Appalachian traditions – Page 17 – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

Be Still

If you haven’t guessed by now my dear readers, I really crave quite places and time to think and reflect.

Our modern world is full of artificial concerns, pressures and deadlines . Sometimes we just want to collapse and think about nothing. The word amusement literally means to stop thinking. However, I believe it’s more fulfilling in these quiet times and places to push back those modern world concerns and contemplate deeper levels of thought. It’s not that our world suffers from too much thinking, we suffer from the lack of free thoughts.

It’s more than just learning the structured teachings of learned masters. It’s more than equations and mathematical prowess.

cogito, ergo sum ( I think, therefore I am) – René Descartes

The popular phrase was one that we learned at a very young age. I have forgotten if it was in history class or literature class. But it wasn’t until recently that I began to realize the full implications of what seems to be a simple concept.

If my thoughts are what makes me then what happens if my thoughts are not my own? What if I allowed my thoughts to be influenced by distraction from the media, or peer pressure, or any number of competing ideas? Like a virus, some ideas can come in from a outside source and replicate themselves in our hearts and minds. If our thoughts are no longer our own then we are no longer ourselves. We become a copy of whatever ideas are planted.

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.” – Proverbs 23:7

This is why it’s so important to be able to take time and contemplate the ideas we are exposed to. Our minds have a natural filter that must be cleaned and refreshed on a regular basis. If bad ideas are allowed to linger for too long without active examination they can be absorbed by the subconscious and work their way into our hearts.

Take charge of your quiet time and don’t get so busy that you forget to check your filters.

Sunrise on Summerville Lake

Color Photography, Summerville, West Virginia

As a youth I spent a large piece of my life on and around Summerville Lake.

Wikipedia has all the statistics (click here) and there’s a funny story about how the government almost named it Gad Dam Lake after the ghost town on the bottom. (Read about Gad) . For me, the lake was a place to escape. There were boats that belonged to friends and eventually my dad got his own boat. Summers were spent fishing and swimming and trying to impress the ladies without falling overboard.

There are stories of catfish in the lake large enough to swallow you whole! Every fisherman in Summerville has a story about how they were almost the one who landed a monster. Some will even have broken poles and fish hooks that have been pulled straight as evidence.

Scuba diving is allowed on the lake however I was never certified.

I have swam from one side of the lake to the other. The lake is three hundred and twenty seven feet deep deep ( just under 100 meters). Young boys would see who could stay underwater for the longest time. This was a game that I was very good at winning. Now as an adult, a person has a fair amount of freedom, but if I could choose I’d be a kid on the lake for at least one last endless summer.

Wanderlust

Color Photography, Uncategorized, West Virginia

My lifetime has been lived between mountains and rivers. One of the things I love most is that the hills and ridges always seem to have some secret just waiting for us to discover. I eventually found the time to head across the river and explore only to find more questions on the other side. There are days when I wish I could just load a good ATV up with supplies and see how far down the tracks I can go.

The mountains in the background were once occupied by the Adena. Our local history says that there was a huge wall that stretched for miles. I have daydreams about what the landscape would have been in those times. What were they keeping out? What were protecting? Surely a culture that built a huge stone wall would also have buildings. Is there abandoned temple hidden somewhere in the deep forests? The Adena had copper tools. Is there also a golden idol tucked away just waiting for Indiana Jones to find? Maybe and maybe not. But I would love to find out.

Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park

Color Photography, West Virginia

The Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park in West Virginia is one of our most popular places. It’s especially popular with artists and photographers. I think the reason why we’re so atracted to it. The mill harkens us back to a simpler time when life was more organic. The days when water and horses powered our technology. This allowed for a life that was less micro managed. There was time for friends and family to meet beside a steam and enjoy life. Small stones accumulated in a pool near the bank hold an entire world of colors and shapes. Insects and crayfish dart around in the pool like waterborne fairies performing a dance. This is what real life is.

The mill is still in operation certain times of the year. We have friends who still take grain to the mill and grind it flour. Home baked bread from home raised grain has a smell and a flavor not found in the bleached out over processed chunks of starchy foam that comes in a plastic bag. Real bread is a wonderful experience.

Today the subject of automation is discussed at length. There are doubts and fears as well as hopes and dreams. I look at the image here that represents the automation of the past and I’m reminded that before the mill all that flour had to be ground by hand. There would have been no time for observation of life in the water. No time for pleasant conversations about life. I have hope that automation of the future will provide the same benefits if we are wise with it’s use.

If you’re interested in visiting the Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park in West Virginia you might want to check out the link below.

Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park

The Orange Story

Back and White Photography, Christmas

One of Christmas traditions that my family practices is peppermint candy and oranges. Every year my grandfather would buy a crate of oranges and bag them up with peppermint candy to hand out to friends and family. This was the thing he looked the most forward to every year. The story behind this gifting tradition goes back to the Great Depression. He came from a large family and during those times almost nothing was bought from the store. They played with hand carved wooden toys. They wore handmade clothes. The food was raised and harvested at home. An exotic fruit like the orange was a luxury. But his father would splurge at Christmas and there was enough money for each child to have one orange and a large piece of peppermint candy. One year one of his sisters had just finished peeling her orange and dropped it into the dirt. My grandfather couldn’t allow her to go without Christmas and gave her his orange. The simple act of sacrifice became an expression of love every year. The true meaning of Christmas is sacrificial love. The original gift that was given was the child in manger who grew up to hang on a cross and restore to us that which was lost.