Tiny Hamlet of Harborton (two photos)

On the way back from a weekend of new friends and photography in Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, I followed a road west of the main road that led to this tiny town in Virginia’s Eastern Shore called Harborton. It was clearly named for the nice, large harbor that gave easy access to the Chesapeake Bay. There were a couple of dozen houses, a score of piers and docks and a very large parking lot that indicated there were a lot of boats launched here doing the summer. Pretty place. I shot this crab/oyster shack in the early afternoon. I have a photograph of an old post office I will post later. Lots of bird photos so, we all know that means the long-awaited and eagerly anticipated Bird Week X.

If you are a fan of B&W I think this image lends itself to that look, added here with a wash of antique color in ON1

Hope Your Week is Glorious

This is a sunset taken between Charlestown, SC and Myrtel Beach, SC. The cloud formation is just enchanting.

Country Church

This is located very close to Smokemont in the Great Smoky Mountains on the NC side. It is a short walk from the campground. The Lufty Baptist Church was established in 1836 and this building erected in 1912. There is an outhouse down the hill from the building that is nearly hidden by the foliage. I am not sure if the church building is used for anything any longer although it appears to be set up for an audience. Maybe just shut down becuase of covid.

“Our hearts have not deserted you. We have not strayed from your path.” Psalm 44:18 NLT

Last Year

We were able in early December to visit Disney World. One of the highlights was a tour of the 9 or so gingerbread creations. They are remarkable and this one, over two stories high, was set up to sell and serve hot chocolate from the front porch. Don’t think they did them this year - hope for 2021. This is located in the Grand Floridian. Turns out my neighbor’s son plays the piano here.

In Sight

Thought it would be good to take a break from birds and streams and fall colors. I took this a few years ago but just processed it (or re-processed it) and I think it is a better photo. I like it because I am standing on the side of the Lincoln Memorial and the portico frames the Reflecting Pool, the Washington Monument, the US Capital and The Smithsonian Castle. Whew. It also includes a tired tourist resting on the steps of the monument.

Fill 'er up?

You didn’t have to do it yourself and pay at the pump meant you gave the man $5.00 and he gave you change while chatting about the crops and weather and what happened at church last Sunday. And don’t back into the tree when you leave!

Excited...

Not the Great Blue in this photo, but me. I am actually going out to take images this weekend at Chincoteague, Virginia. If you don’t know Chincoteague (or the famous horse, Misty) it is a small town on the Eastern shore and adjacent to the wild life refuge of the same name and it shares the long island with the Assateague Island National Seashore. It is one of my favorite places and I am going to be with other more experienced photographers so I expect to learn a lot and simply enjoy a beautiful place doing what I enjoy so much, shooting photographs, enjoying the beauty of the sea and unique wild life.

However, on the Great Blue, note the colors of his feathers they are so subtle and rich.

Soft

Looking at one of the mountains surrounding Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains on a very foggy morning. The low fog was burning off across the valley but it was still very thick in pockets. The three tiers of this photo were pleasing to me.

Another Great Smoky Mountain NP Stream

I took a lot of different steam and waterfall photos during the 10 days we were in the area. I simply love the colors of fall, the streams were pretty full after some soaking late September storms and the opportunity to be out in these leafy cathedrals rejuvenating. For some of the locations I would love the chance to shoot them in the spring when the deep green foliage is dotted with pink and while flowrers.

Thankful .7

I am thankful for the future and its promise.

In 1976 Cindy and I toured the West for the first time and had a remarkable 14 days. On Friday night of Memorial Day weekend we were in the reliable and durable 1971 VW zipping along the interstate in Missouri and needed to be home for Tuesday as we both had to work and a summer class I was taking also began. Our VW had 170k and never an issue. Then it did. Suddenly the engine blew and the now free spinning transmission thought it should join in the chaos. We were on the side of the road, little money, no credit cards back then and a very broken car.

I’ll give the end of the story but first, the point is the car. I have way more miles than it did and remarkably, I seem to be steaming down some sort of Interstate. But I know there are limits that I do not see and they can be gradual or sudden. I also know there is less of the road ahead than behind. But I am so thankful that is not the end of the story. Believers in the completed work of Jesus, imperfect as we are, faulty as we are, prone to fail as we are, are gifted with a future that is well beyond what might appear to be the end of the road. And, while an occasional doubt dances across my view, - that twitchy humanity again, it is a solid, logical and secure reality. “And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. …. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1: 4 & 11 NLT

What we did have is AAA. A tow truck arrived and towed us to a full campground - Memorial weekend, remember, but they let us pitch our tent on a hill. We had torrents of rain that night and spent the night watching the lightning & sitting up in the car, soaking wet. In the AM the tow driver came back - he thoughtfully left his ticket open so we could use the whole 50 miles, and took us to the airport in St Louis to rent a car and the remains of the 1971 VW to the VW garage. We had enough to rent a car for three days and slept on the floor of a room at St Louis Chrsitian College. On Tuesday we got the bad news on the car and the time we spent trolling auto dealers Sunday and Monday paid off as we had a car in mind and Cindy’s old boss at a bank arranged financing for us over the phone, so off to Johnson only one day late with our Western trip souvenir a 1972 green Dodge Colt with A/C!

It is hard to know the whole path before us only that it leads to the Son.

Thankful .6

Where do you stop being grateful when you start a list? I am so thankful for our home both here and “en route” to wherever we are heading, for hobbies & interests that lead me to form new friendships, learn new skills (or at least try) and are a joy to pursue. I am grateful for mobility: we walk most days, hike on trips, balance across rocky streams, climb hills and, adding in car travel we have driven hundreds of thousands of miles crisscrossing the USA and Canada..

I have been blessed to work part-time or full time since I was 12 and began selling donuts door to door. It is amazing that I have had the opportunity to work with so many solid, creative, outstanding leaders in scores of churches.

We have a warm house - the repair person just fixed our heat pump, in fact, we have what we need and more.

It is easy to be a bit cynical or start to compare one’s life with someone who aprears to have things or circumstances better than you - what a trap. Simply being grateful for what we have, what sustains us in the moment, what challenges us and what a grand adventure any aspect of life affords all point to living a life a gratitude and thanksgiving. A good habit is to recall two or three things each morning that you are grateful for as you plan your day.

Last post on thankful tomorrow but first another gem from the most quotable Mr. Lewis:

“We shall not be able to adore God on the highest occasions if we have learned no habit of doing so on the lowest. At best, our faith and reason will tell us that He is adorable, but we shall not have found Him so, not have tasted and seen. Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are “patches of Godlight” in the woods of our experience.” (Letters to Malcolm p122)

Thankful .5

C. S. Lewis wrote: “Man can neither make, nor retain, one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift.” How completely true. Time is a most precious gift and I am keenly aware of that at this stage of life and I try, often unsuccessfully, to be grateful for every moment. I am privileged to have lived across parts of 8 decades, and soon, nearly 30% of all American Presidents. Each day is full of decisions on how that day can be used, often just doing ordinary things, accomplishing work (though 2021 is my last year for that!) having dinner or simply doing some small task that needs to be done. We should celebrate the ordinary as that is most of our lives. Regardless of how we use them every moment is a gift to be savored and pondered so we ought to shepherd them with diligence and purpose and, always, with thanksgiving.

Clock tower, Lowell, MA

Thankful .4

Family - our sons and daughters-in-law and GRANDKIDS are all a blessing. You pray that your children will become productive and capable adults, find someone to share life with who is more than a good companion and will who be a full partner to create joy and meaning in life. I am so thankful for them. I am thankful that faith has meaning for all of their lives. And then there is the bonus, super grandkids. What absolute joy they provide and to see them growing into fine adults is gratifying and a privilege. There is not a day that slips past that I don’t give thanks for all of those who comprise what we simply define as family, and….

…on this Day of Thanksgiving, I am grateful for Cindy. It is hard, perhaps impossible, to understand at 16 when you are enamored by a beautiful young woman, what that means for life as you date, marry, raise a family, work, travel, attend to life together and age together. It is not hard, however, to look back from that first glance and to see how blessed, fortunate, and gifted that life became because she shared herself on that journey. It is Cindy that made a comfortable home wherever we lived (or travel), provided an atmosphere that enabled our sons to thrive, gave me the encouragement and support in many dimensions that allowed me to succeed at college and work and, with her discipline and attention to life’s details, she solves many issues small and large that otherwise would be a problem. She makes the travel more enjoyable, dinners more enticing and every day a blessing and a joy. Thankful seems almost an inadequate word.

At one of her preferred places, along side the ocean. This one at the Cape Lookout National Seashore.

Thankful .3

I am thankful for friends and delighted that in this restricted year Cindy and I were able to spend some time with a few of our friends both old and new. I think I can add food to this section because often seeing friends also means great times around a table. In a year that limits engagements and travel I have been blessed by good friends and the sharing of a bit life together.

Thankful .2

I am eternally grateful for the Church. The Church is an important portal through whom God chooses to make himself known and, so, essential for grace and mercy, for salvation and peace and much more. Often, because of flawed and faulty people, poor theology and misplaced priorities the Church suffers but it also endures, can blossom and is yet in this world a singular force for good, a voice for those genuinely disadvantaged, poor and broken. God’s people provide a place of healing, service and kindness. The Church is simply God’s people gathered or scattered seeking first His Kingdom and referencing first His grace. It is also often represented by a building known by the same name and while occasionally confused for The Church, a building is a neutral thing and a constant reminder driving around of the great numbers of people who profess to believe beyond what they can weigh and measure. And that is good. I am thankful for, enriched by and blessed because of the Church.

Doors of a small church building in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley somewhere!

Thankful

One of the things I am grateful for is the ability to travel. I simply love going places and seeing, learning about and experiencing new things & different places. Both history and geography have always been fascinations of mine. Perusing maps, looking at images of places, and reading history were part of my life from a very early age. And I still get a thrill from being places where history occurred. Our time living in Williamsburg, Virginia was a constant source of amazement. Touring battlefields, the Wright Brothers’ shop, Edison’s lab, the training center for the Tuskegee Airmen or the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde still is thrilling. No matter how many times I have been, standing on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg is awe inspiring and sobering. Reading a sign in Hot Springs, Arkansas, that talked about baseball’s early stars converging there for informal spring training was amazing. And it was just a sign. Top all of that off with the stunning parks from Alaska to Florida to Maine and Montana. Photography is one of the ways I interact with all of this and the photos bring back clear memories that nothing else does. I am thankful to be able to travel, have the health right now to enjoy it, have a companion that I love and love being with and am never tired of planning the next place. I need to go hitch up the trailer right now, New Mexico is calling!

I am also glad this type of accommodation is no longer the norm. These very early cabins at Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park each held two families with a shared sink and toilet in between the two tiny rooms. Cindy and I last stayed in one like this about five years ago near Baxter State Park in Maine. The bed filled the room and the small bathroom was added later on brick pillars. But we were traveling!

Overflowing

This is a good week to consider, as are the other 51, the many ways we ought to be grateful.

“From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.” John 1:16 NLT

Flame

Handmade candles in a craft gallery on the Great Smoky Arts & Crafts Community Trail out of Gatlinburg, TN. There are a lot of potential stops on this 8 mile loop.

Barn Two

This bucolic scene was not. I took this across four lanes of busy traffic from the parking lot of a restaurant and shooting over a gas station and several buildings along the other side of the road. I really thought I had exactly what I was looking for - and it is close. I loved the tree in the right corner and the reflection it cast on the barn. What I did not love and did not see taking the photo were the power lines that crisscrossed the shot. Still my colorful hill was not too bad and the barn had character with the bonus tree reflection.

I have two variants of this barn as well.

Another impressionist photo simulation this one with a nod to E. Hopper. I really like this.

From the sketch book of Leonardo da Vinci

Barn One (Three Photos)

I was in prime barn territory last week and was looking for a specific photo. I did not quite find it but I did shoot two that I liked if not exactly what I envisioned. So Barn One today. Yet to add another layer of interest - to me, I did some extra work in Topaz to make then more unique and I was happy with both results. So Barn One has two bonus adjustments at no extra charge for viewing.

This one is found on the Blue Ridge Parkway and in view one it is close to as shot with some opening of the shadows. Tomorrow, Barn Two!

This is an “impressionistic” version that I really like.

This is to represent an older, faded western US photo. Not sure how I feel about this one but definitely is not my favorite.