May moments caught on my iPhone

post #386
       Two weeks in May, when we finally had spring and quickly moved on to summer!

The dogwoods finally bloomed, in the woods edges nearby.

many bluets this year -- sometimes known as Quaker Ladies

          I needed to pick up some framed photos, in Paris (Kentucky) at Frames on Main, and on the way home, on Route 460, I discovered the Montgomery Green House -- with a single sign and a dirt road to the top of the hill.  LOVED IT and the sound of cows in the barns. While checking out, I was surprised to be recognized -- by some retired teachers who had been checking me out... It turns out they had heard me years ago do a presentation about Counting on the Woods. Who knew.

        The first week of May is big on birthdays around here. My granddaughter and a friend decided to share a birthday, with each one, however, decorating her own cake.  Luckily all the families were able to switch days at the last minute, from Saturday to Sunday, because of all the rain on Saturday. This made the requisite walk in the creek even more fun....

beach theme!

         I recently had my first appointment at the brand new St. Claire Medical Clinic. It is full of windows and space with lots of seating -- and since I was there mid afternoon on Friday, I kind of had the place to myself at one point.  All in all, a VERY IMPRESSIVE change, and, I hear, much appreciated by those who work there.

        Later that same afternoon I took a friend for a drive, and we cruised the Fish Hatchery out near Cave Run Lake.  Something has happened to all the Canada Geese who used to live there, eating the fish that were "maturing" in multiple rectangular ponds, but today we saw only three "families". Each had several fledglings. Because my car doesn't have a trunk to protect my camera from the heat I had not brought my good camera.  So this is what I would call "an evidence" picture. We were there:

A recent evening walk along my road.... lots of pollen this year:

pipeline views....

         Well, truth to tell, I also had a birthday during this time, and after an unknown-to-me orchestrated effort by friends and family, I received as much personal mail in my mailbox over ten days as I have received in the previous 5 years of my existence!  Thank you all!!  I have two things to show here -- first a collage of many of the different stamps that arrived!!  Real stamps!! Forevers and forevers!

          The other came from my friend and neighbor, Jean, who delivered this card to my mailbox one evening.  I could NOT figure out what was inside the envelope. What a lack of imagination I sometimes have.  It is hard to describe this work of art, so here is a photo, again with my iPhone.  Wonderful, wonderful, and hilarious. In fact, I think the photo might have been sharper were I not laughing even when I made the photo.

   I do enjoy the ease of my iPhone, and so here, to express my thanks to it, is one last photo, made while my overworked sometime companion was getting a charge. Thank you 6s, and I hope you are having some fun along the way, when you aren't either lost or forgotten.

This is what my iPhone sees while charging in the kitchen.....

in honor of the first frost

post #253
       Last night, tonight and tomorrow night: frost on the pumpkins (if I had any) and death to those invisible chiggers who have bothered me up until this last day of them.  Enough already!
       I happened to call my neighbor, Ethel, two days ago for information about her piano tuner, but it turns out they no longer have their piano.  What they do have is string beans.  Several varieties of beans, in fact. She had been putting some up that day.  Even though they have an enormous High Tunnel Greenhouse, a serious frost could do some damage, so I decided to go right over there to check it out. They live "over the cliff," as we say, and driving there feels exactly like that is what is happening! It is beautiful, as long as no one else is driving out while I am driving in....

        The plants themselves are spectacular, growing way taller than I can reach, and I am tall!  There are "purple beans", which came from Sandy and Junie, the kind of bean that turns green when cooked but starts out looking very purple. The proper name for them has kind of gotten lost along the way of yearly sharing them around:

       Ethel told me the names of the other beans they grow, but today I am just calling them beautiful beans. I am sure they will be able to get some more "messes of beans" before we settle into full blown nightly frosts.

Ethel closing the "back door" to keep the chickens and cats out, and the warm air in

daily record of when and what was watered

The chickens moved to the wood pile... They do have their own house next door....

Back at the house, there are other signs that the time has come to change seasons:

 


 A deer path on the bank by the driveway

I'd like to thank Seth and Tom for their great work this summer holding down the green growth around here, with mower and with weed eater.  Today was the last cut.  It looks so green, since the frost has disappeared for the day.  I can't quite imagine all the snow that might cover it between now and the first mow of the spring.  

Before signing off, as a photographer, I want to mention a book I just finished reading, Hold Still, by the award winning photographer and writer Sally Mann.  I wasn't sure I would like it, but it was recommended by Jennifer Reis, an artist friend who somehow manages to read, read, read. I was amazed by the way the photos and words were so naturally interwoven, and how straight forward and strong she is in her writing.  I am not necessarily a fan of her work, but I found the shaping of the story so very compelling.  And the cover is fantastic: 

I am grateful for bits of beauty here and there throughout the year.