O MY GOODNESS, finally a new post

       It has finally happened!!!  Almost by mistake I visited my blog tonight, just to see if anything had changed that would allow me to add a new post. 

     Well, happily for me, all things appeared just as if nothing had held it back during the last several weeks!!  So I am going to go ahead and try to do the post I had planned over a month ago.  I so hope this means I will be able to return to posting every other week again.   I am excited!  Hi, everyone!!

Kentucky neighbors out the back window of a friend's house in southern Kentucky, last month

 

 

a favorite photo of a great blue heron, in a cove on Grayson Lake, during a ride in a small boat

from a walk in the woods one spring with Doug and Karen, after Doug discovered this patch of spring trillium covering a large rock, on a steep hillside

an amazing birthday card from Jean P. on my 75th birthday

our hen, our happy moments

 one moment at home, one night, one sky

 

 

 

dear friends in England, not my photo except that I love it

Dad with patient offspring, seen outside an upstairs window, during a 20 minute family feed

along the ride home from town --  Appalachian hillsides

shirt image is of Justice Stevens, my son's hero

two grandchildren photos which I couldn't resist including in this potpourri of photos

    Well, I couldn't actually do what I expected to for this blog -- another mystery to be worked on -- so I simply switched to sharing some photos I love.  All that remains now for tonight is to "publish" these without a hitch.  Thanks for sharing this happiness with me. 

      

        

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!,

    

 

still catching up

         This is my last chance (I hope) to share winter photos that are part of the SIXTEEN DAYS of ice, then snow, then more ice, that we've had.  Most of that time there was with no phone or no electricity because of the amount of territory covered in order to provide repairs.  I'm so glad our electricity is back, though I remain somewhat wary.  There are still trees and limbs ready to fall over wires. In any case, thanks be for all of the hard work across our region that eventually put us back together again. Now there are horrible floods across southern Kentucky.

         Some photos, not all picture perfect, but when the photographer is iced in, every other warm body is fascinating and picturesque.  When I first met this opossum, he or she was badly wounded with an open wound across the back. It looks like it healed, and I wonder if a white back is natural or simply showing the healed area.

If anyone wonders why I don't have my taxes done yet, they can blame the competition and surmise which I find to be more interesting....

By the way, Cardinals are Kentucky's bird.

It was very cold outside, and I assume the puffed up chest had something to do with that.  I don't have camera equipment to do birds, but I enjoy even this much of their presence.

This downy didn't move for many minutes! Did the rare feel of sunshine captivate him?

This is my favorite bird photo from the storm.

        At last I made it back home. This photo is me showing my friend/hostess, before leaving,  how I had found the most comfortable place in the whole house.  Thank you again, Tom and Molly, for 7 days of TLC.  Sorry I won those early Rummy 500 games.  Very rude of me. And sorry I didn't really get to take over your whole house.  Just a lot of it.  My blog is being contrary tonight, or I would add two photos of you making that delicious naan.

Happiness is kind friends laughing with you.

 Happiness is also seeing electricity repair trucks in every driveway when I am almost home:

 

Still spring in mid May!

post #490
           So many of us are appreciating this year's extra long Appalachian spring.
          
           I've felt compelled to document even more of this season than I usually do because there's no way in today's world to guarantee the vitality we are currently squandering. I want the beauty I perceive to be something we all share, preserve and enhance.    

           I realize that so much of the essential work on behalf of Mother Earth is not taking place as much as it needs to happen.  It's hidden behind the chaos of the global coronavirus tragedies.  Yet the longer the science of the atmosphere is denied, the greater the cost of digging us out of the resulting damage to our air, water, food sources, and nature's needs. What if we insist on education classes for all ages devoted to envisioning possibilities for the earth and figuring out how to achieve them? Vision 101, for everyone.

chives in J and R's garden

creative retreat in the yard, with some shade and access to the wifi from the house (for calling a friend) during time spent being #healthyathome for T, who's now nine.

I'm always crazy about the greens as the leaves go through their "adolescence.

H A R D

and     E V E N  H A R D E R

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last moments before the rains beat down these flowers

two views from a single vantage point

one single purple iris

surrounded by many white ones, along side of my shed, totally neglected by me.

        
          This potted plant was left on my porch a year ago, after I had broken my foot. I still don't know who "done the deed"! Nonetheless, I have managed to keep it alive! And yesterday, still in the house due to late frosts, it produced this blossom!  So, my beauty, welcome to this world filled with the unexpected.  
          Be safe, everyone, be kind, for the sake of others, especially those keeping us alive at great cost to themselves. So please do the social distancing, to help other humans, and, as always, love a tree.

expressing thanks in the moment

post #485
          I give thanks for this lovely spring, for my extended family, for friends, neighbors, my Quaker community, long ago college classmates, and for my curiosity gene and trusting heart. I want to keep things simple today, partly as a way to express those thanks, and partly just because it feels like the proper response to a world having to reexamine itself. 
        Just for the record, I don't think not having a church service -- for the sake of the health of other people -- is a strike against religion. Instead it feels to me like a gesture of solidarity with the human race, making things safer and holier for everyone, assuring there will be less lives lost. In this circumstance, I am very pro-life.

         OK, first a celebration of a favorite tree, the redbud.  This year they have been quite their wondrous selves.  Here are a few recent photos; I have others from earlier years, but that's for another time. They are early harbingers of the fuller spring beauty to come.

along route 504

        I also want to acknowledge the ongoing remarkable response across the nation to the enormous effort happening all around us. Thank you everyone who's working so hard in the face of the Covid19.  This reality is far from finished, and the need for continued patience is huge. I have a subscription to the New Yorker magazine, and I'm sharing last week's cover -- an image that speaks loudly and clearly.  Also thank you everyone who's going along with #SafeAtHome.  It's all about one day at a time.

a TV screen shot from our Governor's daily report, sharing compassion and clarity - again so many of us thank him for his reliable truth telling.

I did go 4 miles from home today for Easter dinner -- I brought my own table, chair, table cloth and silverware!  I enjoyed dining in the carport with my three local family members before returning home. They ate before I came and then sat on the back of the pickup during our short visit.  

I SO LOOK FORWARD TO WHEN I CAN HUG MY FAMILY and FRIENDS AGAIN.

T. drew me the hug bug I had requested a few days ago!

A recent moment at my pond, and I do believe there's a fish in it! I also find ripples a vivid reminder of how what we each do goes so far beyond ourselves.  Again, a topic for another time. Enjoy.