on the farm

The Kentucky country side is the most beautiful land I will ever see.  I have driven through almost every state in this country, and I know that there are some amazing views and picturesque landscapes.  But the tie that I have because Kentucky is my home will trump all other rolling hills, evergreen forests and rocky shore lines.  This weekend I was able to look out at the green Kentucky farmland from the front porch of an old farm house in Cane Valley.  Some of my closest friends met me there to spend a weekend together before I leave.  My heart had a hard time handling the combination of the joy of such love and beauty and the sadness of our soon separation.

 

a love/hate relationship

The trees in my front yard are breathtaking.  I have been given the joy of a front porch that looks out onto one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the city.  The bees buzz by while robins, swelling in expectation, search for lingering worms.  Hoppy McHopperton passes through the grass on his way to the hole underneath the shed in the backyard.  And then, my eyes start to water, I start to sneeze, and my brain starts to hurt under the pressure. The pressure of the swelling of my sinus cavities due to my allergic reaction to those blooming beauties.  Breathtaking indeed.

if I wade across the water

 

I have always loved swimming in rural-kentucky rivers, stream, lakes and ponds.  As a youth, I was fearless.  I knew that there could be things in the water: gar, cotton mouths, bacteria, garbage.  Sometimes you could see through the water, other times it was a murky mystery.  But the peace of being so involved with nature made it all worth it.  Now, as an adult, my fear has control.  I am too cautious.  I know what is exactly in the water and I am afraid to come in contact with it.  I want to find that innocent joy again.     

venturing towards the field and stream

I hope this makes you as happy as it did me.

Sunshine Marge

There is nothing like a little sunshine to fight the blues.

There is a beautiful painting Gerhard Richter made of his daughter, Betty, in the St. Louis Art Museum.  Every time I walked through the galleries, I would stop in front of this image and wonder how such an odd image became so compelling.  It was the inspiration for these images.  Betty can be seen here

harriet the spider

here is a poem by Margie and me about this photograph:

Harriet the spider sometimes gets sad.
Placed next to the flowers,
she fades out of focus.

She goes a long time
without other spiders.
All she can see are the flowers all around her.
There are so many and they are all so beautiful.

She wonders if anyone will ever
think she is so beautiful;
Shining bright in the sun and
smelling sweetly in the breeze.

Standing on the edge of a pedal
Harriet thinks about her self.
"If I were a flower, then I would be happy."
...she tells herself.

But harriet doesn't know that she is lovely.
There are other spiders in the world that are lonely like her.
If only they could all be friends.

Today, she decides that she isn't lonely after all.
The flowers can be her friend.
Together they can make an even more beautiful picture.

portland rose garden

Sometimes, something is just beautiful.

the joys of a three day weekend

One of the benefits of being a teacher is the observance of all national holidays.  This year held no long lines of tourists needing to buy a t-shirt or teenagers salivating for a frappuccino (in my world anyways...).  I mean, what's the point of "Labor" day if some people just end up working more?  I was so blessed to have 3 glorious days to spend however I wished, with whomever I wished.  The weather was in the mid-80's and everyday produced some pretty radiant sunshine.  The following are a few moments from my weekend - almost like little praises.

my beautiful friend, Kelsey, decided photographs were more important than frisbees

time spent at cherokee park is time spent well

caught Matt's game of rugby 

walked through the neighborhood

played at the waterfront

spent time with family

How often do you really get to REST?  Sometimes, when I get overwhelmed, I have a tendency to find distraction in movies, television, and naps.  But I found that a little bit of friendship, sunshine, frisbee, babies, and laughter can be more than an amusement - it can be the real thing.