Tired from a long journey...

This past Friday I got a call from my 87 year old father. He had just been to the doctor and was told that he has colon and liver cancer. He asked Evin and me to come to North Carolina to be with him during his surgery for removal of a blockage. It was not to be a curative procedure. Without it, the doctor was only giving a week or two to live.

So, Evin, the PUPS and I left Texas on a PATH that included two stops along the way. We were going to be within a hundred miles of my good long time friend, Buddy, who this past winter lost his wife Sarah to ALS. If we made the detour to Buddy's we would not be that far from a great young man, Matt, that I mentor in bird dog training. Matt finished second in the nation in a nation bird hunting competition recently. He is a rising junior in college where he just made all-conference in baseball and this summer he is working in an internship at an Orvis endorsed bird hunting plantation in Georgia.

So, with my trusty Nikon around my neck or nearby, we made our journey with two planned stops with great friends, old and new. I took the following photos for memories. It was a way to deal with all the emotions going on inside me as result of learning of my dad's health situation...

 Matt, a fine young man and bird dog trainer.

Quail Country Plantation, Arlington, Georgia

 

 My good friend of over 35 years, Buddy.

 

Again, I take the time to see Nature's beauty. These photos were taken at Quail Country Plantation or in Buddy's yard.