Tag: Scenic Beauty

Beneath Dreaming Tree

black and white photography

There is a place in my dreams where a lone tree stands bridging heaven and earth. 

As nighttime falls and the land sleeps the clouds come dancing by.

Stars sing in chorus to the nightbird’s lonely cry. 

A maiden enters my dreams.  Her green eyes pierce the night and she takes my hand. 

Rise up you sleeper she whispers softly.  

This dream is short and our time has come.  

Our thoughts and hearts are one.

But all too soon will come the dawn. 

And our dreamworld will too soon be gone.

For sunbeams shatter dreams and the life that will be.

We loved and laughed with warm embrace beneath that single tree.  

Til golden light erased the night and stole my dreams from me.

Beneath the sun I toil, the dream still in my head.

With hopes that my dream returns to me, when tonight I go to bed.

The River Awakens 

Color Photography, Thoughts and Musing

Morning in the mountains of Appalachia can be spectacular.  The fury of old man winter is no match for the warm southern sun. Fire bursts over the mountains and the frost shrinks back little by little until nothing is left.   

The Kanawha River blazing with the light of a new day begins to shake itself free of its icy cage. The river has work to get done today.  Barges must be moved and energy has to be produced.  Downstream there’s hot steel to be quenched and tempered.  It’s a very busy day ahead for the mighty Kanawha River. 

Waiting for the thaw. 

Color Photography

I’m Setting here in my recliner with my dog and we’re dreaming of warmer temperatures.   The Arctic blast has turned my mountain into an icy prison.  We’re looking forward to the smell of the moss covered forest floor and a game of chase in the yard.  On days like this I like to go into my archive and pull out pictures of warmer times.  The image of ground pine here was taken in August at Carnifex Ferry State Park in West Virginia.  The trail that leads to the Gauley River passes through a stand of virgin timber.  It’s been a little over a decade since I was all the way to the river.  Perhaps when winter is over I take you dear readers on a virtual tour.  

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Thoughts and Musing

The mountains of Appalachia provide a lot surprises.  Common sense told me that there are tunnels here and there but I had never spotted one until the day I took this picture.   As I look at the image the obvious thought is about the light at the end of the tunnel.   It’s a phrase that we use when encouraging a friend who’s having a tough time.  But,  we never really think about what the tunnel represents.  The tunnel at Kimberly West Virginia was put in this spot to ease the efforts of traveling through the steep landscape.  The  tunnel made the path straight and eliminated a grueling climb.   

The times in life when it seems like we’re in the proverbial tunnel just trying to make it to the light at the end it helps to remember that it’s a shortcut.   Just stay on the tracks and keep moving forward.