another spring theme, with a very random collection of photos

        Spring is a favorite time of year for many of us, in Kentucky as much as in other places.  I am inclined to have a little fun, though, with these ten photos that don't usually see the light of day. Celibrate the season, and be thankful for all the essential work it does.

I wish Kentucky were at least a purple state...

annual northern flicker visit, en route, and rooting

dogwood 1, with blooms

 

 dogwood 2, with dog, but no blooms yet

blue herons, busy with their nest egg(s), in New Haven, CT  (See bank below.)

 

 

 

roadside bank, moss and more moss

down by the big waterfall, which we would have a hard time getting to this year

 

 

 

 a true wall hanging, seen from my front door

 

     

I can't resist sharing this old photo that I happened upon this weekend.  With spring on my mind, the title that came to me is something like "four spring chickens, now no longer spring chickens but still laughing anyway."    

thanks for the visit, Ann

admitting how much I still need to learn

post #477 -- warmer today, but still feels like winter. 
          Between the cold weather, some ice, and changing schedules resulting from being wary about the roads -- plans changing and such -- my photo making has been somewhat reduced.  Even so, after gathering some recent photos to share today, I noticed that somehow I must have changed a setting on my Canon -- the images don't have as many pixels as usual. I have no idea what happened though I'm pretty sure it's pretty obvious to almost anyone.  Luckily I am friends with almost anyone, so I look forward to learning more about my camera. I just mention all this because my blog intro, from 8 years ago, states these posts are about photography as well as about Appalachia; I get to share the glitches as well as the glamour of doing photography.  
         So some snow, ice, shadows in my attempts to capture the unusual:

      Still near home, the view from the mailbox after the ice and during the days of snow:

       Watching the red-bellied wood-pecker using the porch post for a seed opener.  There's just the single bird of his kind, or otherwise I'd have to discourage him from his efforts.

   This is the view beyond him, still during the snows.  No longer any ice on the pond, but now the driveway is covered, overnight.  No shoveling required.

       During this series of crazy weather days, I took a walk in a nearby field, scouting out the goings-on, looking for clues.  I believe this is evidence of deer:

                and this is evidence of beauty along the road, along the bank by the road.  It's all really just hanging there. It's wonderful to see the intrepid greens.

 

        During these last couple of weeks, we had a great visit with N and H -- walks in the woods with cats and cozy moments on the couch.  I was able to see them more than usually happens, and I'm glad I managed to make two good photos of them. I'm thankful for family.

       I wish everyone safe travels, good health, and relief from floods and the many kinds of storms. I'm thinking this day of friends in England and Scotland, during the major winds and rains they are having.  I copied the following photo from a news story about England.  I admired the photo, bracketed by the ducks and the woman on the phone -- one of those lovely photos of something terrible.

photo by Oli Scarff/ Agence France-Press, Getty Images

Miss Elaine E-us

post #462. 
       My plan for today was to feature photos that I want to share but which have never had a place in any of my "themes."  It turns out I am not fully ready to show those yet. So, instead, here are some of the unconnected photos I also want to post.  They may be strange bedfellows, as the expression goes, but so be it for today. (It's possible that all the current impeachment upheaval, sadly, is having repercussions in my own day to day life, just from trying to make sense of so much that is terribly hard to reckon with.)

So, some quiet moments, for now, with additions for this post during the week to come: 

sometimes known as Quaker Ladies

This moss was in bloom, for a day or two, and one year I happened to see it!

In London, at the British Museum, some books we might never GET AROUND to reading....

my Norwegian friend Reidunn with the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum

standing room only....

This past week, George Ella's beloved editor, Richard Jackson, whom she worked with since early in her publishing career, died in Baltimore, MD. He took a chance on me for the photos for George Ella's Counting on the Woods, and I am one of many who loved working with him. He will always be a treasure.

summer

our old barn in winter (not made as a black and white photo)

nine for now, more to come, laugh with a friend today, and have hope

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Monday's Add-ons:

Friday's Add-ons:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY this week to this garden maven!

moss and more

post #418
             I have been rather extravagant lately with so many photos at a time, so today is a kind of pull back, a balance. It does go along with my increasing awareness that we live in a world that is threatened. That is, its health is in jeopardy. This is not necessarily due to anything the earth has initiated. 
           Instead I am stunned by how many humans, each one here temporarily, are not willing to help it out and recognize the need to take better care. I think that my concern and angst comes when there is widespread denial of even the possibility of the calamity that lies ahead. I don't think denying the documented possibility shows any kind of acknowledgement that each of us possesses a good brain. How come so many, say,  Republicans, for example, chose to ignore what science might tell us? Are they just afraid of not being able to avoid the truth?  What is there to lose by increasing the studies scientists make concerning our climate? our air? our water? I just don't get it about the joy of ignorance.
           Recently I feel I want to figure out how to do my part, better.  I'm not a biologist, but I love noticing what's in the natural world. I'm not any kind of scientist, actually, but I am a photographer. This week, as I thought about all this, it was warm enough outside to take a walk, and I saw these wonderful mosses. I know they have a part in this world, the one we need to be making whole. 
           As I seek to learn what is my particular place in this work all of us humans can do, I'm happy to share these striking greens, just being themselves:

 Then there are always other interesting sights nearby, such as this one:
 

     Sometimes life gives us unexpected treats. With that in mind, I would like to give a shout out to my young friend Isabel who has been working for me a day a week! She is terrific, and her computer skills alone have helped me so much.  In this photo she is cleaning off some old family slides that turned up, with Pec 12 fluid, which smells bad but cleans well.... Thank you, Isabel. I am forever grateful our paths have crossed.

breaking for spring

post #380
         This time by "spring break" I mean that I'm taking a break from posts featuring my note cards.  Instead, today, I am posting the photos I made in mid March, mostly ones down by the creek. In the time I had I couldn't find any early blooms, even though it was technically spring! However, there are always things to see, no matter what the calendar shows.

         First, to set the scene and to go with last week's duo, here are additional winter photos, also taken in March:

early morning clarity on the 21st

Three days later, where's the driveway this time?!?

blanketed, in the back, nearby the barn

 Celebrating a day without rain, snow or whatever by walking in the woods:

winter feast collections

evidence that the rattlesnake plantain survived the winter, as always. This phrase I lifted from the internet:
This evergreen orchid is a perennial rhizomatous herb of the forest floor. It's an ORCHID! I didn't know!

Later I saw another grouping, this time with the stem left from 2017.  I tried to focus the photo to be mostly on the stem so that it could be seen better.  Even with all the walking that happens on the path to the waterfall, these common plants seem to thrive. In fact, I wonder if we spread them by chance with our walking....

These two photos show the creek when it joins another, all on the way to the waterfalls. I was standing in the same spot for both photos, about to cross over the creek below to follow the path.

All kinds of moss are along the bank on the non-stream side of the path.

And of course there is the wonder of clear water flowing, in the creek.

I wish that all creeks could be so pristine and safe, for the sake of wildlife and for the sake of human beings who live on this planet. I am still shocked that one of first thing negated by the new administration in D.C. was the stream saver bill, which took years of work to get in place, which made common sense, and which would make such a difference in the health of people who happen to live near where mining happens.  Actually, since we all live downstream, the new regulation would have helped generations of families who want to make Appalachia and Kentucky a better place in which to live and work.  I think about this every time I see this little "beginner stream" carrying clean water out into the wider world.

I discovered this collection of treasures on the steep hillside near the first waterfall, in the base of a very tall tree. I would have suspected little creatures at work, but when I asked my granddaughter later about what I found, she told me she had indeed done it! I loved finding it.

And I saw this second sighting on the way back, on the path. As I often say, you just never know.

Am writing this on April 1, so I am looking forward to a month of flowers and surprises. Since moving to Kentucky 45 years ago, April has become my favorite month; it's so beautiful. These photos definitely benefit from being seen larger -- try the click on one, see them all line up in order, and then find the one(s) you want.