Tag: Organic lifestyle

Rechargeable People

black and white photography, Summerville

I’m all out of deep thoughts today. Sometimes you just need to sit down and calmly recharge. It’s okay. Even Kal-El ( aka Superman) needed a day off to just go be Clark Kent. However, I’ll take a quiet spot on the lake over a frozen fortress any day.

This fishing peer on Summerville Lake in West Virginia is one of my many fortresses of solitude. It’s not that I’m really alone there, it’s actually a popular place. But it’s also a place where I feel free enough to put away the person who the world sees. I can tuck my cape into my shirt, slide on my glasses and pretend to be normal for a little while.

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.

A Trip To The Meadow River. 

Color Photography, The Meadow River

Today is dreary day in the mountains of Appalachia.  There’s been heavy rain and gray skies all day. By morning the ice and snow is supposed to return.  On days like today I like to look at the summer images that I’ve taken.  It makes me feel like I’m sitting by one of our rivers with a Zebco 33 and one of my favorite lures.  The simple repetitive action of casting and slowly drawing the line back in has a meditative quality for me.  I don’t even really care if anything bites. Like Zen archery ( or at least my understanding of it ) it’s all about clearing the mind and regaining focus.  The image above was taken on the Meadow River during one of these trips. The spot is known mostly to locals and I’m sworn to secrecy as to the exact spot.  Behind me a small campfire crackles softly making just enough smoke to keep mosquitoes away.  It didn’t seem to bother the butterflies that danced and played on the buttonbush.  I made one last cast into the river and slowly retrieve.  There’s a tug on the other end of line. But, I let him go. Sometimes  is not about the fish,  it’s about the fishing and memories that are made. 

Pretending 

Color Photography

Today circumstances colluded to prevent me from participating in the corporate Monday.  (I’ll try to hide my disappointment  😁) My moment of freedom allowed the opportunity to drop by Cathedral Falls and catch an image of the frozen waterfall.  The winter scene awakened the child in me and soon I could imagine myself as some Paleolithic hunter tracking a woolly mammoth on the ice. Never lose your ability to pretend. Adulthood doesn’t always mean that can’t play hooky and have an adventure.  

Cultivate Life

black and white photography, encouragement, Thoughts and Musing

This old barn near Summerville West Virginia always seems to have something to offer my lens.  I  was raised in agriculture.  I  look at the old barns and think about the life that was housed there. Not just grain, hay and farming supplies but the people who worked the land. I can hear the ghostly echoes of conversations about life and love,  business and pleasure.  I can hear the footsteps of young people who think that they’re up to mischief but really are just learning about life.  People who share work are investing in each other.  Work parties often ended in generations of close friends.  You may not have barns where you live but odds are that you do have people.  I want to encourage you to reach out to a neighbor and offer to share in some work.  You’ll be surprised to see how large your family really is.