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. 

 

living each day in the now, for now

post # 499
          Here's a heat-filled hello from Eastern Kentucky! I hope everyone is healthy, wearing a mask when needed, and able to find a way to stay cool. I feel the week has been so full that I've decided simply to share some recent photos purely for their timely loveliness. Also this is the first week this year that has brought me to tears, which, actually, I appreciated. It felt way overdue. I suspect others have had that same response along this long and lingering path filled with so many "hard to believe it's happening" moments.

It has been a lot cleaner and calmer outside my front door after these Phoebe beauties left the nest this week. You Go, Kids!!  I kind of miss you, but not totally. Stay safe!

 

on the side of Sideway Road, during my evening stroll

sweet peas, from a visit to a friend's porch nearby to trade eggs for empty egg cartons

 

newly mowed fields which are favorites of mine

bale rows from that field

Look for this row of bales in the preceding photo, near where the road ends. I sort of risked my life to take this photo, in a hurry.  I just love hay bales, an every year happiness.

There are two more photos to add, but they are currently playing hard to get.  So I'm giving it a rest for a bit, a cooling down period.... That may be what we need now in our public life? The least we can do is wear our masks and care about those around us. That's a reality most people in the current administration seem determined to deny, to the detriment of all Americans.  

far from the hurricane but very aware of it

post #438
          Some lovely moments these days with natural light.  I have made some hay photos this past week, near by --- some flowers in the fields, and other such beauties that catch my eye. We have some family members living in Key West, so I am paying attention to this slow moving hurricane which doesn't want to reveal where it plans to go. I hope people affected by the wind and weather can stay sensible and be safe. I think Key West could actually end up being a good place to be in Florida this week. 

recently mowed

I walked over these fields.

today, looking across those two fields that I had walked over two days earlier, before the bales were made, I could still smell the cut hay -- evocative

by the side of the field, thistles!

another unexpected evening sky

two days later, at the bottom of my driveway, watching this truck return for another load of bales from my neighbor's fields

along the edge of the field

          

being met by this two baler, as it was leaving the field to go load them behind the red truck

from my car, as I follow the two bales from behind

I don't happen to know the guys mowing the fields across the road from my house, but I enjoyed watching them work.  The hay was somewhat sparse this year after so much dry weather, but it was still taken care of. It's hard to believe that this means winter will be showing up in a few months.  In between is deer hunting. And lovely leaves. And an election in Kentucky for governor. And this is all for tonight.  No mow for now.....

Hay, I'm back, with some bales and rows from my neighborhood

post #440
         This spring two facts converged to keep me from one of my very favorite photo opportunities.  For some reason I can't quite explain, I absolutely love making hay with my photos -- or rather, making photos of the hay. It is a spring ritual for me, and this year I didn't get to do it. So I promised myself that I would at least post a whole bunch of hay photos from other years.
        The reasons I missed out this year were, of course, that I broke my foot in late April and, in addition, we had so much rain in eastern Kentucky that most of the mowing of the fields was delayed for at least 6 weeks. To top it off, I was away the week the sun finally came out for several days in a row, when everyone then mowed like crazy.
       Anyway, here are some of my photos from recent years.  The first ten images show the same field from varying views, years and perspectives.  I love the variety. 

a

a morning drying out of 'ye olde wings'

golden day

   up close and personal

OTHER FIELDS:

In the back yard

before the mowing

hay left over, looking baleful.....

a field that didn't get mowed that year

 
May we remember the young children who have been cruelly separated from their families, along our southern border.  This situation is one we should hold our politicians accountable for until the end of time; it is unconscionable. I don't think we should ever forget what these kids have had to and continue to endure.