Tag: the human condition

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 

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. 

OUT OF THE PIT OF FEAR ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION (guest post)

encouragement

Tonight I want to do a bonus post.  Since its the first day of the New Year it’s a great time for new beginnings. The longest night of year has passed and if we watch carefully we’ll see the day lasting a little bit longer.  As life returns to the Earth so to do our souls awaken with new energy.   But, sometimes the day seems to be dark just for us. The  crushing weight of depression effects not only ourselves but those around us. In an effort to help people find and appreciate the new dawn I’m inviting my wife Angela to take over my blog as a guest and talk about her book Out Of The Pit Of Fear, Anxiety and Depression. 

Hello everyone!!! At some point in life I believe depression touches us all. Sometimes there’s a cause that we can pin point, for example: the death of a loved one, the loss of a job or some other major life change. Other times we can be taken over by depression and not know why. It’s a combination of many small things.

I went through a horrible time with depression and I describe it as being in the bottom of a pit where no light or air exist. It is a smothering darkness, that makes you want to die. It’s easy for someone on the outside to look at you and say, “Oh just snap out of it, it’ll be okay.” If it were only that easy.

 Once I escaped the pit of darkness and depression, I wanted to do something to give back. It took me a long time to write my book because I wanted everything to be so precise.

I’ve often prayed, ” Lord, please don’t allow what I’ve been through to be in vain. Let me use that to help someone else escape the pit.”

I now know you have to want to escape and it is a fight. But you are worth the fight. Freedom is worth the fight. 

 The above link to my book will take you to Amazon where you can download it for free this week. From now through Jan 5. If you are depressed or know someone who is suffering from depression, I hope you get my book and it helps you navigate the rough waters ahead. 

I will leave you with a quote that helps me keep perspective:

I CANNOT CHANGE THE PAST…I CAN ONLY MAKE THE MOST OF TODAY AND LOOK WITH HOPE TO TOMORROW.

May your days be filled with optimism, it is possible to live a happy life after depression. I am a survivor of the darkness of depression. 

Thanks for reading, feel free to share with anyone you know suffering from depression. Thank you for your support and encouragement of my husband Lloyd and his new business venture.