links, corrections, horses, and windshield art!!

post #106, starting with the three corrections, all from the West Liberty post:

Last week I couldn't find this photo that I had wanted to include when I wrote about West Liberty.  I had used my iPhone to make this view from the parking lot I was in; the Community Artists tent was behind me.  The backs of these buildings include the justice center, on the left, and the bank, on the right.  But the show must and did go on!! 

 

One of the artists there is Tami Booher. In this photo, her art is hanging outside the community tent while she does some face painting. 

          She and I figured out that I had misidentified the artist of the turkey painting that I like so much and showed in post #103.  Tami painted it!  Here is another photo of the barn with panel; I made the correction on the earlier post.

  
   The third correction is that the several big panels that were hanging in West Liberty were done by students!  I read about it in the weekly newspaper.  Bravo again!  (One is included in post #103.)

      Now two links.  I guess these could be connected to POLITICS.  The first link is to a column by Charles Blow, from the New York Times: Charles Blow's Don't Mess with Big Bird.  So personal and so well written.  
     The other link just arrived today in an email, and it has to do with the on-going effort to provide clean water for people who actually live in Appalachia and who have been paying a high price for rogue coal removal methods.  However, since we all live downstream, this is important news for our common future.  Here is the link: KFTC - water protection progress!!


     Now for some snaps with my point and shoot, since, sorry to say, I don't always have my Canon with me....   Anyway, recently I found out who owns this house that I often photograph.  When I saw these horses by the road as I passed the house on my way home from town, I couldn't resist stopping.

I like the dappled mane that comes from shadows.  The burrs in their manes make me think they look like unicorns!

   
   
       I have saved the next photo for last.  I love it.  I had driven off with this creature on my windshield, and not having my Canon with me forced me to figure out how to do a macro shot with the point and shoot.  By the time I stopped and took one photo, my passenger decided to move on, so this is the only version.  I am glad I didn't give up before getting it. 

   Next week, some cardinal fledglings and some flickers.  Here's to random acts of wonder.

last day of September, 2012

post #105, some mish mash amid the variety of daily life:

        First I want to add a thought to my mild but sincere plea last week for all of us citizens to use our treasured brains and not be bought by advertisements.  Besides the obvious crie de coeur for everyone to vote this year, I also hope it was clearly implied that we need a lot more women in the US Senate.  As for that big leadership job up for grabs, give me someone who THINKS, who is well informed (like in "reads a lot" and "enjoys complex ideas"), and who is willing to take sensible risks on our behalf.  I am not talking perfection here, but I am really curious what President Obama could do in a second term now that he has learned the ropes!!  What an unnecessary shame that many Americans haven't yet gotten past the color of his skin.

White is hard to get right in a photo, so I am happy here.  

But when it comes to skin, color is just a random cover for our amazing human bodies.

         This weekend I have been a small part of the 42nd annual SORGHUM FESTIVAL in West Liberty. The making of sorghum molasses is demonstrated in the city park.  The town still shows the ravages of the tornado I wrote about in the spring, here.  But the festival is a tradition and, this year, an affirmation of community spirit.   Here are several photos I took -- using my Panasonic Lumix during Friday's rain, my iPhone and my Canon on Saturday afternoon and this Sunday evening, during the closing up.  I wasn't able to be there during the parade yesterday.  The dexterity that went into the planning to fit everything in  -- between construction and rubble -- is truly amazing.  Bravo, West Liberty!!

From behind, on the left, the never unfinished and now condemned new justice center, the old courthouse and the bank.

The bank on the back left, the food vendors and stage area, and the tent cover for Main Street, with booths for artists and crafters.

The stage, in use, and, again, the totally destroyed bank, even though it is not yet demolished.

the other side of Main Street, new buildings in progress, holes still remaining in the block.

Art is an essential part of the recovery.  This banner shows that same side of Main Street above as it used to look or could look after additional rebuilding? 

       Oh, and I had a routine colonoscopy last week.  As I waited in the OR to receive my napping meds, I was totally aware of how expensive this procedure would be without insurance.  There were those monitoring machines, and two nurses and a doctor and the support staff that prepared me and asked questions about my health history and took my vital signs, etc.  (And I didn't even get to see that little camera the doctor uses -- which would put my gear to shame, I am sure.)  I was distinctly aware how privileged I was not to have to go through this while also worrying about how to pay for it.  It's truly distressing that not everyone has insurance yet to undergo this checkup that is so widely recommended to be done every ten years.  All went well for me, by the way, though that news is not why I have chosen to share that particular day's main event.  


     So, as October begins, and the leaves here begin to turn, we found something unusual last week -- unexpected redbuds.  Usually they show their pink early in the spring.  Go figure.  The branch had been trimmed, and then photographed.  More on fall next week!

  

 

an interlude for some reflection on the tornado in West Liberty

post #87
     Greetings again this weekend!  I've decided to devote this post to a link for a YouTube video of a rap song that includes footage of nearby West Liberty, Kentucky, right after the terrible tornado that devastated the town on March 2, 2012.  My friend Bobbie forwarded this to me two days ago.  (I posted some of her tornado photos on this blog soon after the storm.)  Thanks so much again, Bobbie.

The title is Trapped in a Tragedy.  This is the link.

For those interested in what progress has been made in West Liberty, here is a link to a recent article by Tom Eblen in the Lexington Herald-Leader. 

I do hope you have time to watch the video. Then next week: O, P, Q and R!!

more tornado responses from West Liberty in Morgan County

post #76
    A young artist friend lives near Morgan County and was greatly affected by the 3/2/2012 tornado.  She and I met this fall because of our shared love of photography, so I asked her if I could use one of her photos on this blog.  She chose this one and included an explanation of it.  Thanks so much, Bobbie.

Morgan County, Kentucky, photo by Bobbie Bolin

    I feel like this one is the most powerful to me because you see so much of the destruction and you also see all the people coming together and checking on their community members. The demolished building on the left hand side of the pic closest to you was the building that the church across the road used for dinners.  My mom, dad and a few of our family members and I had gone there a few times to have dinner with the church members.... I am also making bracelets to sell and I'm giving all the proceeds from them to all those affected by the storms, the ones I've made so far say Morgan County and West Liberty on them and the beads are blue and gold which are our school colors....I went to school out in West Liberty all my life and this is the only way I can think to help my home town.

      I also want to share some other tornado photos in the form of a slide show (click HERE) made by John Flavell, a longtime photo journalist and my friend, who showed up in West Liberty the same evening of the tornado.   He returned on Saturday, and again on Monday, as can be seen by the cover of snow over everything.  And perhaps other times as well.  Photos by the Lexington Herald-Leader are available at www.Kentucky.com, if you have time to search them out.  I know there has been a lot of coverage on TV, but both Bobbie and John are nearby.  Bobbie grew up in West Liberty, but currently lives in Elliott County, a mile from the Morgan County line.  (Around here that's how we give a sense of someone's place.)

our jonquils, on Monday afternoon, after 4 inches of snow overnight

our daffodils, on Wednesday, in between wind gusts