renewal season during these serious times

post #483
        What I planned to do was to go out today and share new flowers and/or trees in bloom. I was trying to speak to how we have more reason than ever to live in the present. Deal with the day we're in. Pay attention to what are the important things to do and acknowledge our immediate priorities.

        But it has been super windy all day long. This does not make for good photography. So I chose to improvise by choosing photos I have from every year for the end of March -- give or take a day or two from March 29.  I became very curious about what I would discover.

        It so happens that out of the last 10 years, two of them had a lot of snow at this time!  (2018 and 2014)  Two other times I was away, once in Massachusetts with our daughter and her family, and once in England to visit my stepmother there. Also I've gone ahead and included a photo of the extreme wet we experienced in 2015, and some sheep that I loved being with while in Massachusetts.  Part of living well in the present is to go along with the flow, right?

      SO, here's some random photos never necessarily ever meant to be grouped together.

2009  X 2:

earlier photo of the legacy steps

2010   
 

crocus near the house

These used to grow in abundance, close to the house.

Bluets, or Quaker ladies, not out this year yet

 2012:

a good year for daffodils and for growing a granddaughter....

trillium, not yet in bloom but still lovely

2014:

bird feeding evidence

my neighbor, June, on her 80th birthday

big year for turkey visitors -- no dog around the house at this time

 2015:

flood waters at the Forks of the Caney, in Elliott County

very early redbuds

tiny first flowers in the woods -- name to be added as soon as i am absolutely sure of it

        I'll be working more on this post tomorrow, but at this very moment, it's time to call it a day. I'd like to dedicate today's effort to the many members of my Friends Team with whom I talk often, when I can, and who keep me honest and laugh at my jokes. Sometimes I actually forget that I am currently here by myself all the time and trying to do what Andy tells me.  (I guess I should consider our Kentucky Governor as part of my support network!)  May we be a better nation as we become more seasoned, and I hope spring's coming can be a blessing that will nourish each of us. 

the promised (last week) feeding frenzy session

post #480 -- sunny ALL day!
            Well, birds it still is -- the ones that just happen to stop by when the light is OK for shooting through a window. Again, I am NOT a professional bird photographer, someone who has super fast lenses and who would never deign to shoot through a glass window. But how can I not at least try to do it if it's the only way possible  --  right outside the bathroom window on the second floor of our house.  A very young grandchild was staying with us at the time, so she got to see the whole show while it was happening -- for over 20 minutes. (That includes waiting for the parent to come up with several refills.) I am not posting all the photos, but enough for you to get the idea and to share the wonder of it if you are so inclined.  My thanks to this hard working downy woodpecker family!!

Surely I am not forgotten??

work, work, work

Golly, this food prep wait goes on forever!

I know that you know my turn is next!

 

If it's not one, it's the other!!

 

I felt like I had my very own fledgling teaching me patience.  F, thanks for borrowing my camera!

What are you complaining about??

Am going to miss my mates and my mom and my dad.....

           
          Kids - appreciate those prepared meals before all the work is left up to you....

Earth Day, April 22, 2018

post #383
       Busy day today -- starting with time in the woods with my daughter and granddaughter. There are some flowers, but not as many as usual, and the trees feel late as well -- not much greenness yet.  It was a rough cold long winter. It seems to me that the world climate struggles to make the many adjustments that are part of the honest-to-gosh climate changes that are happening.

      A few photos from a day that was supposed to be cloudy (and therefore better for photos) but today was, in the end, pretty sunny. Still, it was a good way to spend Earth Day.

starting out, with the two dogs

a loyal Murry moment, by R. 

T. leading the way

wood betony, yellow, along the path, surrounding a single bluet

       

Actually, there were a lot of fiddle heads (new fern leaves) but we didn't pick any to eat.

There were not many trillium out yet! These are white ones, kind of basic, always lovely.

wild yellow violet

photo by R of a mayapple, with its flower still just a tease in the center

photo by R., happy hikers

A girl's gotta keep up with her recording and notes while out in nature.  Does anyone recognize my college reunion hat? now belonging to a better head size than mine? T. prefers the bow in front.

boots in the creek

I was trying for a photo of her upside down so it might look as if she had lost her top two teeth instead of the bottom two.... I know, crazy of me, and I didn't quite get the look I had in mind. That's what I get for trying to pose a photo!!

           So, another Earth Day has come and gone, and I still can't figure out why it's so hard for some people to accept that climate change is happening and could be less of a mess if we'd all pay attention and take responsibility for our one and only world. Is it really so hard to imagine what could happen if we don't rise to the occasion? Soon? Please, everyone, think about it with an open mind.

NO RAIN for a few days

post #376, 3/4/18
       Today I so wanted to post 10 photos of blue sky. What a happy, encouraging sight after weeks of mostly clouds and rain. Instead, since all that blueness might be boring to look at, here are some variations of my inclination. I hope everyone is by now reconnected to the grid and moving on, with thoughts of climate change firmly in their heads. Denial doesn't do much for our children's future.
      SO, first, my morning moons -- an accident to have caught the moment! I love learning about reflections and what comes out as sharp in a photo. l began with my iPhone, and then looked again with my Canon. I couldn't work fast enough to set up a tripod at that time -- my bare feet were already cold from being on the wooden deck around the second story of my building, and the morning was quickly growing brighter.
       

  (I've kept this dark since it was dark, so this is approximately I was actually seeing.)

Later -- simply blue sky. How beautiful. How appreciated at this time!

And the wonder of a shining sun and SHADOWS. OMGoodness!

 The weather has been challenging in Europe as well, especially in England but also in France. A close friend there found this view so unusual that she sent me a photo from her back yard. She lives in Rennes, in northwestern France.  Thank you, Mariko.

       Perhaps I need to sign off for now with three glimpses of my grandaughter during some of her time with me this past week:

visiting the neighbors and meeting their newly adopted extended family member

fixing up HER favorite chair in the living area of my gallery house

 

The other chair is MY favorite, but it was also redesigned and reconfigured by her....all in a morning's imagining.

       Note: My plan for the next few posts is to take photos of some of the note cards I have been selling over many years. I realized recently that I assume I have done something like that on this blog, but I have not. Yet. I look forward to sharing my titles and the stories behind some of the photos. Thanks as always for coming by to visit on this blog.....