summertime guest photographer -- a treat for me

post #441
       Yesterday (Saturday) I had planned to check out the famed outdoors arts and craft show that happens now every July here in Elliott County -- fondly and proudly called "Minnie Adkins Day".  Minnie is the kind who breaks any glass ceiling in her way, and she is so supportive of everyone else's work and talents.  She is a Kentucky treasure. We all win because she has persisted!
       But, true confession, I got involved with a project at the house this morning, which caused me to forget the time, and I missed the whole thing! I had planned to post photos from there today, but instead I will be including a photo or two in a future post, when I can round some up from other artists in attendance.  I sure hope the heat didn't make anyone sick.  Water, water, water!
      However, I soon realized I now had a great excuse to feature some of the photos my daughter makes, with her cell phone.  She has a wonderful eye. I love her work. I knew she had made some really good ones this week. I am proud to share some of them in this post. Thank you, Rebecca!!

the family garlic crop

the well

notice the companion ants on these peonies

Oh, the light, at the pond! I love this photo.

standing on the edge

Memories of early April:

How to pick strawberries AND keep at least one hand clean enough to make a photo....

dogwood

Oops, I'm caught in the act.....

a jack-in-the-pulpit along the creek on a really good day

returning home after time in the woods

a special visitor to the house, attached to the outside -- a happy surprise all around

Again, thank you, Rebecca, and I love you -- from your mom

still spring, even though my left foot now is healing a bit of broken bone

post #430
        Ten days ago I didn't get to take a "visit family" trip and still today I didn't get to go to a family 8th birthday celebration nearby, but even so I am lucky. I only have one stop-and-pay- attention injury, to my foot, to deal with, for at least a month. I am not contagious. Just slowed down by a crutch. Learning new skills. Grateful to be in one piece. Still wondering about the meaning of life.
         And I am still watching our democracy either implode or grow stronger in reaction to extreme provocation. Any elected person who can't even say the words "CLIMATE CHANGE" out loud gives me the shivers. What price are we paying for such defective magical thinking. No matter how high or how low, it's too heavy a price.
        So here today are some photos "just because," ones I have taken along the way, from the moments that happen as we are living our lives and trying to be good to our one world.

SPRING 2018:

SPRING 2019:

         

SPRING 2017:

SPRING 2016

          I am grateful for all the help I am getting in response to my current (temporary) period of reduction in mobility. It is definitely humbling to have to avoid weight bearing walking as much as possible. However, I will be well enough on May 21 to go vote, even if it is "just" for statewide offices. As ever, we all need now to "Vote as if your rights depend on it." Which they indeed do.

winter remnants, renewal preparations

April! Spring! Blossoms! part 1 of 2 or 3!

post #427

        Busy day, complete with severe thunderstorm advisories, and a possible tornado! All is now ending peacefully, though there are still wind episodes.  I do love April, despite the wild weather, and I am so glad I was back where the waterfalls are twice this weekend. So much changes so quickly during this time of year..
        Here are some of the blossoms. Please know that the redbuds along the road and at the house are wondrous this year. These are the scrub trees whose flowers grow directly out of the branches. They are one of the treats that were new to me when we first came to live in this part of the country years ago. There are some early dogwoods at the same time, but, as usual, the redbuds are the most vivid signal that spring is here.

dogwood blossoms

The violets in grassy areas are so abundant this year, perhaps due to all our rain?

Then there is the ancient apple tree near the edge of the woods that never disappoints.

REDBUD TREES

 

creek detail, en route to the first waterfall

     I sat on the path above the second waterfall so I could look around. Really look.
 

looking to the left

looking to the right

facing the crown of the tree in bloom, with the second waterfall, below and out of view

tree top

Note: the Appalachian forests contain the "highest total amount of endemic flora and fauna species in North America." To me, it is like being surrounded by treasures.

bare limbs by design....

beech tree with moss slippers

Next week, I have wildflowers to share --  so amazing, always, to be surrounded by the beauty of this season. I wonder, though, what are we humans doing to the world which we too easily take for granted.

This week it's dogwoods and red-winged blackbirds!

post #332
        Rainy week, good light this morning when I took these photos, and April's wonders continue.  I am again parked on a winding road, nearby, looking down on fields and woods. Thank you, drivers, for safely passing me. I wanted to revisit the dogwood tree alone in the woods, blooming with abandon. 

how it started today

spring greens above

     Back home, I ended up sitting/hiding in my car, with a bean bag on the open window ledge to use as a camera balance, trying to catch the red-winged blackbirds on the pond. I do get one -- a female -- using my 70 - 300 lens, which is the best I can do without being a committed bird photographer.  I have cropped one of the photos to show more detail about the bird - which is a female RWBB. I have read somewhere that a single daddy blackbird watches out for several nests at a time.

 

bird is there, but hard to see

cropped photo of the female red-winged blackbird

The bird is gone, but imagine it returning often....

turkey in the yard, with (trust me) a daddy RWBB companion

  I have way too much fun putting these posts together. I have other photo work that needs doing now, so thanks for the looking with me. I so appreciate all the people across the world who expressed support this Earth Day weekend for using hard-earned skills to learn as much as possible about the world we live in -- the one we want to preserve and protect by using this essential information.