recent photos during my travails with the iPhoto to Photos transition

post #258
       Even though I am still struggling with the finer details of the new PHOTOS software on my Apple laptop, there has been progress. It helped to be in Lexington Friday where there is an Apple store. I went there, and I quietly insisted they help me. Right then. I live two hours away, I pointed out. No, coming in again and taking my chances in the morning is not an option.  And then Adam walked by; I was told I could ask him 5 minutes of questions.  Well, I can ask anyone 5 minutes of questions since that is how I think. But Adam ended up staying with me until I could ask almost all my questions! Now, even if I can't remember exactly how to get where I want to be, I at least KNOW that place exists and can be gotten to. SO I am vastly encouraged and no longer totally freaked out. Isn't that a pretty good definiton of progress?
         My plan today is to try sharing some recent heretofore inaccessible photos.  Please just celebrate along with me if indeed that is what I manage to accomplish.  

      First, here are some views while driving back from the county seat where I paid the property taxes and picked up my refurbished laptop.  Thank you, Maynard!

       Along the way, I passed this former two room school, now a community center with lovely cliffs to the left. The schools in this county were consolitdated in the early 70s. 

     More views along the way -- I do pull off the road in order to make such photos...

      Two terrific teens -- close friends with each other -- brought up a whole load of wood from a waiting pile in the our woods. Half the load went on to the porch, see below, and this remaining half was on its way to the barn.  Thank you, J and J!  And thanks, F, for preparing the pile last fall!

      This last photo is the home of one of my neighbor's. I like the way the tree in front of it has lost enough leaves -- but not all -- so that the house is visible behind the screen of branches yet remains part of the glory of the season; it ends up, sort of, hiding in plain sight.

         If anyone has had trouble downloading the photos in this post, please leave me a comment to mention that.  I am not 100% sure yet if everything I did was exactly what needed to be done. Thanks! Using the Anonymous option after clicking on Comments lets anyone send a comment my way.  Next week I may be able to share some of my photos from France, in recognition of the senseless yet serious tragedy there this week.

mid March snow, rain and deer grazing

post #129- final version posted at 5:45 New York time

        Almost two and a half years of weekly posts, and here I am for another one!  As usual, life happens in-between posts, so today I have decided to touch on this week's variety of happenings. 
      
       This past week found several close friends and a sister having hospital stays.  One of the friends is the woman whose wash is blowing in the wind.  She says she now thinks of me every time she hangs up the laundry....  Nice!  I am sharing this photo this time as a signal for all these illnesses and repairs to be done with and blown away.  Very far away.
     
        Our large neighborhood had another passing this week, Burbie Stone, age 92, whose reputation as a hard worker was legendary, on their land and in the garden and with their four children and their families.  We still use several quilts made by her.  She and her husband were married in the house where I now live, in 1939, back when it was owned by her parents.  As of Friday she is buried on the cemetery plot on our land, next to her parents, and I am sharing a photo from yesterday evening, the day after the burial.  I thank Burbie for her many generosities and her inspiring energy and can-do attitude.

 

        In the new and different department, my friend George Ella Lyon is experiencing an unexpected venue for the distribution of one her books for children,  All the Water in the World, illustrated by Katherine Tillotson (Atheneum, 2011).  A reduced-sized bilingual version is this month's offering in what I would call the industrial-sized boxes of CHEERIOS!  The book inside is featured on the front of its box.  I made a special trip to the supermarket cereal aisle to take a photo with my iPhone.  Her bigger book is better, of course, but nonetheless this is big news....

         Wednesday I was supposed to have my writers group in Lexington, but plans evolved, and I ended up in Louisville, for lunch, where three of us -- half of our full number -- had Jan's homemade soup and shared our words in progress.  Even this photo of Marie's table is a work in progress as shown by having only two soup bowls and not yet the third....

        I did use photography this week to link the local to the global, by honoring my husband, Francis, who had just made a fire in our cook stove, with a photo similar to one in the world news.  Well, sort of similar.  Similar enough.  The photo title is meant to be humorous, not disrespectful...

Papa Francis

       I did find time to continue time spent with my new lens, including a return visit Friday evening to the beavers.  I will share those photos next week.  For now here are some flowers found in our yard, seeds coming from somewhere and landing here, wonderful to see during this chilly wet day in northeastern Kentucky.

      I wish everyone good health, especially, this week.  I have updated my comment format, so I hope it is easier to use.  If you need to sign in, you can always use the "anonymous", and I should be able to respond to the email you use.  Like everything this week, this change is a work in progress, so I thank you for your patience and your support -- Ann

with a wood stove in our kitchen

post #122

     
      In honor of chilly and icy weather, I decided to share photos of a wonderful member of our household staff -- the wood cook stove that was in the house when we bought the place forty years ago.  I have been known to take the stove for granted, but it's usually of great interest when someone visits our home for the first time.  We have it connected via a stove pipe to its chimney in the winter.  In the summer, however, we take out the stove pipe and push the stove up against the wall behind it as a way to provide additional space for summer comings and goings.  We don't rely on it for cooking, but we can boil water on it, cook potatoes or cornbread in the oven, or keep a pot of soup warm all afternoon -- if it is cold enough outside to make it worthwhile to build a fire.
      In the following photos, our kitchen area is close behind me.
      

the stove in use today, water boiling and a pan of water providing steam into the dry heated air

firebox on the left, oven in the middle, and, formerly, a water tank on the right, which, unfortunately, rusted out even before our time and doesn't seem easily replaceable

oven door  --  the gauge isn't actually all that accurate

The wood goes on this side, so my husband cuts it to fit the size of the opening.

To see what is behind the white door on the left, see the next photo.

wood burning in the top, ashes falling to the bottom, drawer comes out for periodic emptying

close-up from the last photo

wood in, lid still open

Here's a fire from last week, wood burning hot.  Often a slower fire can last the night.

yes, indeed

My husband, Frank, took this next photo Saturday morning, at one of the waterfalls.  Thanks!

       

    Photos two years ago of this same waterfall are on my blog here.  John Flavell took them, and today I want to thank him again for sharing the photos and for enjoying using our wood stove so very much.  I can also share that yesterday John won first place at the Kentucky News Photographers Association for the Best News Picture Story/Essay -- on the aftermath and recovery of West Liberty following the March 2nd tornado.  Bravo, John!! Click here to see these winning photos. 

    Next week, something completely different....