate their encouragement and camaraderie. So I decided to hold a drawing for those friends who have commented on my blog more than five times since March 1.

And the lucky winner is…

Congratulations! I see from your profile that you homeschool your children and have a love of American history and heritage. I have no doubt that you will enjoy this beautiful book!

11 comments:

  1. What a beautiful dogwood picture. I just walked by my dogwood a few minutes ago and notice how almost all the blooms are gone.
    Glad you had a great little trip - Hope to see pictures soon!

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  2. It's Beautiful in here!!!! Blues and CHOCOLATE!!! The blossoms photo is Gorgeous! Must of been a Sight to see! Lovin' It!!!
    That's a great gift sweetie! She should really love it!!
    Happy night sweet thang...I'm gonna drift off on one of these clouds now...Peaceful!!!!hughugs

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  3. Hi Donna,

    Your blog is looking mighty Springy(is that a real word LOL). I love your photos, did you take them with your new camera? The blog header is beautiful. That is such a nice thing to have a surprise bloggy giveaway! Congrats to Bittersweet Punkin!

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  4. I wish I could have a dogwood here in Illinois. Haven't been able to get one to grow in my garden (but I have a pagoda dogwood, whose flowers are not the same.) Thanks for sharing your pic!

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  5. Hey, sweet ladies! Yes, I decided to change things around a bit with the decor. And the header is a picture I took earlier today of cherry tree blossoms. The dogwoods are looking so pretty right now!

    I was giggling when I got the book because I had planned a giveaway for my faithful friends. You never know when you might be next, LOL!

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  6. What a thoughtful thing to do. I hope you were able to give your new camera a good workout with the lovely scenery!

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  7. Glad you had a great trip, Donna! & I love your dogwood! How beautiful, would love to plant a few this year :)
    Happy Sunday!

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  8. What a lovely change of decor! Your new header photo is really beautiful! And the friendly clouds in your sidebards are great too.
    Have a nice weekend!

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  9. Beautiful blossoms and they look great on your heading. Looking forward to your traveling pictures...always nice to see what's on that side of the country.

    Happy spring ~

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  10. Those blossoms are very pretty Donna. They make a great spring header.
    What a sweet lady you are to give away what sounds like such a wonderful book.
    And thanks for visiting...lovely to hear from you.

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  11. Thank you so much!! I am so looking forward to looking through it with my kiddos!!

    Yes...I do love all things American History!!

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Marty, here! Donna loves comments, and I faithfully pass them on to her. Thank you so much for visiting!