Favorite photos from 2016, part 2 of 3

post #317 (interesting to begin 2017 with post 317, and therefore to have ended 2016 with post 316...)

       Welcome this chilly first day of 2017! I'm glad I took last week off, though I'm proud to have done this blog every Sunday for 6 years and 3 months, missing only 4 times. I really enjoy pulling a blog post together.  
       Starting in the middle of January I am going to begin a digital photography class at Morehead State University. I suspect I will learn a lot that I don't even know I don't know! I am so looking forward to it and to sharing on future posts some of the projects it requires.
        Today I want to share more of my favorite photos from 2016. Last week I did some of the portraits, and today I want to do some of the outdoors photography from near where I am privileged to live, and some of the neighborly reasons I am grateful to live here.

redbud branches, barn roof, porch roof

There is quite a bit of luck in getting a different-than-usual image of dogwood flowers! So this photo brings me happiness.

We left this skull alone for months after we found it here in early spring along the creek. We wanted to see over time how it would return to the earth.

Exploring rocks and woods happens during any season.

 

Ann C. and Capp Y. visit the waterfalls when there was just a trickle. Come again!

looking in another direction from that same place

What makes the mystery of timeless beauty from two stones near a stream?

Will this winter bring those snows of last winter? I was told these are deer tracks going up our steps overnight.

The second annual memorial ride for Garry P., along our ridge and at his house:

Natalie warming up for the walk, in Garry's barn

Garry loved his family and his horses.

I so enjoyed this gathering as well -- George Ella Lyon Day in Harlan (Harlan Co., KY) and the audience's deep connection to a native daughter being Kentucky's Poet Laureate. This is what dreams are made of.

         I have to admit that I originally took the last photo (below) because I thought it was funny.  Now, after the election this fall, I can only wish it were funny.
          I find that my hopes for the New Year are also the stuff dreams are made of.  May all citizens of our country communicate better with each other, may we have equality among differences and not be afraid of someone because we are told we should be, by someone seeking power by telling us how to think or feel. May there be a recognition that we need cleaner air, cleaner water, and safer food, none of which can happen if we rely solely on outdated fossil fuels. May greed not determine a person's worth, may we look after the least among us because we are all connected, and may we simplify our lives so we can hear our own selves think and feel.  We need to be present for each other.  
        Well, that's the idea of what this sign now carries for me. A big load! It would be nice if we could all admit there are things we don't even know we don't know, (as I said about my upcoming class) and then trust our own path and the path of others as we try to engage in a world that needs help from all of us.