Getting closer to the big election

post #509

            I'm not a credentialed political pundit, but I have always cared about politics/ social change/ community support and such. (I was going to be a government major in college until I decided to go with a degree in French literature.  After I discovered photography, I began to wish I was young and hardy enough to be a photo journalist.)

        Our current national mess interests me. When it gets dangerously out of hand, like it currently is, I am always trying to figure out WHY something is happening, what can we each do to make it better, and why do so many people accept the difficult without thinking they can instead contribute to the search for change. Even the Appalachian area of Kentucky, where I live, has a long history of passionate political activity. It's like a glue that keeps our national heart beating and renewed.

     I'm also curious about a lot of things. I like figuring stuff out for myself. I'm fortunate to have discovered a love for photography in my fifties, so I continue to have a lot to learn. I wanted to share tonight just some pleasures I get from noticing the small and the lovely in my every day walking around.  And I found a cartoon from the The New Yorker in July that I recently realized speaks to what I do every day.

This is actually lavender, one of my few tended plants, and it has provided blooms almost all summer! The deer don't eat it.

Panicled Aster! Who knew! A weed is never just a weed....

 I totally missed seeing this poor squashed baby snake at first, but there it was on my return.  Then the next night, it was all gone. Was it eaten? if so, by what or whom? or totally smashed by a tire?

 

 

(See the cartoon ahead.)

a Golden rod variety -- this is the first year I've noticed it

        Yesterday I happened on this cartoon in a pile of New Yorker magazines, and this time it struck me as hilarious, my own little way of seeing the world.  No one is going to believe me all that much either. I don't arrange my photos. I just work with what I see, though that does require getting out in the world you're in. None of us needs to be spectacular every day, but we can still be both amazed and honored to be present.

         Now it's fair to remark that some day no one is going to believe the close call we are currently having concerning our precious democracy.  We are letting our President get away with doing anything he pleases with no concern for the well being of others or of the world. Right now the main thing I ask is for EVERYONE, including Republicans in the Senate, to be clear-eyed about our tomorrows. Let's be kind and be attentive to the world we are forging for our kids and grand kids. Greed or fear have never provided a true key to happiness or made our lives better. 

 

a sample, never simple, week

post #466
         It occurred to me that a weekly blog needs an occasional tribute to the reality of a week -- with its variety within those days and nights, weather, perhaps some adventures, and surprises, along with nature's ongoing effort keep us afloat and functioning.  So tonight I'm sharing a few photos from this past week -- sort of a regular week if we don't count the upheavals in our nation's capital, or the fires in California and more obfuscations about how the world's climate in changing and affecting us all. 

      In Kentucky we have an important election for Governor, and some other statewide positions, on Tuesday, November 5, in just two days!! May I encourage everyone to vote! There are other states having elections as well. Vote as if your life depends on it, because it always does. 

      Frosts came at the end of this week. This photo was made at Sandy's early in the week:

rain on the windshield at the bottom of the driveway:

Here's a visit to Morehead's Public Library, with a favorite sculpture and a favorite reader.  School that day had included a doctor visit to the classroom, with some real doctoring aids, like mouth covers.....

 This shows the view from inside my front room -- during this week of fall colors:

Mushroom photos -- the close ones are by Jeremey Wright -- they got bigger and bigger each day, right outside their kitchen window.  I think J. had to be on a ladder for the ones he took. Thank you!

wiping HAPPY BIRTHDAY off the deck door window - sadly, no more birthdays until May

view from the deck

End of the week:
          Driving early yesterday to the annual All Kentucky Quaker Gathering, a few counties away, I got a bit lost and did some wandering. I tried not to take photos of the beautiful places along the river, which were shrouded in mist.  For one thing, there was nowhere safe to stop. For another, I wanted to arrive in time.  I finally couldn't help making these last two photos from an open stretch on the road with enough distance in front and in back of the car to be seen.  I was somewhere south of Winchester and Lexington. And the mist had disappeared by then. I look forward to going back there someday.

          Believe it or not, I don't take photos of everything I do or work at, but at the same time I rarely do the same things every day or every week. Obviously the weather changes, etc. and I often marvel at how lovely Kentucky can be.  Enough for tonight. Again, please VOTE if there's an election anywhere nearby!!