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The wondrous quilts of Gee’s Bend

The early history

The slow brown river moves like molasses, twisting and turning its way through the state of Alabama. Eons ago, the Alabama River chose one particular spot to carve itself a nearly-complete circle, and the land inside that loop has long been a separate place, largely closed off from the rest of the world, an isolation often intensified by human intervention.

The place is called Gee’s Bend, named for the first white man to build himself a plantation here. Joseph Gee came here in 1816, bringing with him 18 African American slaves for his cotton plantation. The property was sold by Gee’s heirs in 1845 to settle a debt; a short time later the Pettway family arrived with 100 slaves. When slavery was abolished after the Civil War, many of the former slaves continued to work for the Pettways as sharecroppers.

Earth Day and a full moon

A few thoughts, a few photographs

I didn’t want to let this Earth Day slide past without at least a mention, a vote of confidence, a rousing voice from the cheering section.

Here in the South of France, we’ve had some perfect weather lately: warm during the day, cooler at night, with clear, crisp, fresh air. Air so clear that we’ve had several days with great views of the distant Pyrenees, still snow-capped. Yesterday I walked with my friends Maryse and Claude, all of us harvesting some thyme to dry and cook with during the coming year.

Today I celebrated Earth Day with a nice walk in the garrigue, the scrubby foothills just uphill from my house. There are a few photographs of Mother Nature’s handiwork, along with thoughts about this planet we call home.

Genghis Khan

A quick trip to Nantes

I had read about an exhibit on Genghis Khan, to be shown in the city of Nantes, and it seemed like an interesting thing to see. My friend Kitty is also a history buff, and we decided to make a short trip to see the show. Our flight touched down in time for dinner, and two days later we left on a mid-afternoon flight. It was a brief but wonderful getaway.

Rome

A February jaunt to Rome

A while back, I was talking with my friends Mark and Ro about visiting Rome together. They had spent the majority of their professional lives in the world of classical music, especially opera, and they have been known to take themselves off to this or that city in order to see one of their friends conduct an opera or a concert.

We talked about going to Rome together, and we finally made it happen in February. We saw their friend (and Ro’s former boss) conduct a concert there, and also had time for some excellent exploration. We all had lists of things we thought we’d like to do or see—or eat!—and we managed to check most items off the lists. Except—oops—I came home with a longer list than I’d left with.

Here’s the story of how we spent five lovely days in la Bella Roma.

Life in the Abstract

More abstract photography

Last January I did a post about one of my favorite forms of photography, abstract. I guess it struck a chord with some of you, because I received a lot of mail from that post. So I thought I’d do another one to start 2024.

The world is full of fascinating things to photograph. I’ve found that when I’m fully present and really seeing what’s around me, the first thing I tend to notice is color, and sometimes color by itself can make an intriguing composition. But more often, I move from that to looking at line, form, pattern, and texture. Finally, my photography becomes an exploration of contrast and composition, which is where the rubber meets the road, the place where the real magic happens.

Christmas in France

In early December a friend in the States mentioned that she’d like to see me write a post about how the French celebrate Christmas, et voilà, here it is. Different parts of France have their own traditions, and this post is about how people celebrate here in the Midi region of the South of France.

A start to the season
The photo above is from the light show and Christmas market in nearby Béziers. It has become a bit of a tradition with my group of friends to kick off the holiday season with an evening there, strolling among the lights and pointing excitedly like delighted young children.