Tag: Scenic Beauty

The Road Ends In Silence

black and white photography, poetry, Thoughts and Musing

I dreamt about a world of steel and concrete.

A world where the pace was hectic and one dare not stumble for fear of the crowd.

As I walked along in time with the daily march into chaos there was a gate unguarded.

I took the chance and walked through the threshold as the outside world vanished behind me.

No more hustle and bustle.

Steel and Glass gave way to open sky. Leaving only the wind.

Pavement crumbles away into earth.

Echoes fade into oblivion as I walked at different pace.

This road ends in silence.

NEW ADVENTURES

Color Photography, travel, West Virginia

I simply love living in the Appalachian Mountains. Skyscrapers and busy streets are nice but for me nothing beats a long winding road and a great view of the New River Gorge as seen here from the Hawks Nest State Park overlook in Fayette County West Virginia. It’s a place where you can look down on the valley and watch birds soaring peacefully through the canyon. Occasionally you hear the long droning of a train horn as it crosses the river. I have it on good authority that kids would jump the train in certain spots and catch a free ride up the mountain. Not something that’s recommended today but a couple of generations ago things like this would be common.

In the Early 80s I would see people hangliding from the canyon rim and today we have zip lining tours close by.

I believe that there’s plenty of adventures still left in these hills. Who knows what tomorrow’s trend will bring? Perhaps I’ll ride a drone up river and photograph from angles I can only dream of at the moment.

Be at peace tonight friends and dream of new adventures.

Lloyd’s Lens Photography on Facebook

The Historic Old Main

black and white photography, Summerville

The featured image for this post is the Old Main School building in Nicholas County West Virginia. This is where the notorious bat incident of 1983 took place. I mentioned it in a previous article but in short a young man that was taking a class in introductory literature misused his borderline criminal genius to add some realistic excitement during a reading of Homer. Unfortunately as an adult I’m actually held responsible for my actions today. It’s just as well, at her age the teacher probably couldn’t handle the shock. The yard you see in the foreground is one of the places where we would have lunch. In the Early 80s there would have been two or three boom boxes powered by large (by today’s standards) battery banks. You would have seen some Walkman radio/cassette payers. These bright yellow boxes were carried on the belt or in a pocket. Today we do everything on our phones but when I roamed the halls of this building a mobile phone was the size of a shoe box (or larger) and had to plugged into a car. When I attended classes here the building was heated by steam pipes and occasionally we would see large accumulations of Ice near the vents.

The historic building is one hundred and fifteen years old. It serves as a center for the arts now. Perhaps one day day I’ll see a play based on the the Odyssey there. But, I’ll bet that when the adventure gets to the river Styx they don’t have real bats for effect.

Caves of Ice and a nod to Samuel Taylor Coleridge

black and white photography

On my way to my day job I spotted this snow capped mountain. In spite of my fuss old man winter persists. Since Old Man Winter wanted another portrait I obliged him once again. (Hopefully he’ll be satisfied enough to leave this time.)

As I sat in my warm pickup truck along the Kanawha River looking up at the mountain my mind brought up the poem Samuel Taylor Coleridge‘s Kubla Kahn and I wondered if one were to take the trek up to the peak if he would find the entrance to Xanadu. Can you hear the dulcimer and the song of Mount Abora? Do want to explore the caves of ice? But alas, responsibly calls and there’s little time for adventure today. I snapped a few shots and head down river to my day job. Perhaps they’ll serve honeydew for lunch and I’ll still feel like an adventure when I clock out.

Take That First Step

black and white photography, West Virginia

Sometimes I wonder where the tracks would take me if I could just follow them to the end. What sights would I see? Would we pass along the river? Would we travel beneath mountains deep inside the Earth? Somewhere beyond the farthest mountain is something different. Something we haven’t seen before. Something new and exciting. But we’ll never know what it is unless we take the journey.

We often desire to do something but we find reasons to avoid starting. I wonder if it’s because we are afraid of the journey or if losing the mystery? But what if there’s a more exciting mystery beyond the first one? Well, there’s only one way to find out. Go for it. I dare you.