summer switch

        I hereby declare that I love doing this weekly blog BUT, this summer, I am going to an EVERY OTHER WEEK schedule.  SO the next post will be June 27.  I did this change one other summer, and, as I told a friend, the world didn't stop then, and it won't this summer either.... There's just too much else going on -- or at least that's how it feels after the many, many months of lock down.  We now get to be cautious on the move....or in the garden. 

        Here are a few photos arising from recent times:

 

This is the first daylily to have bloomed, outside my door.  The view shows that daylily closing up for the day and for forever. I do absolutely nothing to take care of this patch. Yet, so far, every year, they return to excel again.

 

 

 

I made this photo in May, but I'm not sure where.  Usually I remember every photo and where I was at the time. If anyone viewing this post knows where I was, please let me know! Thanks!

This photo location is well known to me  -- it is across from my mailbox.  In the last two days, the tree has bent all the way over to the ground.  I wonder who will soon cut off the top now that there's no longer any need to get into the swamp to do the job. 

 

 

 

I went out in the world, to Lexington, on Saturday, and stopped by Melva's house en route to talk about some photos. Her welcoming cactus seemed very beautiful to me. I understand, however, it's extremely prickly and can easily cause pain. Melva has an all encompassing green thumb!

I treated myself to lunch at the Pho Saigon restaurant, in Lexington. The meal was fantastic, both beautful and delicious, and very few people were there. I am a fan of Vietnamese food, and I once had a ten day visit to the beautiful country itself.

    Then this morning, our Quaker Meeting  (in Lexington) had its first in-person gathering, with some of us remaining on Zoom.  I didn't know about this project the teens presented, but I thought it wonderful and couldn't resist a quick screen shot.  Everyone is still masked, so I don't know who anyone is, but thank you so much, thank you all, for this beautiful and joyful banner.

    I am going to add one last photo after I post this much, of the hay in my relatively small field. We may have a stretch of dry weather this week, so the tractor that comes to mow my neighhbor's field does mine as well. 

There's a second batch of phoebes in my carport.  The parents take turns sitting on the roof of my car, resting up, if bird parenting is anything like people parenting! The nest this time around looks to me like a large cupcake.

        PLEASE REMEMBER THAT I WILL RETURN AFTER TWO WEEKS, and I hope each one reading this has some laughs by then from something that happens and time to feel connected to those people important in our lives.  Ann

 

Thankfulness photos from the past 12 months, part 2 of 2

post #261
        I'm back with some more photos I am thankful for being able to make. This week it seems to be mostly people, and happenings. I am also thankful for people I haven't made a photo of, including President Obama whose bravery for his whole presidency in the face of demented racist individuals with guns and arsenals is so generous. That may sound like a strong statement, but it is the truth.  And it will be hard for him and his family for the rest of their lives. That fits my definition of generous.
        So here we go again, in part 2!  Locally, I was able to take some photos for some friends who got married this fall, and I even ended up in one taken while they applied for their marriage license. Again, bravery and generosity are factors in their lives as well.

taken by the Lexington Herald-Leader

Jennifer Reis, artist extraordinaire

my friend photojournalist John Flavell

  
 Other friends caught in important moments:
         

Jean Rosenberg, watching her husband, John, recieve an honor on stage.

            Three photos of George Ella Lyon, whom I enjoy being able to catch in all kinds of moments:

during the Appalachian Writers Conference, in Hindman, KY, with her close friend and fellow writer Gurney Norman

Our writers group happened to be meeting the day the news came out about the two year poet laureate honor!

George Ella near her childhood home (house) in Harlan, Kentucky, the day she found out that her book TRAINS RUN was accepted by Simon and Shuster for publication!! It is the second of her books written with her son, Benn Lyon, and it will be edited by her long time editor, Richard Jackson.

       My big group photo of the year was at my church -- The Lexington Friends Meeting. Our members are called Quakers. We undertook a major renovation of the building, and it was mostly completed! I feel like this is a happy photo, even though not everyone could be in it at that one time.

      Last March, one of our members, Roberta, who is a cellist, put together a program featuring her cello, two members who are poets, Melva and Judith, and some of my photos. It worked out so well. It happened in the same room as above, on a Saturday afternoon. It was a beautiful, heartening event:  

before

after

         Following all this reverence, the next photo is for pure fun. I keep thinking our 42 year old fridge will stop working any day, and I know it should be replaced in any case.  Yet I am just so thankful to its reliable self for still working!! 

        Well, here is a photo of me, thankfully still working -- and yet I am older than the fridge! I was so thrilled that day to be way back in the woods with friends. Doug discovered this boulder covered with trillium, and Karen took this photo. I think it is the first photo of me on my blog since I started this weekly gig five years ago!

    I have to find a place for this next photo, just because I love it -- a granddaughter who will be spreading her wings in different ways every year, like we all are doing as well in our own way:

       Then a reminder for me that there is beauty in what lies ahead, even though there will be challenges:

          There are many other photos, friends, places and moments I am thankful for, but I end with this second view from the deck, made this frosty morning. It celebrates the light that changes and surprises, the mainstay in all my photographs. I've never seen it before looking exactly like this: