SUMMER OFF

Library of Congress Photo

May all of you enjoy a great blogging summer. I am taking the summer off to work on some special projects.

ARE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS BEING USED ON PINTEREST WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION?

An old fashioned pin board

Yesterday, I put a post on about Pinterest and their users that are involved with the illegal practice of using images without the permission of the owner. 


Pinterest claims that once a person posts (or pins to a Pinterest bulletin board)  it becomes their property. 


Legally all images created by you are your intellectual property. No one can take that away from you. But now it seems that Pinterest, using a third party (the pinners of sites with Pinterest), believe they can take it from you with no impunity.


Anyway if my words above seem a bit confusing I have found an excellent article on this very subject. It is well worth your time to read if you are either a Pinterest member or anyone that puts images on the web such as G+, Facebook, Blogspot, or like media.


Here is the link that explains this mess in human terms. 
Pinterest -- Copyright Infringement Made Cool, by Bob Vishneski

OLD HOUSE WITH BANDS OF COLORS

Could restoration be in store for this 1800s house? The bands of color you see on the front facade are imprints from recent removals of its 1900s additions. This is an early home of a Lancaster, Kentucky physician. A decision to save it will be based on its structural integrity. As it stands now, I rather like its carnival colored bands. 

AFRO-AMERICAN FOLK GRAVE MARKERS

On a slightly inclined hill, spotted with mature cedars there is an Afro-American cemetery that has existed since shortly after the Civil War.


Claiming several acres near the historic town of Lancaster, Kentucky, it is a cemetery that holds past citizens of the local black community. There is not an official name posted at the cemetery entrance. 

Cabal Marritt Junior

Cabal Marritt Junior is one of the persons that looks after the care of the cemetery. His parents and past friends and relatives are buried there. I had some questions about the cemetery and called Cabal to arrange a meeting at the cemetery. 

We met on a beautiful sunny day last fall.  My main questions were about several of the grave markers that appeared to be handmade. Cabal said that he thought they were, probably made by Bobby Warren who used to run the pool hall in Lancaster. Unfortunely, Bobby died some time ago.

This spring I revisited the cemetery. When I was leaving I met a man named Jamie that told me that it was Bobby Warren that made the handmade grave markers. He said," I know because when I was young I used to help Bobby make them. We would have different molds for the shaping and then would pour cement in them." 

What I also observed about these handmade grave markers was that they had a square indentation on their face that held a hand written inscription of the name, birth and death of the individual. Over this was placed a glass pane for protection. There was some variations to this identification technique such as a tin square being used. 

The handmade grave markers are simple folk types that are part of the culture of the cemetery.

Jamie added a few more words about Bobby Warren. "Bobby didn't charge a lot for his grave markers, that way most folks could afford one. For those that couldn't pay he often just gave them one for nothing."


I thought about what Jamie had just told me. I realized that not only was there a reaching out of local community in life but also in death. 

WASH ON THE LINE

Symbols of the coming summer.

APPALACHIAN FOLK ART BIRD ROOST

Front side of Appalachian bird roost

I met Miss Sharon about a month ago when I stopped at her place to ask permission to take some photos of her unique bird roost that I had noticed from the road. 

She was an older woman that had lost her husband recently. She told me that he loved to watch the birds which gave him the idea to build a nesting box for them. He told her he was going to make it out of coffee cans that he usually saved for nuts and bolts storage.

Back side of Appalachian bird roost

He placed his finished roost high in the air using a peeled tree as a post. He partitioned the cans using scrap wood. 

Notice the types of coffee cans that he used for his masterpiece. He had old tin cans toward the top while on the bottom row he used newer plastic coffee cans. 

I consider this bird roost as a definite piece of Appalachian folk art. Not contrived folk art but the real thing.   

OLD 1928 VINTAGE CATALOG -- TRELLIS, BENCH, AND FENCE

Here are some summer projects for the skilled (or unskilled) crafts-person.  Took these images out of an old 1928 lumber company catalog that I found years ago. I sold the catalog this spring but I did take a few photos of the  catalog's accessories before it landed in the buyer's hands. 

The above double trellis is actually a set of benches.  

I like this bench. A little bit of 

cozy feeling comes with it. 

More bench enclosures

 Look close,  it also is a good place to put birdhouses

RAINSTORM PUDDLES

Leaf-boat sailing in a rainstorm puddle on my driveway

Last night I woke to the sounds of thunder and noticed lightning flashing outside my bedroom window. It was a mellow storm compared to some that we have had lately. I closed my eyes and disappeared back into my sleep. I awoke perhaps an hour later and it was still storming outside. 


I felt snug in my bed and lay awake remembering as a child how I delighted in storms that brought puddles to our neighborhood. Yes, puddles. As a child, with my friends, we would beg our mothers to let us walk barefoot along the sides of our street where rain water had accumulated. Our goal was to splash each other from these shallow puddles. Such simple fun.


Early this morning, after the rain had stopped, I looked outside at the overcast skies. Then I looked at my driveway and saw --  puddles. They looked rather blah from my window. But wait. Weren't my thoughts last night about having fun with puddles as a child. Hmm -- maybe mine aren't so blah. Out the door I went with my camera.

Mystical forest illusion reflected in my 

rainstorm puddle by nearby maple trees.

I found that my camera had a child's eye. From my camera I discovered illusionary patterns that I could not see from my window. I realized that with camera in hand -- puddles can still be fun.

SQUIRREL FRIEND

MR LAMB OPENING THE HINGED DOOR OF HIS SQUIRREL FEEDER

Mr Lamb is a friend to wildlife especially birds and squirrels. But he found out that the two don't mix well when it comes to dinner time. So he devised a way to keep everyone satisfied. 


He set up a squirrel feeder that requires the squirrel to go through a small swinging door to get seeds. Once inside the box structure squirrels can find lots to eat. They can munch away in solitude -- no blue-jays or other bothersome birds to dive bomb them. No problem getting out of the box structure -- the door swings both ways. Like a doggie door.  


Along with the feeder Mr Lamb set up a housing unit for them. It is high in the adjacent sugar maple tree. He made it out of spare wood. Now the squirrels can go about their business and be content that they are in good hands.

WOOD SQUIRREL HOUSING UNIT IN MAPLE SUGAR TREE
SQUIRREL FEEDER AT THE BASE OF TREE

And the same goes for the birds. They have their own feeders and are content. Mr Lamb knows how to create good community relations.