late summer 2019, heat and all

post #437
        Lots of words last week. Today mostly some photos from this past week. I'm slow to get back into my photo groove. And it has been really hot outside. But there is no question that I love looking closely, noticing things, being hopeful, thankful, and amazed. 
       Yet, even so, or maybe because, please bear with me, it also makes me uneasy.  This week I want to believe there is a way to stop the Amazon Forest from burning up. Why, again, hasn't it been obvious what our responsibilities are to the next generation? 

butterfly visitor, to the past-its-prime joe-pye.

          Now that my big field is getting mowed twice a year, with a tractor, there are so many more flowers for the bees and bugs. A lot of living goes on in there between the mowings.  Each year it gets more beautiful, to me.

August concerns and life's threads

post #436
       I try not to go on and on about American politics during these posts, but at the same time I feel I have an unusual responsibility to all the visitors to this blog who are not living in the USA. I've decided it's all right to speak up every few months, at the least, about how so many of us Americans are in severe distress at the constant attempts around us to destroy democracy. I feel truthfulness needs to be celebrated instead, and honored, even as many, many of us wish this wrenching situation would all just go away.
       From the beginning of Trump awareness, I have considered the constant lies, the constant inability to acknowledge a mistake, the constant use of chaos to divert, etc. to be signs of mental illness, not of leadership. Even a simple public statement -- like "I am the least racist person in the world"-- has to be a brazen falsehood since there's no way for any one to know who is the least -- or the most -- of anything.  Proclaiming such to the world is instead a confirmation of what has to be called a serious disorder. I certainly am not comfortable with such an unstable person being technically in charge of the nuclear button, to say nothing about separated young children at our borders, or decisions being made by others about my woman's body. 
        Dear readers from all over, I want to be clear that many, many of us are doing what we can to bring back civility and trust and caring, including the essential work needed to heal our wounded planet. How can so many deny the possibility of climate change? of science? of human kindness? Maybe some day we will even be able to figure out how any politicians could willingly ignore how consequential this ongoing national travesty is to the fabric of our nation. As an American, I long for healthy leadership. I long for calmer seas (and ones not laden with plastic.) I long for sanity.

         These three paragraphs above have been, of course, just my personal plea. It will be the voices of all of us that will make the difference. 

finally bales this year, on the way to town

deer neighbors on Sideway Road

Here's a sky view, along Sideway Road, of the pipeline "path" to the far field in the middle of the photo. I love the color of the sky captured in this photo during an evening walk.

In Lexington, on Saturday, near the large annual Woodland Arts Fair, I saw "my" book cover in the window of Black Swan Books, along with 7 other books by Wendell Berry. I was totally surprised to notice it (near where I had miraculously found a fabulous parking space.) However, the day was way too hot for me to hang around to make a better photo.

OK, those were some random photos, to top off all my banter about what needs to happen to make the world a better place. I have also found out this afternoon that my son and his family have climbed Pike's Peak these last three days! They live in Colorado, and the two kids are 8 and 10.  And my daughter and her family have put up tons of basil from their garden and made a place for their two ducks to swim.  (These ducks live with the chickens. They think they are chickens. I think it is called bonding.) Then there were three loads of laundry hung out to dry on their line in 90 degree heat and other such activities on a "non-workday". Also, this afternoon our Kentucky public television station ran a long concert version of Les Miserables, which I couldn't help tuning into at times while working on this post. I mention all this to express how grateful I am for the opportunities I have had and for the choices I have been able to make. My pleasure in doing this blog for 7 years is one way I have to share some of that feeling with friends and strangers alike.
       Please note: this Gerbera Daisy appeared on my porch early in my broken foot days this spring, but I still don't know who left it there! It's now blooming again. Hopeful events are fine with me.

What I thought would be a simple post.....not

post #435
        This blog is also about photography, and yet I realized I had never shown some of the work I have done.  I decided today to share several photos on covers of books, and some author photos. These never pay the bills, but they're very satisfying.  And a good source of stories. And fun. But they may need some explaining.

       This is the first book George Ella Lyon and I did; its part of a series of autobiographies of authors of children's books.  I took some of the inside photos. However, I didn't know her in her younger days, so I used her photos to make a collage cover.  She grew up in Harlan, Kentucky, and I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, but we both had the same FIVE YEAR DIARIES!!  The one in the cover photo is actually mine, since she burned hers up while in junior high. This is the first time I have told this truth in public.

       

This second book we did uses only my photos, but I didn't decide which exact photos would be used or what the design for the cover would be. That was done by DK Ink, in New York.  Again, each photo has a story. Someday this year I hope to put the photos that are inside the book on this blog. They were slides, and so far I have not digitized all of them.

      I also have taken photos of George Ella which can then turn out to be useful as part of her publicity.  Sometimes they end up on posters, or fliers, or in a magazine.  We find that they work best if it happens to be a good day, with lucky circumstances -- like the ambient light. This image showed up recently on line  for Geroge Ella even though it was made years ago.  I still love the smile she has in this photo.

Wendell Berry is so much fun and such good company. He is known for not using computers, but it's a good thing I already had this image on my laptop -- because it was January when he needed to suggest another photo to his editor for this cover, soon to be printed.  I heard "Do you have anything?" and I could say "yes!" Again and always, a story.

This is actually the first cover photo I did with him; it was for a reprint of this early poetry book of his.  I thought these hay rows looked like lines from a poem!  (His publisher is Counterpoint Press, now in San Francisco.)

Somewhere I have the original photo, in color, but it's quicker today to use the photo from the jacket. I wanted to include this photo of my sister here because she was very strict. She knew exactly what she wanted. I couldn't make a single suggestion.  At least she claims to like the photo. (The title of her book is Flying Close to the Sun.)

Appalachian Heritage has a long and "storied" tradition in Kentucky. It features all kinds of writing and some kinds of art, like photography. This issue has my photos, and George Brosi was the editor at that time. I'm including below a photo of the back of the magazine -- it's not so usual to have a photo on any back, so I thought I'd indulge myself tonight.

George Ella emailed me that if I'm going to show two photos of her that I should at least put in one photo of me at work -- made by her.  So here it is! Thanks, George Ella, and don't you think it's a lovely miracle that we have had so much photo fun over the years?

    This last photo on today's post was made outside the lodge at Kentucky's Natural Bridge State Park, where George Ella had just given a workshop.  Again, for me, it's her smile during this unexpected and unplanned moment that makes it all work. Maybe her love for singing and her guitar helped as well. Who ever knows. She had needed a PR photo around then, so it worked out well.  She has been asking about our doing an updated new one, if we can ever be in the same place at the same time. That helps too! Stay tuned.

Grayson Lake, midsummer, part 2 of 2

post #443
       I love having these additional photos to share from our afternoon on Grayson Lake. However, first I'd like to explain briefly about the lake. It's located near Grayson along I64 in northeastern Kentucky. It was built by the Army Corps of Engineers; it didn't exist when I first came to Kentucky as a teenager.  The cliffs in these photos would be "taller" if I could show their underwater sections as well. It's the reason the kids can swim right up to the side of the cliffs. We don't get to go out often enough on a boat or canoe or kayak.
       The shape of the lake on a map looks to me like an extremely elongated serpent. Also in the general area is Carter Caves State Park, which features underground caves. We don't have much coal in this part of Kentucky, though there is some. Mainly there's lots of beauty.

        Well, that's enough for explanations. Here are more views from last week's boat outing:

fishing, sort of

Even a place so large and relatively remote suffers from thoughtless trash.

 I do love the cliffs, including the details.

Thank you, Rebecca, for being picturesque AND for making your photos!
 

Rebecca using her "good photographer eye"

Two photos by Rebecca:

       I hope this post today provides a bit of lift after more gun violence this past week, and more lying and bullying from our president.  We had no way to get news all that afternoon, even if we had wanted to. I don't mean to be a spoil sport, but, as citizens, we should never pretend there aren't needless and abnormal behaviors being thrown at us every day. We have to persist. Thank you for caring.