Good morning!
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Love your “haint blue” porch ceiling. I thought that was a Southern practice… and term. I have a blue porch ceiling too. 
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On our tour of Savannah, we learned that people thought that color would ward off evil spirits (“haints”) so they used it on their houses. I had never heard that before!
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Yes! That’s it!
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Never heard that term before! I think pale blue is just a traditional classic porch ceiling color (and it’s common up here too). I had no idea of the reason it was traditional!
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Now you have a new topic of conversation when sitting on your porch and sipping lemonade tea or Mint Juleps.
Haint Blue: the Sky-Inspired Shade with a Unique Backstory – Clare.
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Never heard that term and don’t live in the South but I painted our porch ceiling that color because I thought it would be good to sit under a nice blue “sky” of my porch and watch the grey rain pour in the front yard! 
The builder thought it needed to be painted white!
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What shutter speed did you use for the fountain photo? I really like how it came out!
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Thanks! It was 1/80 at ISO 400, hand held. I had just spent several minutes googling how to set the shutter speed so I could try the fountain at a slower speed than the auto 1/1000. I’m oh yeah, that’s right, the unmarked black dial. It’s a learning process. It was much easier decades ago with my old Pentax K-1000.
I was inspired by the posts earlier today saying people didn’t get the hype about the Grand Canyon. This route was South Kaibab → Tonto → Bright Angel, and pictures are in the corresponding order. There were awe inspiring views almost through the entire route. The magnitude of the mountain high structures doesn’t come across well in pictures, so you need to see it in person to get the full experience.
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Take it from someone who’s been there (multiple times), you don’t. Your pictures are plenty good enough. 
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@Data10, the Grand Canyon was at the top of my bucket list for years but I never got to see it. The question remains whether dh and I could still make this trip.
If by still making the trip, you mean the hike in the canyon, rather than the travel to the canyon; there are a variety of options for all ability/health levels. One can simply drive or take shuttle to view points, without much walking. There are also many miles of paved trails on the rim. If you want to avoid the crowds and tourist feel, the trail to Shoshone Point has extremely little traffic. It is ~2 miles and flat. It leads to an amazing view point, with cliffs on 3 sides.
The best viewpoints are undoubtedly within the canyon, rather than on the rim. However, there are many options to stop and turn back before reaching the bottom. Popular stopping points from South Kaibob include Ooh Aah point (2 miles round trip, 700 feet) and Skeleton Point (6 miles round trip, 2000 feet). I looped back via Tonto trail, rather than bottom because the route from Bright Angel to bottom, after Havasu Gardens, is currently closed for construction. This route is ~13 miles, 3500 feet (if you loop back at Tonto, I continued down to river before looping back). If you instead do a loop from the South Kaibob → Bottom → Bright Angel, it’s ~17 miles, 5000 feet or ~20 miles, 6000 feet for rim to rim. There are also options for mule rides up/down or mules carrying gear, as well as splitting across multiple days, staying in the Phantom Ranch lodging at bottom.
Many people have strong reactions to the experience – either positive or negative. The polarity seems more extreme than other areas I have traveled.
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I don’t have details but my friend recently did a trip to the Grand Canyon that included a scenic train ride. She raved about it.
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I don’t have details but my friend recently did a trip to the Grand Canyon that included a scenic train ride. She raved about it.
I expect it’s the train pictured below. It starts in Williams and goes to the Grand Canyon Village South Rim area. Once at the Canyon, you can get around with the free shuttle system. It’s a ~2 hour ride one way on train vs ~1 hour if you drove, and the train returns back well before sunset, so you are trading a lot of daylight hours for the experience. I stopped by the hotel (for dog kennel) when the train was leaving. It seemed to be extremely popular.
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We’ve done the train and would recommend it as the most comfortable way to see the Canyon.
During the holidays, there is a special run of the Polar Express out of Williams to the “North Pole” that the kids love – except for our then four-year-old who complained loudly when Santa boarded, “That’s not Santa and this isn’t the North Pole, just a bunch of fake buildings.” Nice.
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Do you know what company?
@Data10 , you are so kind to share all the info. Thank you!
I’m planning on taking that train soon!