Past And Present
I spent this past weekend in Ohio. Six out of the last seven art challenge images were taken in that state.
Going there to a class reunion meant that I would be reminiscing with former classmates about our shared past experiences. I was also remembering former vacations, visits and family as we drove familiar roads and highways during our stay.
The foothills of the Appalachian Mountains consist of steep hills, deep valleys and curvy back country roads. Many of the same houses and farms lined those roads as they have for a century or more. I could remember things that my parents said about many of those places and their owners as we drove by.
In the villages and cities the sight of churches, schools and businesses were a blast from the past as they had been there since my childhood days.
There were, however, sights that were not there during my childhood days but were very much there in the present. Instead of raped, mined hillsides and coal trucks there are now fracking gas and oil wells, refineries and tanker trucks. Honestly I am not sure which is worse for the environment or the ruining of the gorgeous, natural scenery.
Thank goodness there are still those beautiful mixed hardwood forests covering those hillsides and rocky, babbling creeks running through the valleys. We normally visit family there during the winter holidays. It was refreshing to visit when the deciduous trees were leafed out in all their glorious shades of green.
I took over a thousand photographs during my visit. Many of them that were taken through the Jeep’s windows will be deleted. But even some of those will be processed and uploaded as photojournalism images. Reminders of the present that someday will be the past.
Past and Present. That’s where I lived for several days this past week end!
