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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Stop and Go Driving

Have camera: will stop, back up, pull off or otherwise become a hazard on country roads. Larry took this picture of me getting ready to take a picture along Trace Fork on Monday. A man of infinite patience he can be at these times.

Something will catch my eye, like little Joe's Run near its beginning and I have to stop and take a photo. Or back up. Or pull off the road.


For this photo I had to back up, park, then move the car several times for the right shot. I tried getting out, but then I was lower than if I was in the car and the photo wasn't the same. I had to be careful not to hit one of the goats that is usually out in the road in this area. But who could resist that perfect path of light through the trees?


On the way home one day last week, this patch of orange butterfly weed, complete with butterflies, stopped the car. Good things like wildflowers just don't last long enough; if I don't stop when I see them, they're gone.

On Monday, I saw this patch of wild roses on our way out Trace Fork Road, which is another way to get to our home if you don't mind about 9 miles of back roads (we usually come up Joe's Run, which is is 4 miles from the two-lane). I worried all day that the state roads workers we saw on the way out would cut the roses before we returned. (I really do worry about things like that! Every year they cut down the Canada lilies which are fairly rare in this area. Don't they know???)

But the roses were still there when we returned. Larry stopped, I got out. A tractor appeared around a curve. Larry backed up to get out of his way, I scooted over to the fence. When the tractor was gone, I got back in the road, and was just ready to take my pictures when a pickup came around the curve--he was following the tractor, you see. This is haying weather bigtime this week and everyone is in the fields getting it done before the rains hit again.


So back I popped to the fenceline--Larry had decided to stay put where he was.

"Come on," he yelled. "Hurry up." Even his patience wears thin sometimes.

Yeah, right. I can't hurry when I'm taking pictures. Sometimes it takes going backward as much as going forward.

And sometimes it means taking time to stop and smell the roses.

I just hope I'm not found smashed flat by a tractor one day, camera still dangling from my hand, beaide a roadside patch of wildflowers...although I suppose there are worse ways to go.

6 comments:

  1. that's funny, Susanne. Sometimes I'll try to take pictures while we'll driving along. He'll slow down or stop and then I'll here him say "hurry up, there's a car coming." If it's something really good and I've missed it, he'll sometimes say, "I can turn around and we can come back."

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  2. Those photos are worth it! Larry and my husband need to get together when they can; they're going through the same thing LOL.

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  3. I guess Al is used to my insanity now. Someone down the road has put up signs saying "NO MOWING" infront of her property and her flowers are beautiful.

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  4. The digital camera has certainly freed us to take as many photos as we like. In the days of film cameras, we'd be a lot more choosy! Now I snap away and love it. Janet, I also try to take pictures when the car is moving--it gives odd results and usually useless photos. But like a dog at the door, I'm ever hopeful.

    I know they need to mow the roadsides for visibility but there is nothing as beautiful as a tangle of chickory, Queen Anne's Lace, daylilies, crown vetch and wild sweet peas in late June. It seems a crime to cut them down. I agree with you neighbor, Cathy--no mowing needed.

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  5. I grinned all through your post because I've been doing the same thing--taking photos. The difference is that I'm alone and doing the driving, so I get to be the one who says, "Hurry up!"

    I'm glad you got the picture of the butterfly weed because I had to pass one up yesterday because there wasn't a good place to pull the car off.

    I love the photos you post on your blog.

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  6. My husband will stop, turn around or pull over for me to get a good picture. It has become a constant since I started blogging.
    He and my son like to pick on me about it, but still they're always pointing things out for me to take pictures of.
    Gotta love those patient husbands!

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