Several photos, to celebrate blog renewal day....

   So far, I am able to do this next post!  Wonderful.  It is the first of May, chilly out, multiple birds still at the feeder, gun control being argued on the national news, and time to look to art and to reach out to each other to make sense of  what comes our way.

 

These tulips hail from Bergen, in Norway, where I was almost exactly a year ago.

at a birthday party for an extended family member in my neighborhood

talking things over

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4-H competition, several years ago, both are winners, in Elliott County

This fine fellow is named DON KEY OATTY.  He lives happily in McCreary County, KY.

I hope that you share with me the joy in how we see both the greens of spring and the sorrow of the harm left behind after storms, floods, winds, and fire.  Even the cruelty we humans sometimes show each other --   seen in the harshness toward those we do not understand -- is shocking when it leads to killing each other or punishing people simply for being different.  It isn't as if there is only one way to live on this earth.  Can't we practice kindness instead?  Tolerance? Over- come our fears of differences? Imagine what goodness can do? 

It's good to share a few photos and some concerns. Thanks for listening and looking -----  Ann

In times like this, we need community even more than ever.

post #392
       It has been two weeks of hot weather -- and our shared worry about the soccer team kids trapped in a cave. Also there remains no resolution for the shoddy situation at the USA border that has made life even harsher for immigrants who are fleeing horrific situations and who were separated from their children with no warning.  How can it be that there are no reliable records or notification to parents where their kids would be sent! This is beyond cruelty for thousands of kids.

      However, at least yesterday evening on this ridge was a good day for community -- at an annual post 4th of July picnic, with music making (not country or bluegrass) on the lawn, and, some fireworks, though I had left by then. The weather was perfect -- so I left, before the wonderful light was all gone, in order to get a few more photos at my pond.  

welcome sign

      
 My photos at the picnic were very random, but I hope they are of interest even to those of you who don't know the people. This is the first year I have been able to join in the fun connected to the 4th.. 

arriving

later, looking back from the family cemetery

the "hamburger cooking" host

tending to a bee sting

recent Morehead State graduate and musician! Bravo!

thanks for all the prep work done!!

"snappers"

anticipation

Two pond area photos: 

       I got so absorbed in the photos that I was taking from the car window (using the car as a tripod in the evening light) that, yes, I must have had the headlights on because I ended up not able to start my car.  Blush, blush, blush !!   Thanks, J, for the jump start today!  

Here is the photo I made with my iPhone to show what I was doing while the car lights were on, by mistake:

The camera is resting on my trusty bean bag placed on the open window next to the driver's seat.

 Again, I am delighted to be able to share these photos, in honor of community and family. I thought it a wonderful occasion. As always, thanks to everyone for letting me take a few informal photos.

Note: if I may, I'd like to speak up, apart from my art and Appalachia and only because I have this way of presenting my concerns. I remain upset that our democracy is under such enormous strain, including the choice of another Supreme Court judge who seems to be selected because he (or she) is just like several judges already on the bench. How boring is that when everyone's decision can be predicted! Brings to mind the phrase "rubber stamp". I always thought that having nine justices of great talent works best if there were to be a lot of interpretation possiblities that benefit from multiple perspectives. Otherwise, why bother to have a supreme court in the first place! I have seen the table where the nine sit in a room that is totally private to discuss the decisions they are reaching during the term.  When I was there, it felt impressive and condusive to thoughtful consideration.  By now I imagine it to have a dimension that might be considered a brawl. These are all brilliant people, but I guess that never guarantees open minds -- or a willingness to acknowledge a common good. 

about COMMUNITY

post #333

   Happy last day of April! I get to go this afternoon to my granddaughter's 6th birthday party, a few days before the actual date. Today is warm and sunny so far, so it's a good day to be outside with friends and the new puppy and the wandering cat who chose to have 2 kittens a few days ago behind their wood pile. Also there are the 3 recently added hens from nearby neighbors.  Who needs party favors!!
      During this past week, I have been connected to a local effort to speak up in support of refugees, immigrants, and others in the world who may need safety in a new place, including the place we live. I took the draft of the statement composed by some in Morehead to share with my writers group, which meets monthly, and we tried some things and had a good discussion!  But we didn't feel we got it exactly right (like in "write"....) Then this morning, Marie Bradby, in my writers group, emailed us all a fleshed out draft, and I am eager to share it here today.  Thanks, Marie!  The conversation continues. This is indeed something for all citizens to think about:


An Affirmation for Community

       In these challenging times, we are reminded that almost everyone in America has immigrant roots, whether the Irish we so proudly support on St. Patrick’s Day or people from Cuba, Sudan, Serbia—all seeking a better life. The ancestors of many black Americans were forced immigrants who fought and won the freedom and rights enjoyed by all others. No one has had it easy, not the Germans running desperately from the Third Reich, and not the American Indians—the natives of our country—struggling to hold onto the core of their culture from the blustery shores of the Atlantic, to the purple majestic mountains, to the mesas of the southwest.

        As descendants of immigrants and indigenous natives, we have so many things in common: paramount is the yearning to be free from oppression, persecution, discrimination, violence. We seek to raise our families in peace to be contributing members of society.

       Now, we face the need to think about how we can proudly embrace our community to include new neighbors, thereby enriching our [Morehead] home.

       We believe the lives of all of us are strengthened by the joining of strands of difference, just as a strong rope is formed from separate fibers. Let us use this time to come together as Americans.


              And now a few recent photos, mostly thanks to my work in my photo class at Morehead State. I'm grateful to have had to find these photos which otherwise I wouldn't have made.          
             Thank you for reading this particular post, and, as always, for being interested in my photos.

hiking in Laurel Gorge, in Elliott County, with daughter (and granddaughter)

Sunday morning -- for a photo shoot for the class I'm taking this semester

the pond where I live, and I'm sitting in my car, with a beanbag on the open window ledge to rest my camera on, to improvise a tripod

Another photo assignment is to try a photo in the style of another photographer. I was lucky to be able to do this when the morning light was overcast and just right.

I'm still doing the assignment, capturing mother/daughter -- and puppy -- where the path goes goes up, then down, headed to the waterfalls. One of my favorite photos growing up was the last photo in The Family of Man. This section of our path to the waterfalls has always reminded me of it.