lloydslensphotographyllc

The Traveler. A Light In The Window Of Heaven

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “November Flames 110721a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

After breakfast Daniel and Malachi gathered their belongings and headed out in the direction that Alexandra’s stone pile triangle indicated. It has been several days since her group had ported and the trail had grown cold. Daniel examined the broken twig closely. The growing tip of the twig was still green and pliable which meant that it wasn’t broken by accident. He tested a second twig and found that it actually took a little bit of effort to break the twig rather than just bend it. He surmised that Alexandra was using this as a way to indicate the direction she was traveling. At that suggestion Malachi knelt down and lightly ran his finger over the soil. He placed a broken twig of his own in the soil like a peg and began to repeat the process until he had three pegs in a row. He cleaned the freshly fallen leaves from around the press and revealed the hoof prints underneath confirming Daniel’s theory. The horses were traveling single file which made it hard to guess the exact number but once a whole section of the trail was swept clear of the new leaf layer the amount of disturbance was large enough to be the group. They spent most of day following the small trail in the forest. Occasionally they would find a chevron shape either scratched in soft ground with a stick or scrawled on rocks and trees with charcoal from the fire. Daniel knew that this was Alexandra’s handiwork and felt that she’d left the marks specifically for him but he couldn’t account for how she knew he’d been tracking her. She hadn’t been in contact with her family since she took off on a wild whim to head west. Nevertheless these were the the same signs she used when they were children playing in the woods. Suddenly, Malachi stopped and pointed to a spot in woods where it looked like every branch in the forest had been broken. There had been a major fight between some of party members. The two men interpreted the tracks as best as they could. It seemed that the main part of the group stood off to one side while a smaller number of people were engaged in combat. At least one person had been wounded and a blood trail lead down into the landscape and disappeared. Daniel looked frantically down the main trail until he spotted one of Alexandra’s marks on an exposed stone. Whatever kind of fight had taken place she wasn’t a part of it. Daniel and Malachi continued to trace the group until they began to lose the daylight. They would need to camp for at least one more night. This time Daniel pulled another small box from his pack. Inside the box was a mirror and a frame that moved on a track. The box had a hole on either end. One hole fit his small spy glass and the other was slightly larger. It only took a few minutes for him to assemble the contraption which turned out to be a small projector lit by his carbide lamp. The frame held a few slides that he’d brought along however, these slides were not the typical family photos that one might project onto the wall of a parlor. The one he’d chosen to project was the same chevron that Alexandra had been marking the trail with. As soon as it was dark enough he cast the image against the clouds.

Alexandra sat on the edge of the main group and prepared to sleep on the forest floor another night. She was thankful that her bedroll had been attached to her saddle otherwise it would have went over the falls with her travel bags. She closed her eyes and said her prayers. She asked for God’s protection in this ordeal and when she opened her eyes she saw what she thought was the moonlight shining through the clouds in the very same shape as the signs she’d been leaving along the trail…

Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.

Announcement 2.0

For those who have been following me on Facebook and know of the struggle content providers have to get circulation from big tech I’ve been recommending for people to adopt MeWe as a social media platform. One of the problems I’ve run into on MeWe is that people don’t know how to navigate the platform. So to help with that I’ve created a permanent page on my website as a basic Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe I’ve tried to anticipate all basic questions there and You can bookmark the page to have as a reference and if you have any questions or suggestions don’t hesitate to contact me. I do still have a day job and I help admin several pages on both platforms so replies might be a little slow but I will answer you.

We also have the Lloyd’s Lens Photography Discussion Group on MeWe that is set up as a fully functional community. There you’ll not only be able to see and connect with me but you can also make your own posts and interact with each other.

I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/lloydslensphotographydiscussiongroup

Click the link below to jump to the Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe.https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/guide-to-mewe/embed/#?secret=GJGnIQEVHc

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!

To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.

WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY

WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY.

Lloyds Lens Photography web link — Click here to visithttps://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/

Have you checked out the Zazzle Store?

I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simply use the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.

Clicking on the photo takes you tohttps://www.zazzle.com/lloydslensphotos?rf=238248269630914251Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographerThank you again for your support of my page!♥️

Forage Friday #130 / Traveler Crossover. Blue Lobelia

Color Photography, Fiction Story, Forage Friday

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Blue Lobelia 110621” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

Please remember that Forage Friday is presented as trivia and not to be mistaken for medical advice.
⚠️ Lobelia contains a host of toxic alkaloids, including many with structural similarities to nicotine. Overdoses of the plant induce vomiting, sweating, pain, paralysis, low temperature, rapid but feeble pulse, collapse, coma, and even death.
“Blue Lobelia – CornellBotanicGardens” https://cornellbotanicgardens.org/plant/great-blue-lobelia/

Tonight I’m going to be blending two different categories on my blog. For the past week I’ve been running the Travler series which is set sometime after the Civil War but before the year 1900. Since one of the characters (Malachi) was a physician prior to returning to the life of a Trapper in the Appalachian Mountains he would have been familiar with vast number of useful herbs. Which allows me to continue the story without skipping a Forage Friday post.

Frost clung to Daniel’s wool cloak as the smell of coffee brewing in the pre-dawn forest aroused him from his slumber. He pushed back his hood slightly and saw Malachi seated on three thick sticks gathered from the forest floor. The sticks formed a low tripod and were laid out in such a way as that they supported each other while holding the big man aloft. Malachi hummed softly as he tended to his birch bark cooking pot that sat directly in the hot coals. “Breakfast is just about ready.” He spoke without even looking to see if Daniel reacted. Daniel couldn’t figure out how Malachi knew that he was awake. But in the short time since he met Malachi he sensed that Malachi was always aware of more than he let on. Malachi sat a hand carved cup on a flat rock next to a second tripod and motioned for Daniel to come and sit for breakfast. As Daniel sat precariously on the three sticks Malachi chuckled a little and handed him his own small birch bark pot full of breakfast soup. The single piece of bark was folded at the corners and the folds were held in place by split twigs. The soup consisted of a broth made from fresh gathered herbs and hen of the woods mushroom. The chicken flavored mushroom was a welcome change to the jerky and dried fruit that Daniel had subsided on for weeks. As he ate his meal he noticed a bundle of blue flowers near Malachi’s pack. Malachi observed Daniel’s curiosity and explained that it was Lobelia. Normally it would die back at this time of year but the heat from large rocks near the falls extended the growing season. It was Malachi’s belief that the Good Lord had caused them to be there in a time and place where they would be needed. Malachi also said that they could be used for breathing problems, to sweat out a cold, heal bruises and skin infections as well as to settle the nerves of anyone in Alexandra’s group who may be hysterical from the hardships of their journey.

Blue lobelia is a close relative of one of the Appalachian Mountains favorite wildflowers. The cardnial flower. Modern science suspects that lobelia may contain a chemical that thins the mucus and makes it easier to cough and expell congestion. Thus in the time frame that our story takes place it would have been used for asthma and other lung ailments. The Native Americans used it in treatment of VD. Because one of the components is similar to nicotine it was used as a wormer as well.

That’s it for tonight’s Forage Friday! Please let me know if you like the format of using fiction to cover the plant’s attributes. Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.

Announcement 2.0

I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/lloydslensphotographydiscussiongroup

Click the link below to jump to the Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe.https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/guide-to-mewe/embed/#?secret=GJGnIQEVHc

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!

To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.

WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY

WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY.

Have you checked out the Zazzle Store?

The Traveler. Discoveries

Color Photography, Fiction Story

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Water Colors 110521” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

Daniel looked at the water’s surface taking in the Fall Colors in the reflection. He was confident that with Malachi’s help he could build his own raft from the river cane nearby and cover the same distance as Alexandra’s group in the same time and probably faster. However, if the group chose to port along the way he might overlook their tracks and lose them. If only they’d stuck to the trail he could be sure what direction they were going and maybe how fast. He figured that some of older members would have held the group back enough for him to eventually catch up with them. Malachi balked at the idea of using a raft as well. Instead, he suggested that they each take a side of the stream and head for the falls. If the group had ported anywhere along the way one of them would spot the tracks depending on which side of the stream the tracks were found on. They went back to Malachi’s camp where he generously topped off Daniel’s supply of jerky and dried fruit. He tossed in a few dried herbs as well. By mid morning the two men were halfway to to the falls when Malachi gave a sharp whistle. Daniel looked across the stream and saw that Malachi had found what looked like a piece of torn cloth. He quickly took the small spy glass from his pocket and saw that it was bloody. Daniel had been around the telegraph service enough to have learned the Morse Code but Malachi was older and kinda set in his ways. So they had agreed to use semaphore to communicate from the banks of the creek. Malachi signaled that this was the bandage that he’d placed on Alexandra’s wounds when she fell from her horse. It was on the muddy bank and soaking wet. But there was no tracks to show that anyone had left the raft. The bandage had either fallen off or been cast aside for whatever reason. They continued downstream and within the sound of the falls Daniel spotted a piece of river cane that had been worked with a saw. A piece of cordage that was made from torn clothing was still tied to one end. He surmised that it was a part of the frame of the raft. They were in sight of the falls and in a panic Daniel ran to the drop. As the water cascaded down it created a thick mist in the cold air. In spite of the fog Daniel spotted the raft broken up on the rocks. His heart sank as he climbed down the rocky face of the mountain to investigate. By the time Malachi reached the bottom Daniel was holding a few bits and pieces of the group’s belongs. Broken mirrors, smashed bottles and torn clothing was scattered far downstream. Daniel was softly sobbing as he sorted through the wreckage. Malachi placed a large hand on Daniel’s shoulder to console his friend. Suddenly Daniel looked up with a strange expression. He took his spy glass and did a few sweeps downstream. “But where are the bodies?” He mumbled. The pair went a couple of hundred yards downstream but they couldn’t find any sign of a person having actually fallen with the raft and possessions. He scrambled up to the top of falls and just a few feet inside the trees he found the sign he needed. Three stacks of three stones laid out in a triangle. It was a message from Alexandra. When they played in woods as children she’d leave stones in this configuration as clue as to where she was hiding. The tip of the triangle pointed to broken twig that confirmed her direction of travel. The wave of relief Daniel felt was beyond description. He motioned for Malachi to join him and they decided to camp on that spot for the night. Daniel produced a small box with a crank and wires sticking out of the end. When he turned the crank sparks danced across the gap. He used this to start the evening fire. In the morning they would follow the trail left by Alexandra.

Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.

Announcement 2.0

I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/lloydslensphotographydiscussiongroup

Click the link below to jump to the Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe.https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/guide-to-mewe/embed/#?secret=GJGnIQEVHc

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!

To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.

WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY
WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY
Click here to visithttps://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/
Have you checked out the Zazzle Store?
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simply use the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order

The Traveler. The Next Step

Color Photography, Fiction Story

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Peter’s Creek In Fall 110321” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

Daniel sat across from the big mountaineer waiting for more details about his childhood sweetheart and her party. Which direction did they go? Did anyone state that they might have been in danger? If anything they may have said to Malachi could give him a clue as to what their destination may have been then it could take days off of his journey. But Malachi was tight lipped. For all he knew she was traveling to get away from him. After all, Daniel was an oddity in the mountains. Daniel knew that he had to take the initiative help Malachi feel at ease. Fortunately, Daniel was an excellent interviewer and had a few skills gained from his experience as journalist. Daniel told of how after the war he became a freelance journalist and had traveled the world on a steamer looking for interesting stories to sell to various newspapers. During these times he’d also discovered a few inventions that he’d built including a few modifications to his walking stick. He produced a few clippings from various publications as evidence that he was in fact a journalist. The girl’s parents had discovered that Daniel was quite good at his investigations and asked him to return home to help find Alexandra when she went missing. The locket he wore contained a sketch portrait of her that he’d done himself while in school. Once satisfied, Malachi lead him to the creek and advised him that the group had put a raft in the creek to make progress on the journey while resting the horses. He’d warned them against this because of the fall’s downstream but they’re captain insisted that he was the asset and Malachi was just big and dumb and couldn’t possibly know what was downstream.

Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days and.

Announcement 2.0

I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/lloydslensphotographydiscussiongroup

Click the link below to jump to the Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe.https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/guide-to-mewe/embed/#?secret=GJGnIQEVHc

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!

To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.

WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY

WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY

Have you checked out the Zazzle Store?

I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simply use the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.

Clicking on the photo takes you tohttps://www.zazzle.com/lloydslensphotos?rf=238248269630914251Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographerThank you again for your support of my page!♥️

The Story Of The Traveler & The Mountain Man

Color Photography, Fiction Story

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Small Changes 110221” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

The two men stared at each other for a few minutes. The Mountain man was very tall. The traveler guessed him to well over six and a half feet tall hefty built. His untamed beard flowed across his chest and mixed with the furs his jacket was made of. The smell of gunpowder still hung in the air as the mountain man grabbed the dead bear by the scruff of its neck and threw it over one shoulder. “It’s bad manners too waste a kill and to clean it on the trail. ” The mountain man explained. He carried the bear out of sight of the trail and cleaned it with a stone knife. He explained that even though he owned several good steel knives that the stone actually held a better edge against the tough hide of the bear. He finished the work quickly and cleaned his hands in the cold water of a small drainage. He gave a sharp whistle and soon a little donkey emerged from bushes. The mountain man retrieved a bundle from the donkey and started packing the meat. “He’ll drag the packed meat on a travios but if you try to place the carcass on his back he’ll buck it off and we’ll not see him for days.” The traveler understood. Once while in Spain he’d seen the results of a strong headed visvount who insisted that his servants load a roe deer on the horse with him for a photo. The servants protested to no avail and as soon as the buck’s body touched the skin of the horse it reared in a most spectacular fashion and left at full gallop with the viscount hanging on for dear life and blaming his servants with unmentionable profanities.

The mountain man invited the traveler back to his camp t enjoy a hot meal and to get some real rest with just one more day on this part of the trail. The traveler agreed and before too long he found himself seated in front and the open fire of a small but very traditional looking Scottish Blackhouse. The mountain man had fashioned a large table from stone slabs in front of windbreak. A couple of large chunks of bear meat roasted over the fire and the fat dripped into a clay pot for rendering later. As served the traveler his meal of fire roasted meat with wild herbs the mountain man explained that this his remote camp and that his permanent homestead was a day’s journey away. His real name was Malachi and he’d actually actually been a physician during the war between the states after which he craved a simpler life and returned to the ways of settlers that came before him. The traveler too had been a soldier in the Civil War. Afterwards he’d spent a few years as a journalist in Europe and had come home to learn that his childhood love interest had disappeared in the mountains while heading west as part of the expansion. He produced a locket from inside his shirt with her portrait. Malachi remembered her. Her horse had thrown her and he treated her wounds and granted hospitality to her group as well. He stroked his beard a moment and looked the traveler in the eye. “You must be Daniel”. He said with a nod. “That I am sir.” The traveler replied with a smile….

Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.

Announcement 2.0

I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/lloydslensphotographydiscussiongroup

Click the link below to jump to the Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe.https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/guide-to-mewe/embed/#?secret=GJGnIQEVHc

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!

To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.

WELCOME TO LLOYD’S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY

https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/embed/#?secret=ZBipPVJdZw