fall, so far: walnuts, those green and mowed fields, beautiful light , and more morning mists than usual

    We are beginning the leaves-fall-off part of autumn but there has already been a lot of beauty and action.  Thanks to morning drives while taking care of the family chickens --- my daughter and her family were away for a few days --- I saw more mist than I might have.  True confession -- I don't often get out early of a morning like I used to just to make a photo.

    Posting on my blog every other week, however, continues to present the challenge of getting everything in I want to share because there can be too much to choose from --- not necessarily a problem, but occasionalIy I like to mention the way I work. Or don't work. I hope the info is sometimes interesting.

 

   First, two views of the enormous number of black walnuts this year!  Amazing! 

The walnut tree just standing there, taller and thinner and separate from other trees, and a major bird perching place.

 

A bit more of an arty photo, same tree, maybe a day later, but I was standing in the same spot for both. Look out underneath such beauty!  And thank you, chickens, for getting me there in that light.

 

 Next: one misty morning, with the mist hiding the usual view, I was so surprised to see how different this place looked that I see every time I drive away from home.  (I showed this photo a blog post or two ago.)

 

Here is what it looked like the following evening!  The cows are not there, but what can I do about scheduling cows!

Other scenes during this time:

along Route 504, a version of earlier photos

Then this is from the same place, looking back where I had come from. The mist is rising here, but still not where I go next.

And this is a big year all over Kentucky for fungi, mushrooms, etc.!!

    

 I did visit some neighbors this week, and this tiny pumpkin display was in their living room. Usually she has a pumpkin to give one to every grandchild, but this year that hasn't worked out.  But I loved seeing the variety and design of these little ones .

As I left their house, I decided to make a short video of their "back yard" -- and I hope to provide it -- as well as another one as I finish up for tonight.  Actually, I have "lost" the video I thought I had... Will redo it soon.

So thanks as always -- I enjoy the sharing.  And I end with my familiar and repetitive encouragement to be generous of heart and get vaccinated, please, please, please!!  NOW.  Stay alive!!  Keep others alive!

 

All on an October day

         Yesterday was filled up!  I went to Lexington to take part in the nationwide rally for women's reproductive rights.  (I also went grocery shopping at the Good Foods Coop where George Ella Lyon and I met up to go to the rally together downtown.)  On the way home I drove along our ridge in great evening light so I had to risk my life a bit to take a few photos --  I can't help myself.  When I arrived at the house, I could see that Preston Netherly had been by that day to do the October mowing of my field. I was barely in time to see it with the hint of lovely mist.

 

This is my favorite photo from the rally -- I didn't take all that many.

mother and daughter

BACK ON THE RIDGE, NEAR HOME, though not in chronological order:

PLUS:

brand new neighbors!

For now, the mowing happens twice a year. 

Once again, I hope every one who can be is now vaccinated, for the sake of each other.  

At the same time, thanks for sharing an unusual day with me. I appreciated the energy I received at the rally!  I also am grateful for the beauty around me where I live.

More in two weeks!  Ann

Slight delay, but here's some words and photos, two weeks and a day since the last time...

    I have been out and about -- Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.   I've seen beautiful flowers, and some hillsides covered with kudsu:

      There were mountains to cross, fabulous back roads, people to answer my questions along the way, an outdoors memorial gathering to celebrate a life well lived and loved, in addition to visits with good friends -- in SW Virginia and SE Kentucky, where I am this day. I continue on to Lexington tomorrow and home I HOPE tomorrow night.  This trip required wearing many masks, and giving reduced hugs, if any, and using safe protocols all along.  Still it reaffirmed that conversations are even more valued than ever, and I sure hope no more unnecessary deaths happen when those who can get a vaccine don't bother to do it.  PLEASE DO IT.

    One special geography event happened while driving through Tennesee -- I crossed over the French Broad [River] six times! I wasn't able to take photos, except when I discovered a no longer used "Boat ramp".

    

I will finish this later tonight - I am about to go for a ride on a KAWASAKI MULE through damp and beautiful Kentucky trails through the forest where I am on this wet weather day.    Be safe everyone. 

the morning room in the Inn where several of us stayed in North Carolina -- warmed coffee cups!

WHAT I AM SEEING WHILE WORKING ON THIS POST.... "Don't even think of using this chair! "

September! 2021! The world is being tested! Me, too!

    There has been one thing for sure -- a lot has been going on.  And there are strong feelings about everything.  

    Just for the record, I am distressed about many things, like school starting and there's not yet a vaccine for young children and yet some schools have faculty and staff who are not required to have gotten the vaccine! What are they thinking!  We wouldn't even be here on this earth if we hadn't taken the multitude of vaccines developed over the years. I'm old enough to remember not being allowed to swim in pools in order to avoid polio and an iron lung -- until the vaccine came along.  I was tested for our current virus this week, just to be sure about an incident, and all was well. It took 3 minutes.

    In many countries, many people have helped Americans do the jobs they were sent to do. Now many of them need a safe haven here in the USA. We are about to have our country enriched by what Afghans will contribute to our national life.  It must be wrenching to have to leave one's native land, leaving every familiiar thing behind.

     I don't understand why there is so much angst about a woman making choices about her own body.  Men do it all the time. It's very suspicious that it is mostly men who push for policies that don't apply to them.  Also, speaking broadly, I don't see much action or even concern about providing care for kids once they are born.  

    Then we have been reminded about storms that are increasingly fierce, and vast areas that are confronting drought and fires, all over the world, not just in the USA, while waters are rising from one shining sea and many others.

    Anyone who reads this probably knows every bit of what I have mentioned, but these past weeks many issues seem to have felt more loaded and interconnected.

    Enough of the tricky stuff of great magnitude, for tonight anyway.  I do have a few photos to share.  Doing this blog every other week now gives it a different rhythm, and it is takiing me awhile to adjust, after doing it weekly for the past 11 years. In any case, after this "big picture" stuff, I have a few simple details from daily life.

Cloud of the Week

Wildflowers (weeds) of the Week

Talk about a SPECIAL DELIVERY!

Olive Hill, Kentucky

    Recently, TOM T. HALL, a well know country singer and teller of stories in his songs, died in August. He came from Olive Hill, near where I live. It's not a fancy place, but there still some tributes to him in the downtown area. Our family has had some favorites by him over the years, mine being "Sneaky Snake".  I had made a quick visit to the Post Office and saw this then.  Next I went to the Mexican Restaurant, while I was in the "big city!"

 

    I also saw some cattails in a border planting near by.  Looks more like a hot dog to me than a cat tail, however, but what do I know!!  

    Then, at home, there was the repair project on the steps the previous owner of my house had made. Rumor has it that he loved working with the stones.  My friend Carolyn took on this task, since 1) she is kind, 2) she is very resourceful and grew up on a working ranch in Kansas, and 3) she likes to try new things.  The picture of her shows which step needed to be worked on.

 

 

I actually did this part, but not until the sun had gone way down..... We had 12 hours of rain ahead of us, so it seemed better not to drown the still wet cement on its first night out....


OK, now for a short video, during one of my evening walks on my deserted road at that time of day/night.  As always, I never feel confident it is going to work but it usually does. 

summer sweep up 2021

    Tonight is another attempt to share a sense of things, but there won't be a video segment.  Instead, the reality is that there were many good times this month, but I would also run out of energy.  And it didn't help that the weather stayed warm and there wasn't rain to keep the pond cleaner..  (No hurricane here, such as HENRI, now in New England.  It has taken me back to my childhood which had Long Island Sound as a part of it.)

     I had hoped to have figured out how to transfer photos I use on Instagram to this blog.  I want to share some of the early Instagram photos and the captions I use.  It can be done. It will be done. The only way I learn is to try to do it.  So maybe by two weeks from now, by the next post, I will have figured it out. I share all this "behind the brain" thinking because it's part of what photography brings to my table.

    I hope my family and friends in New England are safe and have electric power tonight, but the odds are against every one of them not losing electricity power.  ( I just hope the Congress doesn't lose its power, while the struggle to guarantee democratic voting continues.  So much is at stake. I also welcome new refugees to our country! In fact, we need them here, just as we needed them in Afghanistan. We are better because we are a nation of immigrants, as has often been said.)   

Photo roaming, from small bits up high and on down, to the floor, with cousins:

laying out your cards

 

the one day we could use the pond:

 then some small moments at the small pond at my house:

            

Be safe, believe in science, wear a mask in school, & Happy Birthday to twins Laura and Leah!,