Enough of winter diversions! It's time for the promise of redbuds!

     I am so glad to be making a new post. I love working with my photos, and I love sharing them with those of you who keep returning.  I hope everyone is warm and dry, but I know that this year that's asking a lot.  There seem to be relentless climate challenges these days.  In what ways can we help each other through this!?!

    I have quite a few redbud photos because it is a favorite time of year for me.  And that time is almost here.  So, in case I get distracted by this year's spring, I want to share a few of my photos early -- all made very near where I live in northeastern Kentucky.

 NOTE: for some unknown reason I wrote the above weeks ago but then I couldn't get the photo part to work.  So I have been waiting and checking on it regularly.  Then tonight, again for some unknown reason, it seems to be working!!  I am keeping this post short, even so, in case the magic disappears.  And now some redbud photos:
 

 

These flowers -- which are also branches -- are always eye catching.

I always look for this "patch" of redbuds along this nearby dirt road

a photo from several years ago

This tree was once a little transplant next to the steps down to our house. It has survived ice storms, children climbing on it, super winds, and such.  So far.  

 

 

 

 

 

I love this photo, made near Winchester.  The sky and the light made me happy for the tree's abundance.

Of course the dogwoods like to follow the redbuds.  This past weekend, with a friend, we drove  all the way south to Harlan County, Kentucky, to the Pine Mountain Settlement School for a gathering there.  The dogwoods puncuated the woods as we drove through, mountains on either side of the road. The redbuds were mostly finished blooming.  The trees along the way were a wonder of greens, hillside after hillside. Our timing and the weather were a blessing. It was so beautiful to have the chance to drive on narrow roads through this spring display.

Please be happy for me and the chance I have had to share one more post.  I hope to this means I will be able to do a next one soon.  After 10+ years of this, I care about being able to share my thoughts, concerns, and particularly my photos.  Surely I will be able to be back soon.  Ann

    

 

 

 

the world with redbuds and with war/hunger/falsehoods/and you name it

          After the Quaker Ladies photo,  I'm sharing some of my redbud photos over the years.  Can't help myself. Mid April wonders.

         While driving around my Kentucky county these last few days I have been totally aware of redbud trees in bloom everywhere!!  Oh my goodness, so beauiful, so amazing and so counter to human beings harming each other day after day.  And, it could be argued, that even by our not working hard enough to solve the ongoing impending changes in our climate, we are harming both people and the planet with our collective greed and ignorance.               

        However, I don't know if this year's redbuds bordering these narrow country roads and along the edges of our woods are what make me so happy this day. Perhaps they simply remind me of the power of beauty.  I don't want to forget that it's certain that there is harm ahead which our world has yet to experience. I ask myself, is there instead a way for the power of beauty and fairness to lead us, somehow, in turning harm into harmony???

        

redbud companions on the ground:  Quaker Ladies, or Bluets

 apple tree companions as well

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my very favorite roadside redbuds -- though this year these trees were not as lovely as in 2018.

near Winchester, closer to central Kentucky

new branches, showing the redbud way

 

         To finish off, two more photos from Kentucky -- the first one is my MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL photo, from a small airplane's point of view.  This is h a r m.

This is closer to  h a r m o n y.

 

        I'll hope to post again in two or three weeks.  Be good to each other, and love the season around you.  Ann

         

back to spring

         I've made some photos that have benefited from this year's spring leaves being later and slower to show themselves.  At the same time I've had a request from someone who has never been to this part of the northeastern Appalachian mountains to explain our version of "straight roads" or the number of curves per mile in certain places. Had the various trees been already laden with leaves, some of the curves would have been even harder to see. At the same time, this year's seriously damaging ice storm helped open spaces in the woods that had not been there before -- I like to think it's another proof that the forest knows its part on how to help nature's healing.

        In any case, I have really enjoyed being out and about with a camera this past week during this cool, wet, and therefore lingering spring in northeastern Kentucky.

 

 

 

       

The Marathon pipeline shows off our hills and their challenges.

mayapples, with a blossom in the ready

 

 

 

 

redbud tree in transition

the dogwood, under a fallen limb, beautifully blooming

mud mansion

    I wanted to end with this "last lilac" photo, out there all by itself, survivor of the ice storm, a vision of faith in the future, even though the wind was blowing while I was marveling at it.

     I hope this has been a good week for everyone, stay healthy, speak up for justice, and here's a big welcome and bravo to Chrystal Wilkinson, Kentucky's newest poet laureate!

 

  

A week away from Appalachia in April

         I am so glad to be with family, no matter where they are, but I do love Appalachia in April.  There are wonders everywhere.  This year, because of weather and that prolonged severe ice storm, things are running a little behind. Since I am not there today anyway, I decided to share some photos from earlier years. 

        

on the way to town last week

last gasp from last year's cattails, beside my small sweet pond

a trillium in bloom, in the woods, near the creek

 

redbuds

abundance

spring leaves near the second waterfalls

 

barn to house, at the home place, photo by Rebecca Wright, 2019

  

    Then, for part two of today's post, there's this week away, leaving Cincinnati for Denver, the photo showing left to right Ohio, the Ohio River, and Kentucky -- if so inclined, see the two ball parks on the Ohio side of the river:

AEO greeted my arrival with a hospitality question, and then she fixed a pitcher of water with sliced limes -- and we got into bubbles and light, and a bit of refraction action.

local humor

She assembled what I said I might like to eat...

Riley: "You made me spend the afternoon getting cleaned up, so I darn well deserve to sit in ANY chair I want to for now!!!

        So, ending with family, wishing for everyone to have a supportive one of whatever kind. Enjoy the spring you have as well, wherever you can find one!

more redbud at last, mostly

post #486
          I am not always here in April, and the redbuds are not always as spectacular as they were this year. But these trees call to me every year. Here's the second collection of spring flowers and their companion redbuds. 
        I feel compelled to share these earlier photos of this time of year. I seek to affirm and honor that 1) change happens, and 2) there's reliable evidence that things renew every season, just as the terrible time we currently experience won't last forever. Of course there will be changes as life turns closer to normal, but there will be redbuds next spring for sure.

apple orchard, ringed with redbuds.

rue anemone, in the forest -- and a shout out to Channing and Amy who both, separately but at the same time,  jolted my memory for the name of this early flower that is easily missed if you don't get there in a timely manner

It's actually harder to get a photo like this than might be expected...

bluets, also known as Quaker Ladies....

dogwoods IN the woods, and along the edge of fields

Every year I look forward to when this section of Mauk Ridge looks like this.

special sight, early morning, this time of year, along my road

now some photos from a visit in Winchester, Kentucky, in 2019

evidence of the wondrous way the blooms emerge from the branches

            I may add a photo or two in the next few days, but for now this is my testament to a tree that grows where it wants to, often on the edge, an old friend who shows up to announce spring. I appreciate their showy selves this year particularly, when so much sadness and confusion greets us each day. I trust we all have the perseverance to do like a tree, to try over and over and again to do the best we can.