Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Wishes In Waiting 52621” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
I have to admit that I got older but never really grew up. When I see a good wishing dandelion I have the strong urge to make a wish. But what to wish for is the question. Money is spent, beauty fades away and all of the fancy trinkets become clutter and a source of worry. Power corrupts the powerful. All of these things imply happiness but all of them are also not happiness in essence. When God offered to grant Solomon his wish he asked for wisdom and with that tool he gained and held onto everything else.
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.
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.
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! Simplyuse 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!♥️
Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Yesterday’s Dreams 32321a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
The North Wind blows a little colder across the marsh as rusted tin flutters slightly. Almost immediately after my last post of the old barn at Muddlety Creek the once majestic structure finally succumbed to the effects of decades of neglect leaving behind only the echoes of yesterday’s dreams.
The old barn has been a local landmark my entire life. It was also among the first photos I published when I decided to go professional with my photography. Since then it’s been my muse on many occasions. To me that old barn represented an entire culture. I can easily imagine an old sixties or seventies model truck backed up to opening of the barn while young men moved bales of hay and sacks of feed in or out of the barn. A family farm is also a family business. In my area that meant that you either trade in cattle, feed or both. The slaughterhouse was always local in those days and so was the butcher. The meat was raised, processed and sold locally. The barn was the very backbone of the economy. Even those who worked in the mining industry was dependent on the local farmers and ranchers. And there was often some overlap. A miner would work the mines while his family raised a few head of cattle. Some for himself and a few for the market. Mine closings and layoffs have always been a part of life in Appalachia. A small farm on the side is a way to hedge your bets in the down times.
Although I never personally worked in this barn every time I stopped by it the memories of my grandfather’s barn would come flooding back. When I was young I couldn’t tolerate the hay due to severe allergies. But as I grew out of that I spent quite a bit of time in barns. Even just passing an old barn on the highway allows me to relive the smell of grain and hay in the humid August sun. I can still see the rusted ox shoes and a single tree yoke in the corner behind a wooden barrel of grain. A metallic syringe type tool that was designed to help a cow swallow a pill. The barn was also an animal hospital. Today I work with computers and high technology. It’s frustrating when you have a major update trying to load and your whole system refuses to cooperate. But compared to trying to give an 800 pound animal a pill when it’s determined that you’re not going to get its mouth open it’s a breeze. My computer has never broken a single bone in my body. ( Neither did the cows but there was a few narrow escapes. )
Places where voices gather in love and friendship seem to hold those voices for a long time in my imagination. When I go to a place that feels familiar I can almost hear the indistinct conversations of people as they work. It’s more so with manual labor than office work. When you’re working with your hands a certain amount of banter is almost obligatory. It also involves a fair amount of teasing in most cases. Occupation of the mind distracts you from how tired you are or the new blisters you earn. In a good team the conversation can even carry a rhythm that helps the work flow. I’m using the term conversation loosely. It’s not really unusual for it to simply be an imitation of a quarterback yelling “hike” as a fifty pound bag of grain is hurled across the room.
Image of the inside of the old barn was taken with a long lens from outside of the structure. At this point it was far too dangerous to actually step inside
That’s it for tonight friends. We’ll have a part 2 tomorrow night. In the meantime, Good night 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.
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.
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! Simplyuse 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!♥️
Just a few decades ago I was given some good advice on identifying plants and animals and it came in the form of a question. “Do you need a reference manual to remember your friends faces?” The question was intended to provoke a new attitude in learning all the wildlife in my area. It’s important to learn the name of a plant and to be able to connect the common names with the scientific name in order to learn the plant’s attributes and how it can be used etc but that’s just data retrieval. If you’re going to know the plant when you see it you’re going to want to know it’s face. Social media is an awesome opportunity to network with other enthusiasts and share information about almost everything. And one of the greatest benefits is the ability to post a photo of a plant and crowd source the identity. But there’s something that I’ve noticed around the general public that’s different from the scientific community and that’s that almost nobody looks at the leaf scars when trying to get an ID on a tree or bush. So tonight I’m going to try and introduce you to a couple of easy ones. We’re going to try and keep it simple. No long and complicated scientific names or complex methods of breaking down the more “geeky stuff”. I just want to share a few basic patterns to give you a start in the right direction.
So just like when we first meet our friends we’re going to try and memorize their faces. And when I was first learning how to identity trees by the leaf scar I subconsciously made the scars into a face in my mind. No two species of woody plants have the same “face” but we will see a family resemblance within the same families.
From left to right. Flame Azalea, Mountain Magnolia and Buckeye.
To the right of the page we see three different twigs from my yard. I’ve zoomed in and cropped down the images to isolate the scars from last year’s leaves. What I want you notice is the overall shape of the “face” made by the scars and the pattern of “freckles” on the face. The freckles are actually what’s left behind by the vascular vessels when the leaves drop off in the Fall. It’s these 2 patterns that are unique to each species of woody plant.
Most people recognize the leaves themselves and that’s a great start but because most of the trees in Appalachia lose their leaves once a year we may not have the leaves to work with when we’re trying to make maple syrup for the first time or collecting the inner bark of a specific bush to treat an infection in a survival situation. But the leaf scar is there all year and is a very reliable marker.
The pattern of distribution is also a great clue in learning the identity of a tree. Mountain Magnolia Twigs in Early Spring
Here is a Mountain Magnolia from my special spot where I like to be still. Notice how the leaf scar seem to spiral around the tree in whorls? Even with leaves gone its easy to envision what the twigs will look like in a few weeks when they’re green again. The size of the leaf scar also gives a little clue that this tree has some very big leaves. ( Over 12 inches! ) And of course the size of the buds are another clue as seen in the next photo. The Mountain Magnolia Leaf Buds.
I haven’t actually measured the length of the buds but the terminal buds (The ones on the end of a twig.) are about length of my ring finger give or take a knuckle. But the buds just above the leaf scar are absolutely tiny.
Another tree with a huge bud is the Buckeye growing just a few feet away. You’ll notice from the collage above that the Buckeye has a longer “face” than the Magnolia. Like the azaleas it’s almost heart shaped the “freckles” tend to follow the margins. In the azaleas the freckles are in the center of the leaf scar and the azaleas have much smaller scars.
The terminal buds of a young Buckeye.
The end buds of the Buckeye are fatter than the Magnolia and almost as long. They’re also pink this time of year but throughout the winter they are brown.
Now let’s compare these two with something much smaller.
Sugar Maple Buds and scars.
Here’s a sugar maple that popped up a few years ago. The faces are small and kinda hard to see in this photo but they are Crescent shaped and there are 3 freckles. One in the center and one on each end. We can also see the distribution pattern here is “opposite”. The leaves and twigs occur in pairs on opposite sides and the twigs terminate the three buds. Now the sugar maples have a cousin on my place and that’s the Box Elder.A young Box Elder showing it’s family resemblance to the Maples.
Now the faces on this twig are difficult to see because of the age of the twigs but they are also Crescent shaped. The buds are also in the opposite pattern and would have three buds on the end of the twigs however the local deer population has decided to sample them.
Willow Leaf Scar
The last example I have for you tonight is a willow twig. The scar doesn’t really resemble a whole face as much as it does a single large eye. However it is an example of how individual species can have a unique face so that when the leaves are off we can still have a way to identify the tree.
So in closing tonight’s Forage Friday let me plant the idea of taking advantage of the summer by creating a journal and writing your own guide book. Either take a decent photo of both the leaf and last year’s leaf scar or if you’re artistically inclined sketch them. Another good way to preserve the image is a charcoal rubbing of the features. Once you have them you put them in a binder along with details about how to use the different plants.
I’ve only shared the method for learning the identity because once you have that the internet is full of guides that will give you the names of each plant. You’ll want to take note of where it was growing and in what kind of environment to aid in the ID. Once you know the name and face you can fill in everything else and using a good binder lets you add pages as you learn more.
Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.
Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Memory Lingers 31120bw” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
Cold March winds swirl above in the unsettled skies. Behind me the roar of the big trucks on the highway fade into the distance leaving only the echoes of passers-by. Life on the highway is only a faint moment to the observer. Several yards below that high pressure ribbon of swift destination and imposing concrete lays the old road with its bright yellow lines and rolling hills. Two lanes are the destination today.
Of course I’ve come to pay a visit to the old barn. She is an echo unto herself standing as the bridge between centuries. If I close my eyes and concentrate I can hear the chatter of those who worked the fields as they store the wealth of the landscape inside the lapped wood and tin roof. The work was hot and laborious but the bonds were strong between the helpers. All who gathered there became family. Joined not by blood but by sweat and a common goal achieved. Nations are fed by families. Families are those who join hearts as well as hands.
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 basicBasic Beginner’s Guide To MeWeI’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.
