Fall photos, over many years

    I had planned to finish this post two weeks ago, but wonderful life kept me busy and preoccupied. Fall has always been my favorite season -- until, of course, I experienced April in the Appalachian Mountains -- and I love trees. So, to celebrate how nature forges onward season after season, no matter the politics, here are some trees I have loved.  [Almost every photo was made in October.]

    

at home

Cumberland Gap, on the Tennessee/Kentucky border

windshield wetness

 

 

black walnuts -- look out below!!!

light within, for Jean

pond at summer's end

pond again, always changing

 

Cumberland Falls, two days ago, showing the effects of the drought in the area

another viewpoint of the falls, a magical place

back home, this year, not yet peak colors

 

but pretty close....

and a last shot, from summer, a favorite tree of mine, at Gary and Mary Sue's

 

summer switch

        I hereby declare that I love doing this weekly blog BUT, this summer, I am going to an EVERY OTHER WEEK schedule.  SO the next post will be June 27.  I did this change one other summer, and, as I told a friend, the world didn't stop then, and it won't this summer either.... There's just too much else going on -- or at least that's how it feels after the many, many months of lock down.  We now get to be cautious on the move....or in the garden. 

        Here are a few photos arising from recent times:

 

This is the first daylily to have bloomed, outside my door.  The view shows that daylily closing up for the day and for forever. I do absolutely nothing to take care of this patch. Yet, so far, every year, they return to excel again.

 

 

 

I made this photo in May, but I'm not sure where.  Usually I remember every photo and where I was at the time. If anyone viewing this post knows where I was, please let me know! Thanks!

This photo location is well known to me  -- it is across from my mailbox.  In the last two days, the tree has bent all the way over to the ground.  I wonder who will soon cut off the top now that there's no longer any need to get into the swamp to do the job. 

 

 

 

I went out in the world, to Lexington, on Saturday, and stopped by Melva's house en route to talk about some photos. Her welcoming cactus seemed very beautiful to me. I understand, however, it's extremely prickly and can easily cause pain. Melva has an all encompassing green thumb!

I treated myself to lunch at the Pho Saigon restaurant, in Lexington. The meal was fantastic, both beautful and delicious, and very few people were there. I am a fan of Vietnamese food, and I once had a ten day visit to the beautiful country itself.

    Then this morning, our Quaker Meeting  (in Lexington) had its first in-person gathering, with some of us remaining on Zoom.  I didn't know about this project the teens presented, but I thought it wonderful and couldn't resist a quick screen shot.  Everyone is still masked, so I don't know who anyone is, but thank you so much, thank you all, for this beautiful and joyful banner.

    I am going to add one last photo after I post this much, of the hay in my relatively small field. We may have a stretch of dry weather this week, so the tractor that comes to mow my neighhbor's field does mine as well. 

There's a second batch of phoebes in my carport.  The parents take turns sitting on the roof of my car, resting up, if bird parenting is anything like people parenting! The nest this time around looks to me like a large cupcake.

        PLEASE REMEMBER THAT I WILL RETURN AFTER TWO WEEKS, and I hope each one reading this has some laughs by then from something that happens and time to feel connected to those people important in our lives.  Ann

 

flowers amaze, as does my need to relearn every so often how to do this blog ....

        Long story short, now that my new phone is beginning to make sense to me, I still have to remember how to download photos with it and do a blog.  Life can be like two steps forward and one backwards.  It has been super windy here all day, so at least I haven't been tempted to disappear in the woods somewhere for the day.  I did have some Mothers' Day love and thoughtfulness, during Quaker Meeting this morning, an early afternoon visit and just now in a good long distance phone call. It can be a complicated day,  but this year -- after so much that's hard for everyone  -- I have felt more connected than usual to the wide range of emotions that showed themselves for everybody today. 

        The flowers that amazed me particularly were ones I saw over a week ago, when I was in Lexington (KY). I needed to drop off a book at the home of some friends, and I had no idea it was the time of year for their yearly showy garden display.  It had been raining off and on, but it stopped briefly so I whipped my new phone out of my pocket and made a few photos to share with them.  I felt full of wonder to have happened to be there just by chance and good fortune.

        

 

 

    Another photo group of this week is the tree debris along my fairly narrow dead end road.  A FEMA truck had been through the week before, to finish taking down injured trees.  They are now supposed to return at some point to remove as much of what's lying around as they can.  Who knows when.  Who knows how many miles of roadside there are that need the help.  Anyway, these photos are only a taste of the total job that still needs to be done around here.

 

        The last four photos are just ones I only see because I am always looking.  The first two are on a tree along my driveway. I have never before noticed this moment in the life of this tree! I wilI have time tomorrow to figure out what sort of scrub tree it is. I am stunned.          

 

 

What is this languid creature? He or she was not bothered by me in the least.

 

 

        Then there is always the unexpected sky, the compex cloud responses, and the wonder of the world we are denying needs our attention even while it showers gifts on us. 

     

I'm still needing to speak out

     Two things today -- this was meant for a mid-week post, which is a rarity....because it takes discipline and time, neither being abundant in my world.  At least I finally was able to get this photo on the blog.  (By chance I moved it more slowly, and then it made its way from desktop to post.  Persistence required, and luck.  It belongs between the two other photos of her in the last post, but I'm not going to stretch my luck at this time by putting it exactly there. A week in between them is fine). 

    Also, I did find out how to receive comments in this revised system, so that's now fixed as well!  What isn't fixed is how to get every single person out to vote in this very important election. I will never know how anyone feels safe with a mentally ill person being in charge of things, like the nuclear button, or who's OK with those 545 kids at the border having been separated from  parents now lost because records weren't kept (because nobody cared, I assume), but the big thing by now is to VOTE within the next 9 days. Everyone.  Stay healthy as well.  That horrible virus doesn't care whom you vote for either.  

     Here's the letter I received yesterday! Yea!!

The mailboxes across the road from me -- again BRAVO RURAL POSTAL CARRIERS!!

my former driveway, showing the rebound still in effect from a horrendous "tornadic" wind storm 25 years ago.  I send condolences to all those affected by current tornadoes, floods, or fire. There are so many wrenching stories. Our earth needs our attention and creative problem solving, by all of us.

 

 the drive in view two days or so later:

 

Trees are tops!

three more photos while sitting at the pond after reading aloud a couple of chapters from The Secret Garden:

        It fascinates me how the leaves quietly move and rearrange themselves, even in a small pond.  Of course this is what we are hoping for in this election --  which could be setting us up for a healthier democracy if we all pay attention!  (Sorry, I can't help myself from including these current events comments.... Sharing here is one of the few things I can do to support the activists and the clear thinkers who are trying to help people to believe that change is not only possible but it is incredibly necessary.  My thanks for anything you are doing as well!!!)

some fun in these very hard times

post #493
          I'm so aware that our nation, and perhaps the world, is in a particular time of transition -- which rightly implies upheavals, routing out systemic evils, and even guaranteeing  the very air we breathe and depend upon. It makes no sense to hide ourselves away. Rather we should be talking and planning and risking new perspectives. I say all this not only because I'm thinking about it every day, but also because I want to share some recent photos that have tickled my fancy, as the expression goes. I hope these first rather straight forward six photos provide a moment for sparkle and joy. These are the only photos I made at that time, since this wasn't staged -- I had just arrived for a short socially distant visit. Thank goodness for sun, fun, love and family! 

The sky is so forever interesting.

Then there are trees, also so interesting:
 

redbud tree

on the deck, under the black walnut, a moment in time without some seed or flower or nut falling on us --- and just the blue sky above and the blur of a bird

The following is the label I have attached to my mailbox:

             The Post Office is just one more thing to keep our eyes on in this time of the constant testing of the strength of our democracy.  Along the way there's so much to be grateful for, including the hard work of postal employees.  My rural mailbox is amazing, and yet it seems we can't take it for granted, which is cruel to contemplate. It's also possible that its essential role in mail-in voting is the target. Here again, at the least, are my thanks for the long hours and the heavy work postal workers do in all kinds of weather. Here also is the hope that more of us can vote safely this year with universal use of the post office. I already have the ballot I sent for.
             Stay safe everyone, VOTE, don't forget the virus but don't let it be the boss. Just outsmart it.  And wear a face mask, especially in crowds. We will all need to be working together for a long while yet.