Lent Photo-a-Day 3/12: Stop...and Smell the Daffodils

"Keep on the Sunny Side"
Sunny daffodils brighten up a gray day in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
© 2015 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved
Back when I was an undergraduate student at UT, I remember making a weekend trip to Cades Cove in mid-March -- a season I had not visited in previously. That was the visit I discovered the daffodils blooming near the cemetery at the Methodist Church, and I fell in love. The following year I carefully timed my return just to see the naturalized flowers herald the arrival of early spring in the Smokies. Since that fateful day, I have tried my best to get to Cades Cove to see the daffodils as often as possible. 

 The removal of grazing cattle led to increased growth of shrubs and trees near the Methodist Church so the flowers aren't as plentiful there as they once were (yes, I'm sad about that). A hillside of blooms near Hyatt Lane is now my favorite location, in part because there are so many flowers there and in part because of the panoramic views from "daffodil hill." Even on a gray, overcast day like today, the masses of sunny yellow daffys brighten the scene. They remind me of a great song, made famous by the Carter Family years ago, called Keep on the Sunny Side of Life.

There's a dark and a troubled side of life
There's a bright and a sunny side, too
Tho' we meet with the darkness and strife
The sunny side we also may view
[chorus] 
Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life
Tho' the storm in its fury broke today,
Crushing hopes that we cherished so dear;
Storm and cloud will in time pass away
The sun again will shine bright and clear.
Let us greet with a song of hope each day
Tho' the moments be cloudy or fair
Let us trust in our Saviour alway
Who keepeth everyone in His care.
Written by Ada Blenkhorn in 1899. 
Music by J. Howard Entwisle.

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