I am finally reunited with my blog!!

        I finally discovered the setting I needed to change on the blogger website in order to prepare a new post.  So here I am!  I hope my readers enjoyed the most recent three posts --- about the Arctic Circle and Norway.  I continue to be amazed that I really went there.  My thanks again to Patty who kept me from giving up hope about ever being able to make the trip and for all the laughing we did, just like that week 50+ years ago when we met while training to be VISTA Volunteers in eastern Kentucky (me) and eastern Tennessee (Patty).

      Here we go!!!  

     I have wanted to share some favorite photos from the dozen or so years I have been doing this blog.  I may try to give the title or date of the post for each photo soon so that additional photos that go with it can be visited. If anyone wants to encourage me to do that, please let me know.  Enjoy!

mourning dove, out the kitchen window

April on the ridge, near my home

 

George Ella Lyon, after she gave a presentation at Natural Bridge State Park

George Ella and her college roommate/friend Chris, showing up to speak out in Kentucky's capital (Frankfort) about the damage done daily by MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL MINING.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes I have visited family in England and in France:
 

winter grazing in England

NOTRE DAME, a year before the terrible fire that was felt around the world.

my son on the Seine  (River in Paris)

                                                            Now the inside story --- for the rest of us!

                      

on Christy Creek, almost to Morehead, one spring evening, for my photo class at MSU

Christmas decorations at my nearby friend Sandy's, lovely every year

More soon in two weeks, I sure hope. This all reminds me about how I love seeing what I see with a camera.

Our snows here this year in KY reminded me of the same, in England.

    I am going to try a new font, because why not.  We can always get wild and take a new path. This font is called Carrier.  What I have liked and used for forever is Ariel.  I want to see if the letter "l" looks either more or is it less than what I usually see. (When is an l not a 1??) Look closely. There is a difference!

    I got distracted a half hour ago. Then the photos that showed up were of snow in England, during the winter of 2013! After all, it does snow other places. I was visiting my stepmother who was living then on the main street in picturesque Chipping Campden, in the Cotswolds.  The Brits had a hefty snowfall during my visit, and even though these photos are not all totally fixed up I think they give the flavor of the place at that time.  My stepmother, whom we called Potter, was staying 2 weeks several towns distant recovering from having her hip repaired. When I drove to see her, with snow on the roads and cars on the left hand side of the road, I managed to do a little damage to her car.  Well, maybe a little more than a little.... But it all worked out. I hope these photos are fun to see. 

    

in town, before the snow came

This view from the third floor is included because the other photos of this garden show everything covered with snow.

This oak tree and sheep were on my way to see Potter -- before the storm.

driving by the next day...

The tree and sheep were off the main road, and it didn't seem the milk delivery had gone smoothly this day.

The sheep market, hundreds of years old, is in the middle of town.

other winter trees en route

what awaits even then

 

outside the house, not too many tourists on the sidewalk for a change.....

in Potter's back garden

  across the street

warm inside, and I always loved this wisdom on her wall

more of the back garden

                     I ended up fixing this image a bit.                        It may well be my favorite photo of this post.

    If I try to put these photos in perfect order tonight, I would be in deep distress. MY apologies. I am familiar with imperfection -- believe me, it can have its benefits.  I wish every one well, and how fabulous it would be if a war based on greed and ego wouldn't start this week or ever need to happen. When all is said and done, it snows and rains on each and every one of us.

 

 

What can I say

post #524

        Such a week, besides COVID, besides the cold weather, besides the sane and saving election in Georgia, and besides the miseries in all parts of the world.  However, currently, we are not hearing all that much about anything except the intense attention to the terrible, harsh reality of the break-in Wednesday at the USA Capitol building.  There are deaths.  There's law breaking with abandon.  There's super-charged racism. A maelstom is in progress, monitored around the world. We will survive, but it will require an enormous amount of work and clearheadedness. 

        SO, I think I will share some photos from trips to other countries, as a reminder that there are places across the globe that look up to us and our democracy. There are other lives affected by our choices instead of just yours or mine. In adddition, we share the same earthly climate, the same pollution, the same pandemic, and the same love and hopes for our children.

 

ENGLAND -- the Cotswolds

waiting for the morning milk delivery

 

very early Sunday morning newspapers delivered but not yet on the shelves of Chipping Camden's small community Coop grocery store

 

 

FRANCE -- Paris

an early start at the Louvre

NOTRE DAME

see Steve's comment about these books....

FRANCE - St. Malo

 

French student group

my good friends Mariko and Christian

COSTA RICO

I hope everywhere good health is possible, and that we are up to the task of working hard to keep our democracy in good working order.  We will always need to keep on learning.

    

short but sweet, sort of

This Sunday I am NOT going to struggle with the Blogger effort to frustrate us all in every possible way.  SURELY they will soon admit that they have royally screwed up and take us back to where we know how to make Blogspot work.... It has been very reassuring to discover that so many users have chimed in after having similar experiences to mine.

So, as is said, I'm going to give it a rest -- though maybe I will at least try to add a couple of sunset shots from two days ago ---  no secret message intended.  I will also make a brief comment before we have a week where dubious claims nightly will overload our political news cycle.  I hope everyone is a becoming a believer that the virus is real.  Nearby neighbor friends of mine may have tried to hide, but they were found this weekend. It's seriously sad. We all pray for their safety, for their recovery, for their families, and for all of America.   We are paying a high price for not having a national coordinated effort to combat -- via science -- the reality that the pandemic is world wide.  We need to have each other's back.  I have a lot more photos I want to make. And I'm way behind in giving and getting hugs.

facing SSE from my house:

and, last but not least, shared because we can always use a reminder of hope, a recent favorite photo of mine, from dear English friends, of a great grandson with his great grandfather:

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