walking where a poet works

post #352
       Recently I had lunch and a walk with friends W. and T. who live on the Kentucky River. Their part of Kentucky is not in Appalachia, but, in our state, artists, writers and social action people are very connected and supportive of one another. It's one of the amazing riches that our state seems to create. I met W. with other writers and photographers he had gathered up to begin some awareness of the terrible harm done by mountaintop removal mining. Articles, poems, books, and artworks grew out of this shared effort over a long period of time. Yes, MTR mining is better known and understood by now, but the clean water and community health issues continue to be as urgent as ever. Many of us continue with this work and more.
      After our lunch and the visit part, W. went back to work, and I took a walk. It's wonderfully flat there along the river. Here are a few photos that I made just because I was happy, grateful and energized to be there on such a beautiful afternoon. Thank you, friends, as always, for your kindness and generosity and caring about so many things.

what's hot on a winter stove in August....

This looked like a grand palace entrance to me....

 

I love a gate and always have.

       On the way back to my car, I suddenly felt I wanted to try to capture where I was as if in a dream to take with me to revisit. So, first, here's what my eyes saw, there on the poet's path, and then I made a photo how it "really" looked as I got ready to return to a more public place. I have no idea if it works for anyone else. But, believe me, I loved giving it a try.

        There is so much to say. I hope my photos speak as well as my words might. 
        I'll save my thoughts about what goes on in the world until next week. Thank you for visiting my post this week.

post-Thanksgiving post

post #313
       Not able to let this season go. Still wondering if I should have had my small field bush-hogged this fall or whether a spring mow will catch the encroaching woods in time. Loved the huge moon week, especially driving all the way back from Lexington in the light of its glory. Knowing next weekend is the annual Arts and Crafts Fair at Morehead State University, where I have shared a booth with the very talented and fun Jennifer Reis for years -- but not this year since I continue to work on my major move which has brought on a total review of everything I own, saved, or didn't know I had.  This is good. This takes a lot of time. This needed to happen. Anyway, I plan to go to the Fair, and I encourage everyone within range to go see what's showing. I hear that more artists/crafters than ever before applied to take part this year.  9-4, Saturday, at the Laughlin Health Building on the MSU campus. Tell Jennifer I encouraged you to go to the Fair to check out her art jewelry and knitted items!
       I know I said that last week's photos were the last fall ones for this year, but then I saw what I saw. ... So the photos today are from this past week.  The first ones are from our pond, and the dog is my daughter's:
 

Who cares if the pond is chilly??!! A pond is a pond is a pond!

same reflection from two vantage points on the dam for the pond:

During a walk near to where I am now living:

I could barely see the mist with my bare eyes, but it was brief in any case. 

SIDEWAY GALLERY -- my Gallery/home from across the road. I am so fortunate to have found this place five years ago, so close to where I lived until this fall.

 Then there was the walk in the woods while the Thanksgiving turkey was cooking:

Lots to be grateful for, lots to wonder at, and lots to look for if we pay attention. I want to give special thanks for all the friends nearby who have been helping me so far in this physical changing of places I've been experiencing -- Doug and Karen, Ann S., Molly, George Ella, Melva, and, this Thursday, Bob and Carolyn -- and especially Rebecca, Jeremey and T., whose patience and steady assistance have made it all possible. More on all this later - it is not over yet!  See you at the Fair, Saturday.

Beech trees -- autumn's parting glory in eastern Kentucky

post # 310 
          This fall Appalachia has not had as much vibrant color as usual. We're inclined to attribute that to the dry weather we have had for weeks and weeks. HOWEVER, Friday, totally by chance, I had made plans with my photo friend Debbie and her husband to introduce him to our waterfalls, and we were treated to great light and lovely color! The beech trees were making up for everything else. Debbie and I had our cameras, of course, and it was all so unexpected and amazing. Every photo on this post today was made during one mostly cloudy mid morning walk and talk and ooh and awe.  Enjoy!

These first three images were right at the beginning of our walk. What a welcome to the woods!

   Next: two views along the creek of the deer skull that I have shared in an earlier post this year. I think I adjusted the settings on my camera in between these two shots, so I include them both.

       Despite some light rain the day before, there was very little water in the creek and none coming over any of the falls. However, the dampness of the leaves provided a rich and reassuring aroma.

I am standing at the top of what we call simply the second waterfall, though it has several levels.

       Next is the third waterfall, though again without water at the moment, except at the base. The woods here have plants all year round that are native and undisturbed. We call this area the big waterfall.

       I wasn't sure this photo would work, because of the sun breaking through, but for some reason it worked just fine. A major happiness.

My daughter and granddaughter, age 5, had joined us by now, and they decided to explore the facing hillside. (The big waterfall is to my right, and I have shown other photos of it over the five years of doing this blog.)  I love catching that bit of red.

    I didn't take many photos, but I hope you enjoy seeing here most of the ones I did. I loved being there with Debbie and Bob, and doing the extra seeing that one does with a camera.

Celebrating being back in Kentucky, with family, in the woods

post #305 (almost FIVE years of weekly posts!!)

       We went for a walk this morning, before the heat of the day. So I decided to post these photos right away, of the woods and waterfall (without water) and other such wonders -- a dozen photos. And I'm going to try for single word or phrase descriptions, just for fun. Lately I have been a bit verbose....

en route

dry creek bed

still there

deer tracks?

intrepid

lunch counters

climber

second version

waterless, still big

Four photos by Rebecca, with thanks for taking a turn with my camera:

faithful friend

heading home

emerging!  

 

a brief side road - during six days in France

post #190
        I expected to wait until finishing the Route 32 photos before sharing my current trip, but I just can't.  I am eager instead to show at least a few of the photos from where I have been this past week.  I set off to visit my stepmother, who is British and lives in the Cotswolds, but I also had wanted to go again to France where I was an exchange student in high school, for a year.  I have been close to the family I lived with ever since -- which means for over 50 years.  I took a lot of trains from here in England to get to several places in France, but I love trains so it was a big treat -- a lot of work to figure it all out but nonetheless a treat.  It helps that I still speak fluent French, rusty though my vocabulary may be.  
        Now that I am back in England and have been reunited with my laptop, here are snaps I took during a wonderful walk in the country outside Mulhouse, in eastern France.  Maud, my French "sister," knows the hikes near her home very well.  I loved that we headed out to where she knew we would see some STORKS.  And we did!  Mulhouse is in Alsace which has always been famous for storks and for their nests perched high on some building.
      It was a beautiful few hours.  I hope the photos share my delight being with Maud in a new place on a lovely Saturday afternoon.

       This is the front door of Maud's house.  We drove not far from here to get to the area where she often hikes:

        We parked here, near a church and cemetery which face the Vosges Mountains nearby and the Black Forest in Germany across the plain of the Rhine River:

     We were soon walking along a system of dirt roads for the farmers in the area, surrounded by a variety of crops, mostly corn but including vineyards.  I have taken these photos to show to my neighbors back home who also farm.

woodpile art!

   We soon saw this apartment house with a nest -- and a family of storks!

   
 Another one in the area took off and flew over head before landing:

       There were other kinds of animals as well belonging to these farmers - or maybe a single farmer.  For me, it felt like a surprise around every corner.

bee hives

 Then, on the way back:

   J'ai de la chance, n'est-ce pas?  [I am fortunate, don't you think?]