time with family – Page 4 – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

A Country Sunday

A country Sunday is special thing. So with tomorrow being Sunday I thought I would share some memories with you. It starts with a quiet spot, a cup of coffee, a Bible and in the old days a copy of The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, also known as Strong’s Concordance. (When I was a kid I used to think that it was the “exhausting ” Concordance. That book seemed to weigh slightly less than a 1973 Ford LTD. Carrying it to the table was an exhausting task.) After studying the morning lesson and having a hardy breakfast you go to the church for Sunday school and then preaching. After services are finished everyone gathers outside of the sanctuary and visits for few minutes. These days we head out to restaurant but it wasn’t always that way. Back in the day extended family would go the home of the patriarch and have a home cooked meal. The afternoon was spent with those who mattered the most. That’s how we kept the world small in the days before the internet. During the warm season the kids would have a change of clothes ready. After dinner we would climb trees or throw rocks at old cans. Sometimes we would start a game of touch football (American Football for my international friends) that would quickly become a full contact game complete with muddy clothes and skinned knees. Soon the familiar sound of mothers calling out to their sons would end the game. After a mild scolding for getting your clothes dirty the family matriarch hands out packages of leftovers and everyone goes home.

But it’s not a time to be sad. When the work week ends, Sunday will come again.

The Lost Art Of Being

black and white photography, Thoughts and Musing, wildlife

I watched this bumblebee working on the thistle and became enamored with the simplicity of its life. She isn’t in a rush to complete a quota. She isn’t distracted by all the activity of the other insects. She’s just being a bee and doing what she was born to do. She seemed to take pleasure in her small uncomplicated life.

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” ~Lao Tzu

I sometimes wonder if the reason why everyone is always in such a rush is that we have left our natural purposes.

Somewhere, deep down inside we all know who we were born to be. It has nothing to do with jobs, social status or the expectations of others. It’s the thing that you do that causes you to lose track of time. When you look up and you’re amazed at how much got done without effort.

When you are just being what you were truly meant to be. That’s what happiness is.

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

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.

Christmas is forever

Christmas, Color Photography

Everyone is a child at Christmas. Every year we all revert back to the days of excitement and wonder. Our journey in childhood is aided by colors and lights and smells of the Christmas season. I remember when one of the special parts of Christmas was the yearly tradition of handmade decorations. The process of transformation from everyday home into a winner wonderland had a personal touch. The tree topper was made from a recycled cereal box that was either painted or simply covered with tinfoil (and later aluminum foil). The ornaments on the tree was sometimes hand carved from thin scraps of wood. Construction paper chains served as garland. One of my childhood friends would go out in the woods and collect acorns in the Fall and paint them for use as ornaments. Whatever the process and materials used it was the bonding of friends and family that made the memory. Today we have projectors and lasers and inflatable Santas that are produced on an assembly line (probably by robots soon) and then sold in the stores. Our modern plug and play Christmas provides us with a great deal of splendor but how much spirit? Time is of great value in our busy lives. The “Christmas Rush” is on and in a lot of lives the pressures of earning a living shows no mercy. Time is the most valuable resource we have. It’s a resource that we can possess but not own. However, I have learned that it is in fact entirely possible to freeze time. Not through some contrivance of technology or secret of the ancient Magi but through the simple act of bonding with friends and family. This year I encourage you to incorporate some homemade Christmas in with the technological splendor. The time you spend with your loved ones is the greatest gift you can give.