Back from St. Louis

Each year I have to head out to St. Louis for business. This year I managed to carve out some time to actually try to see the city. What a wonderful place with a really rich history. It no longer looks like the place that Thomas Wolfe wrote about, but occasionally you can catch glimpses of what he saw in some of the old architecture. I really fell in love with the old Union Electric Light & Power Co. building at the end of the River Walk. It's haunting beauty only marred by the neon painted sign announcing the entrance to the walkway. I'll post some pictures of that later.

And yes, the shot of Busch Stadium and the elevated shot of the Arch were taken from a helicopter. Those things are more fun than a roller coaster.

Black Walnut Festival, Behtania NC 10/24/2009

Please join me on October 24th from 10 AM to 4 PM here in front of the Alpha Chapel (built 1894) for the annual Black Walnut Festival. Art, music, food and fun. If you have never ventured over to Bethania you really need to - it is no further away than the Grande Theater!

*********THE DATE ON THE POSTER IS INCORRECT - THE FESTIVAL IS ON SATURDAY THE 24TH, NOT THE 25TH (SUNDAY)**********

Previous post about Bethania CLICK HERE.

Return to Stone Mountain, NC

I have had every intention of going back to take more pictures, but just have not made the time. I was digging through some of my shots from two summers ago and found this one. I am now feeling the NEED to return and spend more time before the leaves are gone.

Previous post on Stone Mountain, NC.

Old Friends

This was taken about a year and half ago. These are the best people (minus two who could not be there) a person could ask for to claim as friends freshman year in college. I had to take early leave from these wonderful friends after only two years with them for reasons I may or may not discuss here another time. We allowed twenty years to pass before we were all able to get together again. I hate that another year+ has passed without seeing them all again. We have managed gatherings of twos and threes for which I am grateful. I count this group one of my many blessings.

If - Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream and not make dreams your master;
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools

Hello 3 AM, I hate meeting like this........

Well, it looks like the last time we went through this together was on May 1st(my post from that long night). Not sure why I am pie eyed and wound up. Must be contagious however, I can hear the dogs barking in the basement. As with previous bouts of insomnia, I try to envision a peaceful place. Tonight it is on the Farm for a long walk. I am always amazed at how what seem to be such small concerns during the day can become down right mountainous in the cool of the night. These worries act like a small splinter in my thumb that is barely even noticed until after midnight when it begins to throb as if there had been a nail driven into it. Graphic, but accurate.

Do you think my ears are too big?

Do your ears hang wide?
Do they flap from side to side?
Do they wave in the breeze
From the slightest little sneeze?
Can you soar above the nation
With a feeling of elevation?
Do your ears hang wide?

Shadows

Same door, same camera, same shadows - all with a different feel. I found myself in Bethania again today to meet with a person regarding land conservation. I arrived just early enough to take some pictures of the Alpha Chapel built in 1894. With the sun low in the sky, there were some terrific long shadows that added something to this wonderful old church.

I should add that they are each original photographs, not the same shot with different manipulations.

Sun setting on summer

School has begun again, schedules are returning to their regular frenetic pace and the cicadas are not singing quite as loudly. I love this time of year, but I always miss the smell of the summer air and the dramatic sunsets. I think that it is because it only lasts for a while each year that we get to appreciate this brief moment as much as we do. It has been a full summer with my daughter graduating from Wake Forest, my wife opening her new shop, our time in Maine where Daniel learned to sail, Daniel getting SCUBA Certified and having my prints publicized for the first time (we were interviewed by WFDD for the book signing, etc.). Yes, it has been wonderful and I cannot wait to see what next summer brings.

THE END OF SUMMER

By Shannon Georgia Schaubroeck

The summer days are fading, as they must
From endless hours to short and fleeting light
The bird's once bright, immortal tune, now cries
A melancholy aura to the dusk
The children fiercely climb, and dream, and race
Before their wild and unchained days depart
And yet beneath the zeal lies a half heart
For there isn't time, there's only enough space
The sun seems low, a hazy orange sphere
Now reminiscing sweetly of the days
When endlessly before you summer lay
And as in the deep, crimson dusk you stir
Your soul joins with the birds in wistful brood
Crying for lost summer days, for childhood

This Friday the 28th......

Please join me and help spread the word!

"Bethania: The Village by the Black Walnut Bottom" by Beverly Hamel. I am thrilled to have my pictures included in this book.

Please mark your calendars for August 28th for a reading, book signing and print sale at Village Smith Galleries in Reynolda Village. There will be wine and hors d'oeuvres. Both Bev and I will be present to sign books and prints. This represents a first publication for both of us, so please stop by and say hello.

Previous post with more detail.

SCUBA Certification: He did it!

Well, after a summer of study and drills at the bottom of the pool at the Yadkinville YMCA, Daniel passed his written test (thanks to big sister Alex for helping him study) and just today completed his fifth dive for his Open Water Certification.

I cannot speak highly enough of the Blue Dolphin Dive Shop and their pairing us with instructor Moe McKnight. If you have ever wanted to do this, do not wait, call Janet Hill at 336-760-9226 and tell her that I sent you (I do get a referral gift) and she will get you all set up.

Can't wait for our first vacation!

Click here for pictures from the Blue Stone Quarry.

Bethania and its history of slavery

Although the Moravian Church was not supportive of slavery, it ultimately did not stand in the way of its members buying slave labor. Its a painful and tragic part of our past here, but nonetheless, it must be talked and written about just as much as all other aspects of our history. Slaves and their decedents are addressed in Beverly Hamel's new book (See previous post by clicking here). The images above are from Bethania, the image of the slaves in the field is from Beverly's collection of old pictures and the image of the spinning shed on the old Conrad/Jones plantation I took as a part of the images included in Beverly's book. Sometimes, in order to move forward, we need to look back even if what we see makes us uncomfortable.

Please don't forget the book signing and reading on August 28th, 6pm at Village Smith Galleries in Reynolda Village, Winston-Salem.

Reynolda House Photo Contest: Heroes of Horticulture

Here is the link that contains the details of the Reynolda House Photo Contest. It coincides with the current exhibition "Heroes of Horticulture" that everyone should attend. The details are also available on the link above.

The pictures above are from Reynolda Village and Gardens which I took this spring that appeal to me, particularly the tree that has been pruned for many more years than most of us have been alive.

Enter contest by clicking here.

Previous post on Reynolda Village.

Yadkinville YMCA

This was just after the massive rain that just passed through while I
was waiting for my son.

Santiago's skiff..

This is basically what I envisioned Santiago's skiff would look like when I read Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea" when I was about 13. The story was really a metaphor about life, but all I could focus on was wondering how he caught that giant fish from a row boat?!

To our environmental health: Algaen Corp.

This time, they are talking about the strain that can produce bio-diesel - really amazing:

Algaen Fuels

My previous posts on Algaen Corp.:

Algaen Nutraceutical

Harbor seals

While out on our MERI adventure (MERI slide show), we came upon a large group of seals. Their expressions are not to be beat. One of the scenes I was unable to capture on my camera was the two seals that took up residence in the cove out front of my sister's house. They came out every morning to fish for breakfast and just splash around for a while. It was not that my camera was not close by, it was more that I felt that it was better to watch them which seemed to be good for my blood pressure. Some things don't need to be or maybe even shouldn't be recorded - just appreciated and remembered.

Blue Hill, Maine with a little Freeport, Stonington, Castine and Port Clyde included.

Instead of my trying to explain in words how I feel about Maine, just have a look at the slide show. Its a large movie file so give it a minute and make sure your sound is on.

Older post on Blue Hill.

Left behind and hoping to be refit.

It has been a while since I have posted a "left behind". The irony is that this one is similar to my first post, although with a totally different history. This looks like it may have been built in the late 1940's probably on Beal Island where the design of standard lobster boat was conceived about 80 years ago. I would like to believe that the person working on this boat is doing so to preserve the memory of having spent time on the boat with his grandfather. Learning how to pull traps, band the lobsters, bait and reset the traps. I also suspect that this boat has seen seas that most of us could only begin to imagine off the coast of Maine, brining her captain and crew home safely time and again. This one is definitely worth saving.

I met a retired Lobsterman who now spends his time working with MERI (Marine Environmental Research Institute). He ferries a group of people most week days on short environmental tours that are fantastic. A man with a wonderful history who offered this comment about lobstermen "They are the salt of the earth. Hard working, grizzled, honest and don't ever lie to one!" Understood Dick, thank you again for the tour.

Slide show from the MERI tour. Hope you like wildlife.

Back from Blue Hill with lots of pictures.

OK these were actually taken in Freeport when we stopped to do our part to support the local economy by loading up at the LL Bean store (side note, there is a clever little Mexican restaurant near Blue Hill called El El Frejoles). Anyway, my son was begging me to let him go fishing and this large predatory bird was having all the luck. There will be many more pictures to come, so if you love Maine like we do, stay tuned. If you have never been, I hope they inspire you to go, it really is wonderful.

Low Tide

This was the scene this AM as I prepared to row out to the Whaler and
bail three days of rain water. The sun is out, the market is stable
and life is good.