Take me home, country road, to the place, where I belong, West Virginia............

mooo

Hola!

As you can see I've made new friends!! Finally arrived at the family farm in Summersville West Virginia. The farm is beautifully located in the rolling hills of the Appalachian Mountains. The farm includes some 60 acres (or 25 hectares for you europeans) of pasture, forest, 2 natural springs, a main house, and a separate apartment with two bay garage. It is a wonderfully beautiful place. The family leases out the pasture land to a local farmer who fattens up his cattle on the lush green vegetation. I walked out into the pasture today and these friendly, fly covered, heifers came over to say hi.

Red Maple

I love the farm. It was one of my grandfathers better ideas with regards to his investment ideas. West Virginia and Appalachia keep some of the oldest growth forest in North America. The air and water here are some of thee cleanest you are likely to experience. The people have a unique accent and take life at a different pace. It is truly is a hidden gem.

I spent at least 2 weeks every summer growing up here. I thank my mother for that. She felt it was important for me, way up in Alaska, to connect with relatives on both sides of the family. The trip was made regardless of whether my father (whose side of the family it was) came or not (usually not). There was a garden where us grand kids could help the grandparents grow food and plenty of horses, cows, goats, fishing, camping, and grilling all against the clean emerald backdrop of the rolling hills of WV.

My grandfather and grandmother grew up during the great depression, in West Virginia, one of the poorest regions in the US. He finished his career as the International CEO of a multimillion dollar company. Even at the end he wanted to show his grand kids his roots, and foster and appreciation for simple pleasures. For all the yelling he did and fights we had while I served as caregiver I do appreciate that.

This is also where I last saw both of my grandparents healthy. I came here and worked for my grandfather as a caretaker and general laborer for 6 months after my first stint at University in 2008. They were tough times, I was taking care of my aging grandfather and my grandmother who was suffering through Alzheimers. I remember when they were happy though. It was a calm, serene happy. One that you can only feel surrounded by the living energy of this place. You feel more connected. It lends itself to the culture and lifestyle, I think. Hard to explain.

sunrise

It's a beautiful place and I'll try to capture what I can. My folks wanted to come here to see the fall colors. The diversity of flora here lends its itself to an explosion of color in fall when the leaves change. It's early yet but we are beginning to see some color.

Slainte

Sweet as a Georgia Peach...

Hola!

Spent a majority of the day yesterday driving. All told traveled approximately 600 km. so sort of a big day. We arrived at our friends the Pattillos and spent the night and the entire day today hanging out with these close family friends.

The Pattillos were very close friends of my parents. I grew up playing with their daughter Samantha and we have all sorts of family stories that we remember and joke about. Samantha is my age, and married to a wonderful guy I just met tonight, Brian. Brian is a nurse, and Samantha is a designer who appears to be doing very very well for herself.

Samantha's father, Harry, is an amazing high end carpenter. He can seemingly fix or build anything (he restores cars, has built their families last four houses) and his work is truly art. Samantha has taken up his mantel which is unusual for a design based person, she actually likes getting her hands dirty to create! In addition to this she appears to have picked up the uncanny ability to market her products and is off and running with her career. She just did a piece for HG TV (home and garden TV) as an up and comer in design


Here is a link to some of her stuff:
http://samanthapattillo.com/


Had a chance to see one of Harry's workshops and had to pick my jaw up off the ground. What a workshop!!! All the things you could make!! Good motivation for this "artsy stuff" endeavor.

In addition to attempt the artsy stuff I'm also attempting to train my dog Moses. He was never properly trained and is now a six yr. old baby. He's a jerk. I love him but hes a jerk. Fixing or working on some of his behavior issues should help out my parent down the road, but what a pain in the ass.

Speaking of road, guess who owns a new huge truck. Yep this guy. The truck will be in both my and my fathers name and kept in Florida. Might be a good tool to use for a cross country driving trip.......or just as an east coast car. Too big I think and a gasoline hog. But it's what the old man wanted.

Anywho,  more photos- just going to post without processing- processing sort of seems like cheating. And I'm still working my way to getting around in Lightroom. I think I might like Macro shooting.... need to try more people and landscape shots. Hung out for a solid 45 minutes today trying to capture hummingbirds in flight but with no luck. Maybe in West Virginia?



Georgia Sunrise

Solar illumination

Bursting with Color

 It's the little things

 Stubborn ass.....

Cheers

Hola Bitcholas!!!!

Happy Hump Day!!!  What an enterance right!?!!  Not sure just how to begin.................

I'm starting this silly ego driven ramble on the advise of a beautiful spanish gal I know. On the off chance I do have access to the interwebs whilst meandering through the back woods of Wild Wonderful West Virgina I will try to update this ridiculous thing daily.

Adventure is out there!!!!.........and sometimes it gets on your pants .

The same gorgeous girl (whether she knows it or not) reinvigorated my interests in what my father refers to as "artsy stuff ". I have always dabbled in the arts - glass blowing, pottery, sculpture, photography, carpentry, stained glass - I've spent numerous hours both in class and on my own producing and appreciating these arts.  These have been set aside the past few years. I have a few months of liesure-ish time on my hands so I figure what better way to fill it than "artsy stuff".

This is all to say I have recently aquired a nice DSLR camera and will try highlight my inquiries into "artsy stuff". I will try to post at least one new picture a day......of what you ask...............who the hell knows.......probably some nature, some bikes, some people, wood work, sciece-ish things, and maybe some links or something to projects I want to persue in the future (im also sort of going to use this thing as a journal of sorts). Also this blog thing I hope helps me develop what those who critique writting call a voice. Who knows maybe even some poetry......

Anyway, this will be a chance for me to work through digital photgraphy (I'll be reading up on all the newfangled technology and teaching myself to shoot and processes images)

So its late now probably not even Wed. any more. Oh yea!! The title. Ever the hipster (wink) I have always appreciated how cultures outside the english speaking one, sometimes manage to summate ideas in a single word. The most prolific of these cultures, to me, seems to be the Japanese. Shibui is an idea in Japanese that refers to an aesthetic of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty. There is more to it than that..... you should google the term......fitting for an "artsy stuff" blog I think.

And finally the picture(s)-these aren't edited..........it's a start.