A second celebration of hopeful moments over the years, via some favorite photos

post #517

        While the wait goes on -- for an official acknowledgement of the normal transition process between American political administrations --  nature decided to try to blow us away!  And, here in Eastern Kentucky, this very afternoon was spent without electricity!! I guess we will learn the extent of what happened and where tomorrow. For once I have a very dramatic explanation for the belated time of posting this weekly blog.....  After all, I want this is all about hope since we know there will continue to be moments of hope in our lives. At the moment that reality can sometimes feel elusive.

 

I have to start with these lovely hay rows. Every year. The small cemetery on the hill. The beauty of the land near where I am lucky enough to live.

      

a visit from our friend George Ella Lyon -- and time together with a book

This photo happened -- it wasn't very posed -- during a gathering of writers at the Hindman, KY Settlement School. These two writers are good friends and great writers, and they each have a recent book.  Talk about hope for the world!  I mentioned George Ella's two weeks ago, and I really think it's terrific, Voices of Justice. Gurney Norman's is Allegiance. I have heard it is remarkable.

 

                          visits with good neighbors, good friends

        Next is a photo by Rebecca of her wonderful student Honami, from Japan, who came out to R's house to see if the sukiyaki we make in Kentucky has almost the same taste as hers does back home.  Note: Japanese families are well known to be extremely polite. We might never know what she really thought, but I think she actually enjoyed a Japanese meal while "away from home."  We enjoyed being with her very much. (photo by Rebecca O. Wright)

I love this after dinner moment with Peg, who now runs a Bed and Breakfast in southeastern Kentucky, very near Cumberland Falls. She and I knew each other in Connecticut 100 years ago... There are stories.... She also knows Gurney. (see above)

I don't know whether these three are related or just mellow full time, as mourning doves often are. The birds in our neck of Appalachian Kentucky are endlessly fascinating to me. 

        This is going to be enough for tonight. Kind of random, kind of amazing. I feel this science t-shirt says it all. I continue to have some problems with the revised blog info getting the photos I want to go where I want them to, and so forth.  Pulling the weekly post together works better now than it did this summer, but this blog is supposed to be all fun for me, and certainly not more frustration than fun.

         May everyone stay healthy and wear a mask when out in the world, for others, and may damaged Donald Trump be blessed with a sliver of insight, just what's needed to give it up about our elections being rigged. Enough already of damaging the very foundation of our nation.  

        Again I send thanks for all the grueling, caring work being done on behalf of those suffering from Covid 19. I'm glad the rest of us can at least help a little by wearing a mask and not being part of big groups. A lot of us doing what we can will make all the difference.

pausing for a poem

post #484
      For making sense of these serious, shifting and unsettled times, it definitely helps to have writing friends who use their words to respond to what goes on around us.  I'm fortunate to share in the poems, essays, songs, novels, memoirs, and fiction manuscripts from the monthly writer's group I've been part of for over 25 years. We stay surprised, grateful for the work that surfaces in this supportive milieu. In addition, we rely on each other's perspectives about anything.
      A recent poem George Ella Lyon shared with all of us gave me the idea to feature it on my blog, with a few photos of mine that could have a connection. I next hoped the other five of us would share some words over the next weeks or months. I'd like to add photos when it works to do so. I look forward to seeing what we come up with! 

      When George Ella recently sent us all this poem, she included a short paragraph with it, which follows:
          Thank you [all] so much for responding to my poem in such a deep & thoughtful way. I wrote it in the early fall of 2008 when I was at the Mary Anderson Center as that financial crisis was unfolding. I was concerned, of course, but I had a meadow, abloom with fall flowers, to walk in. I had the birds, the butterflies & dragonflies, the lake, the woods. I experienced such presence and consolation. Ever since then I've had that meadow in my heart to return to. 
          May we all have such places. May we honor them & each other.

THE MEADOW DOES NOT KNOW
about the stock market.
Today she is worth
exactly what she was worth
yesterday, a year ago, at creation.                            

I don’t mean property value,
taxable assets. I mean
milkweed and copper moths
honeybees, cow vetch,
king snakes. Meadow life
is not money. What rises
and falls here are stems
and flowers, leaves and fruit.
No zigzag line of profit and panic
but the great wheel turning.
Here God gives of her
extravagance and here, like
flicker, viceroy, dragonfly
we come into our inheritance.


  

                     
                George Ella, thank you.

Miss Elaine E-us

post #462. 
       My plan for today was to feature photos that I want to share but which have never had a place in any of my "themes."  It turns out I am not fully ready to show those yet. So, instead, here are some of the unconnected photos I also want to post.  They may be strange bedfellows, as the expression goes, but so be it for today. (It's possible that all the current impeachment upheaval, sadly, is having repercussions in my own day to day life, just from trying to make sense of so much that is terribly hard to reckon with.)

So, some quiet moments, for now, with additions for this post during the week to come: 

sometimes known as Quaker Ladies

This moss was in bloom, for a day or two, and one year I happened to see it!

In London, at the British Museum, some books we might never GET AROUND to reading....

my Norwegian friend Reidunn with the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum

standing room only....

This past week, George Ella's beloved editor, Richard Jackson, whom she worked with since early in her publishing career, died in Baltimore, MD. He took a chance on me for the photos for George Ella's Counting on the Woods, and I am one of many who loved working with him. He will always be a treasure.

summer

our old barn in winter (not made as a black and white photo)

nine for now, more to come, laugh with a friend today, and have hope

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Monday's Add-ons:

Friday's Add-ons:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY this week to this garden maven!

What I thought would be a simple post.....not

post #435
        This blog is also about photography, and yet I realized I had never shown some of the work I have done.  I decided today to share several photos on covers of books, and some author photos. These never pay the bills, but they're very satisfying.  And a good source of stories. And fun. But they may need some explaining.

       This is the first book George Ella Lyon and I did; its part of a series of autobiographies of authors of children's books.  I took some of the inside photos. However, I didn't know her in her younger days, so I used her photos to make a collage cover.  She grew up in Harlan, Kentucky, and I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, but we both had the same FIVE YEAR DIARIES!!  The one in the cover photo is actually mine, since she burned hers up while in junior high. This is the first time I have told this truth in public.

       

This second book we did uses only my photos, but I didn't decide which exact photos would be used or what the design for the cover would be. That was done by DK Ink, in New York.  Again, each photo has a story. Someday this year I hope to put the photos that are inside the book on this blog. They were slides, and so far I have not digitized all of them.

      I also have taken photos of George Ella which can then turn out to be useful as part of her publicity.  Sometimes they end up on posters, or fliers, or in a magazine.  We find that they work best if it happens to be a good day, with lucky circumstances -- like the ambient light. This image showed up recently on line  for Geroge Ella even though it was made years ago.  I still love the smile she has in this photo.

Wendell Berry is so much fun and such good company. He is known for not using computers, but it's a good thing I already had this image on my laptop -- because it was January when he needed to suggest another photo to his editor for this cover, soon to be printed.  I heard "Do you have anything?" and I could say "yes!" Again and always, a story.

This is actually the first cover photo I did with him; it was for a reprint of this early poetry book of his.  I thought these hay rows looked like lines from a poem!  (His publisher is Counterpoint Press, now in San Francisco.)

Somewhere I have the original photo, in color, but it's quicker today to use the photo from the jacket. I wanted to include this photo of my sister here because she was very strict. She knew exactly what she wanted. I couldn't make a single suggestion.  At least she claims to like the photo. (The title of her book is Flying Close to the Sun.)

Appalachian Heritage has a long and "storied" tradition in Kentucky. It features all kinds of writing and some kinds of art, like photography. This issue has my photos, and George Brosi was the editor at that time. I'm including below a photo of the back of the magazine -- it's not so usual to have a photo on any back, so I thought I'd indulge myself tonight.

George Ella emailed me that if I'm going to show two photos of her that I should at least put in one photo of me at work -- made by her.  So here it is! Thanks, George Ella, and don't you think it's a lovely miracle that we have had so much photo fun over the years?

    This last photo on today's post was made outside the lodge at Kentucky's Natural Bridge State Park, where George Ella had just given a workshop.  Again, for me, it's her smile during this unexpected and unplanned moment that makes it all work. Maybe her love for singing and her guitar helped as well. Who ever knows. She had needed a PR photo around then, so it worked out well.  She has been asking about our doing an updated new one, if we can ever be in the same place at the same time. That helps too! Stay tuned.

Christmas bits, briefly

post #366
         It's a blog day but it's also Christmas eve day! I will be able to do the main parts of this post right now, but I can sense that I will want to tweak it in a day or two, after there's a bit less on the schedule. I hope everyone everywhere is having a good day today, whether or not Christmas is part of it. The weather report for eastern Kentucky is giving a covering of snow during the night. We haven't had any of the white stuff yet to speak of, and there's not anything in the close future, so tonight's bit will be much anticipated and appreciated.
          Some current events, some Christmas photos from recent years, and mostly greetings during this major holiday time.

          First, happy news about George Ella and Steve whose son, Joey, and his wife, Whitney, presented to the world a baby girl, the first grandchild for both their families!! I took this photo of George Ella this month during our writers group meeting and Christmas meal; she has been smiling an amazing amount this month, even more than usual.

       Now two Christmas tree photos, one from 2016 and the second, rediscovered, from 2013! (I never before realized what a fun photo it actually is.)

I had asked her, which is your favorite ornament.

Who says I never post photos of myself on this blog!

       Next: one patient grandaughter while I have my monthly hair cut. I believe the phone rang and Jenn had to go answer it. What else is a photographer supposed to do with that time? She looks so poised to me, and she's only 6.

     Then here's the most current of events: the 42 year old fridge, the one we used and defrosted all that time, has been replaced!! Here the old has made it outside to the deck. Eventually it will be moved to the barn for seed storage or something (after the door is made safe.) Please notice the lower yellow bumper sticker on the right side. I'd say it's hysterical to find it there, hidden all these years by the wall it was next to, but actually it's historical!!

        Note: I will be hoping that our dysfunctional president can at least show a modicum of Christmas spirit for even a few days and desist from public bullying of people who don't please him. There are real problems in the world, like over a million sick with cholera in Yemen, and our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico still not having electricity after 3 months, etc. Some compassion and genuine leadership would serve us all well. It has to do with learning about seeking the truth and trusting the journey that takes us on. 

     

    Don't you think this is good time of year to tell someone you love about something you love, before year's end?

celebrating Harlan, Kentucky's, hometown hero, George Ella Lyon

post #282
               Greetings from Harlan, Kentucky! I have been here this weekend for the home town celebration of Kentucky's current poet laureate, George Ella Lyon. Despite plentiful rain, the 3 - 8 p.m. gathering worked out so well.  Congratulations to Robert Gipe and all the folks who worked so hard to making this proclaimed George Ella Lyon Day a beautiful one for her and us all.  There was a one day art exhibit, that took weeks to organize and pull together. There was a short play based on one of George Ella's [45] books, readings by students of her poems and of "Where I'm From" poems, music from an amazing adult choral group and from The Troubadors, as well as tributes that included George Ella's 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Unthank, and the previous Kentucky poet laureate and mentor Gurney Norman.  The community provided a delicious potluck dinner as well!
       I hope these photos I made will give a further feel for what the occasion was like.  Don't worry, I am just able to show about 30 of them. The light in the big room was challenging for me, as was my wanting to visit with everyone. [Please remember this post was prepared the morning following the George Ellabration, and added to throughout the day as I returned home 5 hours away.]

A rainy, foggy Saturday in Harlan, Kentucky

which we left to enter into a large room of light and food and art and music and celebration of a hometown writing girl who has made a big difference.

George Ella with Mrs. Unthank, longtime fan, former GEL teacher

more art show panels

Kentucky art -- with a heart (Harlan County)

GEL and Bruce Florence

on-going art work at the event, by hard workers!

       Two young actors were impatient last night for their play to start, though I am sure they may often be impatient. The whole group did a great job. The book they are acting out is George Ella's Five Live Bongos.  And the mannequin arm that was part of their show became a feature in many of the future photos of folks using the podium.  Love it.

   Sunday morning: These are only some of the photos I will be posting - this motel is not equipped with the fiber optic I am used to at home, in northeastern Kentucky, and the time fast approaches to START for home so this is the first version of this post. 
    ....And now it is later, and I am at home, so here are some more photos!!

The Troubadors

George Brosi, books, books, books!

Jillean came from Berea, Richard Hague from Cincinnati!

Bravery in action to read a poem to a crowd of strangers - bravo to all! 

waiting to be the next to read

a moving reading of George Ella's poem "She Let Herself Go"

 

a commissioned painting by Skye Brosi

a reading by Misty Skaggs, who did the major share of gathering up art for the show!

BFFs

surround sound at its best

Ann Schertz, musical director

memories of illustrator and artist Paul Brett Johnson

Gurney Norman, former poet laureate, and an early supporter of George Ella (shown with that reaching mannequin arm....)

Thank you, Mrs. Unthank, for letting me take your photo during this happy occasion. And thank you for your early support of George Ella and her poetry, in the fourth grade!