very icy times

     YES, there has been a lengthy and damaging ice storm in Kentucky.! I still don't have electricity at home, so this blog is being put together at the home of friends in Morehead -- night three.  I don't mind the cold or the isolation at home, but it's a worry not to be able to have a working phone or keep food frozen in the freezer.  On the other hand, I'm fortunate to have water there, and great neighbors.

    I love some of the photos I have made during this time. I wish everyone could have a warm and dry place to be, with food and water.  We all sure have to do a better job managing our resources, and preparing for the on-going changes in weather patterns!!

ENJOY --

The thrill of actually seeing the sun, even if only briefly!

Then there's the time honored delight of imagining the sun...

early days of the storm

 

Thank you dear neighbors, out checking on neighbors.  I loved our snowy visit!!

Spending time in the car, under the carport, to charge up the iPhone,

and the view from the driver's seat during the charging, seeing some of the pond past the snow, and the tire tracks from the Rhino....

 

from inside

another time sitting in the car

that same ex-Christmas tree, now a tree for the birds, from inside the house

riding the ridge to go to town for a warmer night and internet time

The next day, on the ridge again, after going to the house to check the pipes and get some clean clothes. 

    So many thanks, Tom and Molly, for taking me in from the cold, despite how very well I thought I was managing. It's indeed much better, however, to have access to your working telephone and wi-fi, if needed, and then there are the feasts that keep appearing!! Tonight was, for me, a very thanks-giving dinner.  

    Now the hour is late, so more next week.  I am so conscious of all the many people who are not equipped to be in a good situation during this cold winter time. Please be safe while we all wait for spring.

A second celebration of hopeful moments over the years, via some favorite photos

post #517

        While the wait goes on -- for an official acknowledgement of the normal transition process between American political administrations --  nature decided to try to blow us away!  And, here in Eastern Kentucky, this very afternoon was spent without electricity!! I guess we will learn the extent of what happened and where tomorrow. For once I have a very dramatic explanation for the belated time of posting this weekly blog.....  After all, I want this is all about hope since we know there will continue to be moments of hope in our lives. At the moment that reality can sometimes feel elusive.

 

I have to start with these lovely hay rows. Every year. The small cemetery on the hill. The beauty of the land near where I am lucky enough to live.

      

a visit from our friend George Ella Lyon -- and time together with a book

This photo happened -- it wasn't very posed -- during a gathering of writers at the Hindman, KY Settlement School. These two writers are good friends and great writers, and they each have a recent book.  Talk about hope for the world!  I mentioned George Ella's two weeks ago, and I really think it's terrific, Voices of Justice. Gurney Norman's is Allegiance. I have heard it is remarkable.

 

                          visits with good neighbors, good friends

        Next is a photo by Rebecca of her wonderful student Honami, from Japan, who came out to R's house to see if the sukiyaki we make in Kentucky has almost the same taste as hers does back home.  Note: Japanese families are well known to be extremely polite. We might never know what she really thought, but I think she actually enjoyed a Japanese meal while "away from home."  We enjoyed being with her very much. (photo by Rebecca O. Wright)

I love this after dinner moment with Peg, who now runs a Bed and Breakfast in southeastern Kentucky, very near Cumberland Falls. She and I knew each other in Connecticut 100 years ago... There are stories.... She also knows Gurney. (see above)

I don't know whether these three are related or just mellow full time, as mourning doves often are. The birds in our neck of Appalachian Kentucky are endlessly fascinating to me. 

        This is going to be enough for tonight. Kind of random, kind of amazing. I feel this science t-shirt says it all. I continue to have some problems with the revised blog info getting the photos I want to go where I want them to, and so forth.  Pulling the weekly post together works better now than it did this summer, but this blog is supposed to be all fun for me, and certainly not more frustration than fun.

         May everyone stay healthy and wear a mask when out in the world, for others, and may damaged Donald Trump be blessed with a sliver of insight, just what's needed to give it up about our elections being rigged. Enough already of damaging the very foundation of our nation.  

        Again I send thanks for all the grueling, caring work being done on behalf of those suffering from Covid 19. I'm glad the rest of us can at least help a little by wearing a mask and not being part of big groups. A lot of us doing what we can will make all the difference.

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.....

People, second post, more eastern Kentucky moments

post #433
        More, more, more! With my current (but temporary) lack of mobility, I am enjoying "being with" these folks whose photos I have taken, usually spontaneously. Thank you all!!
       

friendly fellow woods photographers

a  friend's January visit here, from Oregon

big 80th birthday party

the birthday girl

her daughter, Sandy, at a 4H competition

Sandy's granddaughter, and her 4H prize winner

Junie, at his home (with my granddaughter!)

 

Jean, of the photo Jean's jeans....

 

Jean's jeans (one of several versions over the years)

Jean's husband, Garry, has died, and it has been hard for everyone:

Garry's nephew

Garry's daughter with Jonathan, who was like a son

such a smile!

For some reason, I find this guy hilarious -- very rooted in the community, for sure.

 

artist and quilter

Jennifer, friend and artist and clear thinker

         Next week I will do more grandchildren, and other kids.  Then the last week will be folks I have visited in different places.  By then I should be back on both feet, instead of only one, and back out in the world. With my camera!  Hooray, hooray!

People, instead of places

post #432
      Recently several regular viewers of my blog commented on how they enjoyed seeing photos of people as part of last week's post.  Since I still can't get outside with my camera while my broken left foot continues to heal, I thought I'd take advantage of this time to hunt up more of my people photos to post. Showing them here will happen over a few weeks --  
       At first I wasn't sure how best to group them. I started by scanning through the last five years, mostly, so that's something in common, but many are Appalachian based, others are from trips I have taken to visit friends and family, including grandchildren, and some are purely random. You can find your own explanation for the groupings.
       I enjoy catching a moment, unplanned, and informal, taking my chances. I won't be giving out names, because that is not the point here. Making these photos is my idea of fun, so what I am sharing is what I see as I live day by day, where ever I happen to be. I thank my subjects for their patience with my efforts. I do try to give folks a copy of good photos but I am slow and sometimes disorganized about doing that, so enjoy what you see here. Remember that clicking on one photo will line up all the photos along the bottom of the screen, so that the photos can be viewed in a larger size. As always, if a photo of you shows up and you are not happy about that, just let me know so I can remove it. Easily done. 
        So, onward:

a boy in a truck with his dad, in Lexington, KY

while at a rally in Frankfort, KY, against mountaintop removal mining

neighbors visiting neighbors

Thanks, Bonnie, for helping me out last week!

 4H Fair:

cousins, taken a few years ago

being at the cemetery for his great grandmother's burial

While at a festival in Sandy Hook, KY, these three couples, on motorcycles, allowed me to film them, and they set themselves up just like this. Later I was able to figure out who one of them was, so I could give them a copy of the photo. It turns out they are extended family members.  Let's hear it for small towns!