HIATUS

FOLKWAYS NOTEBOOK  has been on blogspot for three years now and I as the author have throughly enjoyed all the folks and reading their wonderful blogs that they write. 


Now I have to take some time off to finish some writing and research projects that I started long ago that have been on the back burner for some time. Thankfully I will only need to have FOLKWAYS NOTEBOOK  down until the first of the year -- January 2012. 


In the mean time I have started a fun blog that I can zip in and out of to ease  my addiction to blogging  while I am off. You can check into the blog at PICAYUNE PHOTOS.


FOLKWAYS NOTEBOOK will still be on line while I am off -- although I will not be contributing any posts nor will I be able to answer any of your fine comments.

OCCUPY NATURE -- THANKSGIVING TRUCE

Here is the table I wish I was at for Thanksgiving. One that gave thanks to all of nature with its animate spirit (including turkeys) . I found this print at the Library of Congress. Of course you recognize the toast master -- Theodore Roosevelt, our former President and a well-renown conservationist. He was responsible for saving many of our wild lands that we enjoy today -- such as:

Crater Lake, Oregon

Wind Cave, South Dakota

Sullys Hill, North Dakota

Mesa Verde, Colorado

 Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Oklahoma 

Plus other National Park areas like part of the Grand Canyon.


My wish for Thanksgiving is that these areas will continue to be protected from corporate and political greed so that my grandchildren will be able to sit at a table in the wild just like Teddy did with his animal friends above.

Happy Thanksgiving

PROPOSED MAJOR OIL PIPELINE ACROSS OUR HEARTLAND

Just checking in with a big thank you to President Obama for stopping the Keystone XL oil pipeline until a complete environmental review could be done on it. It was set to run from Canada down through the mid-section of our country to the gulf area. This would have devastating effects on our water, air and many other natural environments. 


Among the many folks and organizations against this pipeline was the National Resources Defense Council, NRDC. Here are a few words of what they had to say about the pipeline:

"Make no mistake: a no-holds-barred review of the Keystone XL pipeline will reveal that this entire scheme is a boon to Big Oil and a disaster-in-the-making for the rest of us. It would drive more destruction of the Boreal forest, turbo-charge global warming, threaten water supplies in the heartland, raise gas prices and lock America into the dirtiest oil on the planet for decades to come."

Please watch the YOU TUBE below with Robert Redford thanking  President  Obama for his action.

STRING

String Theory, by Dave Morrison

Thousands of lives are being
spent trying to construct an
Explanation of Everything, six
extra dimensions, parallel universes,
the whole overloaded wagon held
together with tiny bits of string.

String?

Why not tiny jacks, or tiny crescent
wrenches or tiny dandelions, or tiny
charm bracelets, or tiny umbrellas, or
tiny teacups, or tiny disco balls, or
tiny rubber bands, paper clips?
Our Universe is as it is because of
tiny hoops of twine? This
is what you get from too much
coffee and a 'what if'-

When my friends and I considered
such possibilities behind the
cafeteria with a nickel bag of
lame weed, it did not occur
to us that we were budding physicists;
we were burnouts
trying to get comfortable with
mystery.


Text Credits:
New Scientist Blog and Scriblerus 2008

SMALL TOWN BACKYARD

'

Recently, I noticed this quaint backyard in a small town in Madison County.  Looking old, yet a bit lonely, with its  mature apple tree and a vintage two-car wooden garage, it enticed me to stop and snap a few pictures. Scattered on the ground, dropped from its mature tree, were lots of apples that I could tell had not been sprayed this year.

The gnarled apple tree had lots of bare branches that looked like old grey bones.

Sitting together, the apple tree and garage, reminded me of how backyards looked before plastic swimming pools, large garages, patios, decks, and all other types of outdoor paraphernalia came about.

I let my imagination kick in --  I could easily see my great-grandmother sitting under this tree peeling apples into a  large granite dishpan. 

BUDDIES

SAL (SALLIE TOMATO) AND LIL (LILLY PAD)

Lil entered my life seven years ago as an adopted critter. She and I hit it off immediately -- she liked to travel in the truck as did I. We traveled to the southeast, Rockies, and states in between finally settling in Kentucky to live for the last four years. 

She died of natural causes yesterday aged thirteen years. 

She left me with great memories and lots of laughs.  

Her buddy was Sal my male golden -- he missed her today.

"LIL"

BEAUTY PUT OUT TO PASTURE

I have noticed these doors leaning outside against a building for quite some time. They are old yet their craftsmanship is excellent. Sometimes we put the best old objects out to pasture and treat poorly produced new objects as priceless.  

QUILT SQUARE ON NURSERY'S OLD BARN

Preparing for the seasonal closing of a nursery, that sells mostly from its outdoor plant area, can cause as much hustle and bustle as the start of spring season. Winding down at a nursery can involve lots of organizing while at the same time chaos. Much like when you are doing major cleaning around your house -- you begin fairly organized, move to chaos, then return to getting everything back in place. 

The beautiful vintage barn above, with a graphic tulip quilt square on its gable, stands above the disorganization of the fall scene at the nursery.  Tulips, a symbol of spring, reminding us that the cycle of life returns after the winter ahead.