Blue Ridge blog

Preoccupation...

 

Annie and I are just fine. It's just that we've been preoccupied with holidays, blizzards, freelance work, video camera techniques and an upcoming work trip to the Amazon, the rainforest, not Seattle. Oh yeah, and there's that whole upcoming wedding of my eldest daughter to add to my gumbo of activity. 

I've gotten out of the habit of what I call 'blog think', which is the conscious practice of sharing, on a daily basis, the world as I see it both in words and photos. For me, blogging has always been primarily for myself but with any luck, a blog entry may add miniscule, but perhaps meaningful content for someone else. Ya never know.

Some say blogs are dead. But this one isn't. I'm just in repose until I get my act together, which I promise will be any day now.

Thanks for hanging.

And oh, by the way, Amy is back to blogging. I never tire of her wonderful and now awesome photos of her neck of New Hampshire. Go read!

 

Dog through a dirty window

Dear Internets,

I trust you so much that I bare not only my forlorn dog, but the dirty windows she's snotted. Annie is great. These days she is happy chasing sticks, giving me jumpy hugs and making me feel oh-so-guilty for refusing her human food other than raw fruits and vegetables. I've said this before, yet it remains true. Annie is my happiness factory. The world would be a better place if'n everyone had an Annie.

Sincerely,

Marie

All these things I have done with y'all and all...

I have a full time photography job and then, I return home to my 60x20 job, The Garden. I love my works and have finally figured out why.  

My photography job allows me the opportunity to create with others as a team. We collaborate, we joke, we bitch, we moan, we rejoice and celebrate our successes and otherwise have a mighty fine time winging it on a daily basis.  Sure, there is the occasional work photograph which I own from concept to fruition, yet this is rare. I work with several talented, intelligent folk whose input at any point may change a doomed project 180 degrees in a better direction. I am blessed with a day job I look forward to every morning. Sincerely.

Yet, in contrast, I savor the time I spend (mostly) alone in my garden. My husband has helped me with the hardest of tasks and Annie is my happiness as she explores the perimeter of our land flushing rabbits from the brambles. My children have (mostly) left the nest so my tomatoes, muskmelons, cukes and beans are my new babies. I nurture them daily in playful, yet reverent solitude, pulling suckers, tossing them chicken turds and tickling their pumpkin flowers. Gardening can be a hard, dirty job, fret with problems such as addictions to weather radar on the iPhone, deer invasions and obsessions with worm castings (no kidding!) Still, I look forward (mostly) to the garden bootie/hard 'putting up' season come August, because it is a sign of a higher successful creative collaboration between me, Mother Nature and God. Truly.

Again, I am blessed.

More garden photos:

 

Half runners...

 

A picklin' cuke blossoms...

 

The Kitchen Garden, where I grow more than 200 garlics, kale, lettuce, a few tomatoes, squash and herbs...

 

A soaker hose hugs my precious pumpkin pie babe...

Gardening is a process. My biggest questions: 

Will you still love me when my squash crop comes in?

 

 
 
 

 

Evolving...

 

Our current snow is not photogenic through the microscope, but Annie and I certainly have enjoyed our many winter walks this weekend.

 Annie turned 2 years old last month and for the first time, I'm sensing her evolution from puppy to dog. Oh how she still insists on pooping right beside my husband's truck and she remains curious and jumpy about everything single thing I have in my hands.        And, she remains a pickpocket and thief.                                                                                But today while I was taking photos, she plopped down beside me and patiently waited for me to finish. To be honest, initially I was amazed and confused by her behavior.            The top photo is the very first photo of her in which I have several images of her posing. Before today, any photo I was fortunate to grab of her was just that, a grab shot.     Thanks for the gift Annie. 

Now let's go for another crunchy walk through the woods.

 

 

She loves the snow...

 

Snow in the High Country of North Carolina

Annie and I took our first winter walk through our wonderland this afternoon:)

 

Annie has been found!

Thanks to Lynn at the Watauga Humane Society, Annie spent the evening warm and happy under shelter. In fact she was enthralled by all the little kittens and barely acknowledged me when I picked her up. During her adventure, her i.d. and rabies tags were lost but some kind soul picked her out of the middle of Broadstone Rd. and carried her to safety. But wouldn't you know Annie had a blast yesterday. Not only had she been frolicking in the Watauga River chasing ducks, but there was a Facebook report of her proudly prancing down Broadstone with a huge baguette in her mouth. I apologize to the person who was robbed of their bread. My dog is the culprit/thief/juvenile delinquent.

Oh Annie!

Help! Annie is missing...

While my husband was pressure washing the house, he closed the garage doors, thus cutting off the power supply to Annie's collar. Man, did she jumped the Shark. Not sure how to take that...
Anyway, he didn't see in which direction she took off, but she sure wasn't home to greet and play with me this evening as usual. I was home at 5:30 ish and searched for her until well after dark. She's not in her usual haunts and she's not injured on any of the roads nearby. Most likely, some kind folks came hiking near our house and encouraged her to walk with them, Afterall, hiking is more fun with a dog. With the noise of the pressure washer, my husband didn't hear or see the people. So here is a plea to all you kind people:  I love my dog and miss her sorely. She's too sweet and craves attention and though you love her company now, know there is someone else sitting on the side of the mountain who loves her forever more than you ever will.
And if'n you keep her, I hope she chews holes in your underwear, too!

Annie, Armanti and Appalachian State football...

As I have complained before, it is nearly impossible to take a decent photo of Annie. She doesn't tolerate calm. Today I took her for a walk on our road. The wind and rain knocked many colorful leaves to the ground. I noted how pretty the light was falling on her and grabbed my iPhone. That was a silly idea because as soon as I did that, she had to satisfy her curiosity as to what might be in my hand. As I jerked the phone out of her reach, my finger hit the shutter and voila, a realistic photo of my Annie.
She's in the dog house tonight, though. She decided my nearly ripe cabbages were her new play toys. I walked out of the house to find several cabbage balls in my driveway.

On Appalachian State football: ASU beat a formidable Samford team 20-7. I'll post a couple of photos later, but because of a torrential downpour, I didn't use a long lens or shoot many fans. I just couldn't risk getting my equipment too wet. Still, I was awed by Armanti Edwards' magic tricks (see video link below) and delighted in seeing Jason Vitaris secure his kicking game.

Armanti scores! Edwards was in the news this week. Tommy Bowman of the Winston-Salem Journal wrote a wonderful story about our quarterback. He is much more than a great athlete. I know. He interned in my office this summer.

And here's just a taste of what Armanti can do. Watch the video and be amazed.

I needed Annie's help to make this photo...

It was pouring rain last night when I returned home. Not yet ready to settle in for the evening, I decided to spend some quality time with Annie. As we played together I noticed how our favorite maple tree is beginning to turn. The tree is ancient and for whatever reason has become our harbinger of both spring and autumn. It is the first to cast an innocent blush in March and subsequently, the first to turn orange in September.

I decided to engage myself with a photo experiment choosing the maple tree as my subject. I fished out the ol' rarely used tripod and a crazy 400mm lens and played around with some spooky long exposures. Normally during long exposures I plead with the dog to be still because any wag of her tail causes undesirable movement in an image. But last night I was curious as to what might happen if during a 4 sec exposure @ f32 I bounced a tennis ball and Annie jumped to catch it?
The result is the above photograph. Many of the images were not nearly as painterly, but damn if she and I didn't have fun making them.