book covers, more spring beauty, and Bonnie's passing

           First, finding the right image for a book cover, either a photo or a painting, can be the work of many minds. As an example, I have wanted to show the book cover that was once chosen for a reprint of Wendell Berry's poems,  Farming: a Handbook.  Wendell asked me if I had any photos that might work, and this was one of them.  The cover design, however, is done by the publisher, in this case Counterpoint Press. I thought it might be of interest here to see the original photo along side the cropped version.  The size of the book and its shape are all part of that design work. The photographer gets paid solely for the image and has to accept whatever design it's now part of.        

        The cover design person and I have our names in small print on the bottom of the back cover. I'm not complaining! It's an honor to be there. And I get to think about Wendell and that book the many times when I drive to town.

        

 

more curves in the land

siblings in the daisy field

 

Last Thursday I went to visit my very ill friend, Bonnie, who was at home, being cared for by family and friends.  I have shown the gravel road to her house in two of the recent blog posts.  She died there late this afternoon, with many of them able to be there with her.  I really appreciated the call to let me know.  I thought I would include here a few photos I took recently, although I'm sorry not to have any of the flowers she loved which her sister had been tending these many weeks for her. She was always an extremely hard worker who loved farming and keeping up the home place and more. And telling truths. I'm so grateful to have known her.

   

 

I was having a long quiet visit and conversation with Bonnie's sister while Bonnie rested. The strawberries came from the garden, and they were delicious.  I ate them slowly, one by one, while we talked.This will be a hard week. Bonnie had just turned 64. She's one of nine siblings.

 

some of her cattle: the greeters

 

note:  I have another video to share, but it is too late to add it now, so I will share it next week. I thank everyone who mentioned to me that they enjoyed the one from a week ago.  I will also hope to share some additional photos I've made over the years at Bonnie's.   Ann

an ever changing neighborhood

          I think our long cool spring has transitioned directly to the full warmth of summer. Fields are ready for the first mowing, and there are a variety of farm procedures in action.  Last night I even followed the setting sun and made some photos with a camera with few frames left --- definitely not my best professional behavior.  Even so, I enjoyed being out and about making photos. However, these first three photos are ones I meant to include two weeks ago.

revisiting a mayapple patch along the road -- I then used the patch I found hiding in the woods to take the up close mayapple photos now that they were in bloom.  I didn't want anyone driving by to wonder what I was looking for -- or hiding -- under the foliage.....

        

 

one blossom per plant

        
         Yesterday I got adventurous and took a back road off of a back road, and it was a bit more precarious than I had expected, with lots of storm damage to navigate as well.  Thank goodness at least there was not any traffic, just several other cows along the bottom of the hill.

 steep flower bank on the other side of the road

last night's evening sky, along Route 504

         

 

 

And now let's see if I can load up a video of the same views, and watch how my phone did what it could for its last filming before it needed to be recharged.  As usual, I'm so used to working by myself that I forgot to add any voice over or words of wisdom.    Ah, life's sweet challenges....

I return here around 9 pm tonight, and, if the video hasn't reloaded yet, I will try a redo. In the meantime, I went for a short walk in the cool of the day, as the Jean Ritchie song says that sings those words....  with thanks to George Ella for recognizing what I was trying to convey with the quote.

Poetry and photo-trie, a connection

              I'm currently doing some thinking about my photos for a talented good friend whose book of poetry will be published within the year.  There might be one image that works for the cover of the book!  She grew on a working farm, so we agreed to start with some of my "hays and fields", which I have because they happen to fascinate me. So I thought I would share some of them on this week's blog, to kind of mimic seeing them in print.  (Summer's early mowing will start before we know it.)

 

 

 

an earlier version

made a few summers later, and at mid day, which doesn't always work this well

         

first of three -- this one has the outhouse and a tractor

This one is the cropped version of the following one.

The graves on the top of the hill show, if you know what they are.

 

Many of these photos have been on this blog before, but I have never before brought them all together. And there are more. It is wonderful for me to have an excuse to look at them, one after the other, most of them fairly near my home.  There's a reason why I never get bored driving to and from anywhere nearby. Enjoy. Be thankful for hard workers. And for poets who can do so much with words and insights. Here's to harvests all around. 

 

flowers amaze, as does my need to relearn every so often how to do this blog ....

        Long story short, now that my new phone is beginning to make sense to me, I still have to remember how to download photos with it and do a blog.  Life can be like two steps forward and one backwards.  It has been super windy here all day, so at least I haven't been tempted to disappear in the woods somewhere for the day.  I did have some Mothers' Day love and thoughtfulness, during Quaker Meeting this morning, an early afternoon visit and just now in a good long distance phone call. It can be a complicated day,  but this year -- after so much that's hard for everyone  -- I have felt more connected than usual to the wide range of emotions that showed themselves for everybody today. 

        The flowers that amazed me particularly were ones I saw over a week ago, when I was in Lexington (KY). I needed to drop off a book at the home of some friends, and I had no idea it was the time of year for their yearly showy garden display.  It had been raining off and on, but it stopped briefly so I whipped my new phone out of my pocket and made a few photos to share with them.  I felt full of wonder to have happened to be there just by chance and good fortune.

        

 

 

    Another photo group of this week is the tree debris along my fairly narrow dead end road.  A FEMA truck had been through the week before, to finish taking down injured trees.  They are now supposed to return at some point to remove as much of what's lying around as they can.  Who knows when.  Who knows how many miles of roadside there are that need the help.  Anyway, these photos are only a taste of the total job that still needs to be done around here.

 

        The last four photos are just ones I only see because I am always looking.  The first two are on a tree along my driveway. I have never before noticed this moment in the life of this tree! I wilI have time tomorrow to figure out what sort of scrub tree it is. I am stunned.          

 

 

What is this languid creature? He or she was not bothered by me in the least.

 

 

        Then there is always the unexpected sky, the compex cloud responses, and the wonder of the world we are denying needs our attention even while it showers gifts on us. 

     

revisiting late April 2016, for a really different look

        I have been curious how much this spring -- after the prolonged ice storm -- is different than other springs.  I decided I had a fair variety of photos from 2016 to draw from, plus the weather that year made everything seem so lush at this same date compared to this year.  Mine is in no   way a scientific evalutation. It is just what I saw then and what I see now.

        So, some photos from then, either around the house where I lived that year, or from a long walk in Laurel Gorge, in my county, where the lady slippers were plentiful that year.  (I have not yet been there this year to see the probable debris from the ice storm. I might have to go this week! maybe tomorrow as part of my trip to get my drivers license renewed and to see the greenhouse the high school students have established this year, with their teacher, MaKayla Rose.)

        Here goes! These are all from this time of the year, but 5 years ago.

      

 

        I have been having a lovely birthday today, so this post may have been posted later than usual. I'm so grateful for the beauty around me, and for those of you who share these posts with me. Thanks!   Ann