Road trip, non-photos, part 2 of 2

post #388
       So let's take up this story in Springfield, Missouri, where my cousin Doug -- who looks just like his dad who was my mother's brother -- and his family live and share a house with his wife's mother, 3 cats and a dog. This was my first visit ever with him. We stayed there a short 24 hours, but we were busy -- Cathy and I toured the University they are connected to and the great Nature Center -- where I actually took a photo with my iPhone of a chart showing what poison ivy looks like along side plants that may think they look like poison ivy. I am no longer terrifically endangered by P.I., like I was as a child, but I do the magical thinking that the fact that I don't get P.I. any more must mean I haven't identified the plants correctly. So I now have the photo of that chart on my iPhone to carry with me. (If I have made adequate sense in this telling, it's a miracle.)
     At the house, we learned a lot from the family geneology Lois had been doing, and Doug shared his various ingenious uses of computers and speakers and devices. Awesome talent.  He says he has a t-shirt that reads "No, I won't come to your house and fix your computer." He was kind enough to answer a few questions I happened to have about my phone... and he took each of us for ride in his beloved "old car," Cathy was able to do a Walmart run with him, for something needed for her new phone, and later I got a quick tour of the neighborhood with him. I am going to show three photos that Lois took, of me stepping into the car, etc., having great fun and appreciating his patience with my "undignified" behavior. 

         That night we had a light supper and the night in Kansas City, Missouri, where Cathy's friend, Carol, joined us after arriving in town at 11 pm on the train.  Early the next morning we three drove to the Kansas City International Airport, which meant only a half hour for me in the back seat. Carol is a Union Organizer, and knows all the airports and all the tricks for mapping trips on her phone. I believe her call name must by "Never Lost." I was let off to take a plane from there in order to get back home.
          Please note that the only reason I took the plane was that there isn't any other option! Not to where I needed to go. Not even any buses. How sad. I used to love the occasional long bus ride, and I am a big fan of trains. 
          To make the rest of this story short enough, I will just add that my flight from KCI went to Charlotte, NC, very smoothly flying over Lexington, KY, where, as I wrote last week, my car was. I was supposed to catch a flight from Charlotte to Lexington, yet all of a sudden the word was that the Lexington airport was closed down and there would be no flights to there for 24 hours. So close was I to going, and now so far.
           I had no interest in staying in Charlotte, so I managed to figure out how to get on a flight that evening to Louisville. I had no idea what to do after that. Luckily I hadn't checked a bag. The supervisor at the American Airlines desk in L'ville, however, told me I had just missed their bus going to Lexington. But, even so, she managed to get me a paid taxi ride to get there! Weird but wonderful.      
          Along my way, then, to find the taxis, I had a conversation with two guys from Ecuador, one of whom spoke some English. It turned out they needed a ride to Lex. for the same reason I did, so I invited them to join me. It ended up working out even better than I expected. I was just trying to be American hospitable, but they helped me, too. Then, about 40 minutes into the hour and 15 minute drive, I found out the taxi driver spoke French and so do I. I think he was African, and his French was great. He was thrilled, as was I, since usually it's all Spanish. Then, for quite a while, we had three languages going as it got darker and darker out. I would tell the Ecuadorians how beautiful the horse country was on either side of the road we were on and it was too bad they couldn't see it. What could have been a travel stress-out turned into a lovely and very interesting experience! 
       That's enough to get the idea of things. I am glad to be home, and, in fact, I am just finishing this by sitting in a chair outside my house, watching the darkness increase. There are no bugs, and no wind and it's all very peaceful.  But for sure it's good to get out and have an adventure every now and then. 

a week of non-photos

post #387

Today I’ve decided to share how the non-photo life can be experienced by photographers who always see stuff but can’t always immediately make art. For you, my readers, it may simply feel like a litany of photos I didn’t take. But for me, the week has been unusual.  The incentive for all this was to take part in a road trip my sister, Cathy, had planned, starting her trip in New York, driving to North Carolina with a friend and then coming to Kentucky to see me before heading to Missouri and Lincoln, Nebraska and then back home via Indiana and Buffalo. Lots of miles!!

My part started when Cathy and her friend, Judy, who was doing the first part with her, came here from Tennessee after being in North Carolina.

Once Cathy and Judy finally arrived on Monday -- escorted by a neighbor in a pickup truck, leading them from the local store because Cathy had lost her phone that morning and didn’t know where I now live or even what my phone number was but she remembered the store and my name.... Cathy and I had to go into Morehead right away to the Verizon store to replace her phone. They did retrieve her phone numbers, and she kept the same number. Sorry, but I think it’s amazing. And time consuming. Meanwhile Judy cooked up our supper. Bravo, Judy! None of this, needless to say, was of direct relevance to the art part of my life….

Tuesday there were the usual demands of the day, including my finishing reviewing an article, for its English fluency, about Vitamin D that a German friend sent me out of the blue. Cathy spent time setting up her phone, and Judy met a friend at Morehead’s renowned Folk Art Center (which may be closing because of the pinching of funds for public universities. Thanks for nothing, politicians.) Late afternoon we three went over to where I used to live and we ate supper on the porch with R, J and T.  Luckily, this happened after the shower of rain that ended in time for a quick walk to the first waterfall before dinner, but with no time, however, to do the noticing a good photo usually requires, especially when there is a threat of rain. I still haven’t heard how many photographers ruined their cameras during this year’s very wet Kentucky Derby!

Later, at home, there definitely was no time to make a photo record of all that I left undone before going to bed that night, even though I well knew we were leaving early in the morning! Ha!

Early Wednesday is when I left the battery for my point and shoot on a table at home…I guess it was on the way to being recharged but never made it to the plug. It really needed that recharging. I had finally decided not to take my big camera with me because of the heat this time of the year in a closed up car. My photography friend John F. would be rolling his eyes at me, but this time it really wasn’t worth the risk since we would be living out of the car for several days, a car without a trunk.

The morning was spent taking both their car and mine as far as Lexington, where we left mine at the Lexington airport. Then the three of us and our bags squeezed into the little car for the hour and a half ride to Louisville, which included a deluge that required us to pull off on to the shoulder and wait it out. I couldn’t even change positions in the back seat well enough to take an iPhone photo of the storm. 

We left Judy and her baggage at the Louisville airport so she could fly home. A changing of the guard. Cathy and I spent the next four hours driving halfway to Springfield, Missouri. The road was lovely and country and no big trucks. No time to stop either, however. Miles and miles on Route 60 west, and more miles, through the southwest part of Kentucky that I rarely see, yet there wasn’t time or reason for photography. We stayed in a motel en route, and the next night we were to stay all night with our cousin, Doug, his wife, Lois, and her mother, Priscilla. We got lost (near Paducah)! We got found! We got lost (in Springfield)! Finally Doug had to talk us along the final part of our route to their home. An urban sister and a rural sister hit small city challenges! No street signs! No unusual landmarks! Once we arrived, we started right away catching up on multiple family stories since we are a spread out kind of family. What a treat.

Oh yes, at one exit in Kentucky we had tried to find some special bourbon to fill a request from a close friend of my sister’s, but we hadn’t done our research ahead of time; what we found was essentially a factory. Not very picturesque from the outside. Sadly I missed the whole Bourbon Trail.

This might be too long a piece for my blog, so I will leave the last two days for next time. There are some unexpected adventures still to share – in words that imply a reliance on the images we each form in our own heads.

However, I just have to include a single photo by my friend in Germany – obviously not one I made! I thought it a beautiful moment looking out into their back yard. Thanks, Juergen, for sharing this, and for all I learned about Vitamin D.  Really.

May moments caught on my iPhone

post #386
       Two weeks in May, when we finally had spring and quickly moved on to summer!

The dogwoods finally bloomed, in the woods edges nearby.

many bluets this year -- sometimes known as Quaker Ladies

          I needed to pick up some framed photos, in Paris (Kentucky) at Frames on Main, and on the way home, on Route 460, I discovered the Montgomery Green House -- with a single sign and a dirt road to the top of the hill.  LOVED IT and the sound of cows in the barns. While checking out, I was surprised to be recognized -- by some retired teachers who had been checking me out... It turns out they had heard me years ago do a presentation about Counting on the Woods. Who knew.

        The first week of May is big on birthdays around here. My granddaughter and a friend decided to share a birthday, with each one, however, decorating her own cake.  Luckily all the families were able to switch days at the last minute, from Saturday to Sunday, because of all the rain on Saturday. This made the requisite walk in the creek even more fun....

beach theme!

         I recently had my first appointment at the brand new St. Claire Medical Clinic. It is full of windows and space with lots of seating -- and since I was there mid afternoon on Friday, I kind of had the place to myself at one point.  All in all, a VERY IMPRESSIVE change, and, I hear, much appreciated by those who work there.

        Later that same afternoon I took a friend for a drive, and we cruised the Fish Hatchery out near Cave Run Lake.  Something has happened to all the Canada Geese who used to live there, eating the fish that were "maturing" in multiple rectangular ponds, but today we saw only three "families". Each had several fledglings. Because my car doesn't have a trunk to protect my camera from the heat I had not brought my good camera.  So this is what I would call "an evidence" picture. We were there:

A recent evening walk along my road.... lots of pollen this year:

pipeline views....

         Well, truth to tell, I also had a birthday during this time, and after an unknown-to-me orchestrated effort by friends and family, I received as much personal mail in my mailbox over ten days as I have received in the previous 5 years of my existence!  Thank you all!!  I have two things to show here -- first a collage of many of the different stamps that arrived!!  Real stamps!! Forevers and forevers!

          The other came from my friend and neighbor, Jean, who delivered this card to my mailbox one evening.  I could NOT figure out what was inside the envelope. What a lack of imagination I sometimes have.  It is hard to describe this work of art, so here is a photo, again with my iPhone.  Wonderful, wonderful, and hilarious. In fact, I think the photo might have been sharper were I not laughing even when I made the photo.

   I do enjoy the ease of my iPhone, and so here, to express my thanks to it, is one last photo, made while my overworked sometime companion was getting a charge. Thank you 6s, and I hope you are having some fun along the way, when you aren't either lost or forgotten.

This is what my iPhone sees while charging in the kitchen.....

Always the right time for a few more flowers...

post #385
      There's also no better time to see if my laptop is feeling more energetic than it was a week ago for transferring photos I have to my blog post....
      Today is beautiful, after a lot of rain yesterday. However, I don't think we received as much rain as fell on Louisville, Kentucky, home of the annual Kentucky Derby. It seems they have never had a soggier time for this Big Moment, without fail on the first Saturday in May.  I haven't yet talked to photographer friends of mine who were there to make photos. I hope they and their cameras survived -- with a sense of humor -- intact.
       OK, today, what can I say, more flowers are coming your way:

Milkweed in late spring, with what is not a Monarch Butterfly.... Perhaps a Painted Lady?

These aromatic beauties have lots of names, many containing the word Lily, such as Resurrection Lily. However they are sometimes known as simply "naked ladies"

This is joe pye weed, in the wild, near where I live. 

And this is also joe pye weed, as part of an English country garden.  So what does "weed" mean??

spring beauties, early emergers, so to speak

A redbud tree celebrates spring by producing these lovely pink/purple flowers directly from its trunk or branches.

Eventually this flowering produces an intense marvel signally the start of spring's showy season.

This is one of many photos of Lady's Slippers -- I will need to do an entire post sometime about them.  I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut and lived on Lady Slipper Lane, which was off Mayapple Road.  I never knew that a mayapple was a flower until I moved to Kentucky!  The area was pretty rural way back then, but it is now a woodsy subdivision.  Luckily I grew up across from a large swamp which gave us endless thrills as kids. It seems to have been a protected wetland because it remains a swamp even now.

pond side weeds, catching some leaf time

daisies sharing the sun

plus a daisy solitaire

I believe this is a hibiscus bush, in my friend Jean's yard. I include it because I love the way this photo shows the gathering of family and friends for the annual horse ride to honor Garry Purnell, beginning and ending where he had lived. The tribute t-shirts are the same color as these flowers. I don't use a tripod during such occasions. I simply appreciate sharing the day with everyone -- except I don't ride a horse.

I guess this is plenty of flower photos for now. I hope there's time soon for everyone to go out and look around.  We still have dogwoods in bloom, for one thing. Happy spring seeing to all.