Bridges of Fleming County...sort of

Last Saturday we took a day trip out to Eastern Kentucky.

I fell in love with Kentucky the first time I visited in March, 1998 - and then moved here shortly after. The first fall I spent in Louisville was stunning! I grew up on the west coast...we didn't have a lot of fall colour, mostly yellow...perhaps a touch of orange or red now and then, but predominately yellow. or brown. fun for the crunching under feet sound, but not much gloriousness to look at. Kentucky is a different world when it comes to fall colour...orange. red. purple-magenta-plum-y shades. Deep, rich colours that take my breath away.

Pair the perfect autumn day with a full tank of gas and voilà! mini one day holiday.

The plan was to visit and photograph four of the 13 covered bridges remaining in Kentucky - there used to be over 400 - three of them in Fleming County.

The thing about day trips and "planned" excursions is that you have to leave room for the unexpected and spontaneous.

After a late start Saturday morning, we arrived at our first bridge, in Bourbon County, mid-afternoon.

The Colville Covered Bridge, built in 1877, fully restored in 2001.

Colville Covered Bridge. Bourbon County, Kentucky. keg 10.13.12

Next to Hinkston Creek. Bourbon County, Kentucky. keg 10.12.12

We nibbled on a quick picnic lunch and then headed off toward the next bridge destination.

...and a change of plans.

While driving along Highway 36 we passed a yard sale. They had several old 6-pane window frames with the glass still in place; they gave me a couple of ideas. So we turned around to have a look and inquire about the windows. When we pulled in the driveway I noticed an old tractor, nearly covered in weeds and growth, at the top of a small incline, by two beautiful old tobacco barns.

I purchased two of the windows, and asked Jethro and Connie (the couple having the yard sale - they introduced themselves almost as soon as we walked up) if we could run up and take some shots of the barns. They said yes.

Somewhere along highway 36. keg 10.12.12

swoon. keg 10.13.12

keg 10.13.12

keg 10.13.12

keg 10.13.12

We found at least 10 more yard sales along highways 36 and 11...stopped at a couple...found a few more fabulous finds, including 2 vintage 70's purses which I scored for a total of $5.00.

The late start and unexpected yard sale stops resulted in too little light to continue our covered bridge search that afternoon, but in no way am I disappointed by the events of the afternoon and the resulting photographs and fantastic finds of my Eastern Kentucky day trip.

Confidence is...

This is the last prompt for a time.

The Absinthe Road is going on haitus.

This post marks 2 years. and I feel that it is time for a re-assessment. re-organization. re-purposing.

I was thinking the other day about confidence. how even the most confident, beautiful, amazing people, have their insecurities.

How, on the outside, someone may exude confidence and security. but their secret may be that they hate their thighs. their teeth. their nose.

Prompt #104: For today's prompt I want you to take your insecurity...and glorify it. find the "something beautiful" in the thing you dislike most about yourself.

The biggest and most heartfelt thank you to those who have followed and congratulations on all you have written.

and if you'd like...check out my daily blog at Things I Love - 365 days

crawling down your sleeves...

It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I have nothing much to do with the writing of them. The words have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page. ~ Joan Baez 

I have always felt this way about my poetry...as though, when writing...I am channeling the stars. 

There is something magical in writing. it's almost hypnotic. 

Prompt #103: does your writing crawl down your sleeve? let it.  

Popcorn pops again...

Prompt #102: use the following words in a poem or other creative piece...
Vacillate. Corruption. Distance. Voice. Challenge. Determination.

write write write!

It's April.

It's National Poetry Month.

and Robert Lee Brewer is at it again. It's the 5th annual April Poetry challenge.

every day this month, Robert will be posting a prompt. and really, it doesn't have to be poetry specific. you can take the prompt and fly anywhere with it.

or choose any of the multitudes of April challenge prompts that happen to be out there. what's important is that you are inspired to write.

so...

Prompt #101: pick a National Poetry Month prompt and write write write! get poeming. get noveling. get writing!

3KD

It's my 100th post.

I feel like I should do something special.

so, on a whim...your prompt is this:

Prompt #100: email me at karen(at)karenegreene(dot)com and tell me why you'd like to have a copy of my poetry collection Three Thousand Doors. I will randomly pick a winner and announce next week.

Invisible ink...

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. ~Vladimir Nabokov

Prompt #99: What will you put on that blank page today? Look out your window, look in your front yard...or the back yard. look down the street...start writing about the first thing your eyes land on. poem it. song it. essay it.

Lyrical Inspiration...

Think of some of your favourite songs.

pick 5.

take the first three or four words of each of those 5 songs and use them as a writing prompt.  finish the sentence. write a story. poem. song.

or you can use mine. 

Prompt #98: 1) Give me a second... 2) There's some kind of... 3) We were born before... 4)  You look like... 5) And so it is...

Unfinished...

I have a "problem" people. I tend to have a million ideas.

I act on many. but so many are unfinished projects.

and really, that's not a bad thing. some things need to simmer a bit before we come back to them and bring them full circle.  that's totally okay.

but sometimes, we need to leaf through those thousands of started projects, and pick one to work on and finish.  so that we can pick the next one to work on and finish. and so one. and so on. 

Prompt #97: Do you have a project you've started but haven't finished yet? is today the day? do it.

Monday/Tuesday...can't trust that day

So...around 2:00 this afternoon, I realised I'd missed a day. sigh. I've been doing this Monday blog for nearly two years now.  and I've been consistent. writing every single Monday.

and somehow I lost a day.

I feel terrible.

not that it's the most terrible thing I've ever done, but it sure made me feel guilty like it was one of the most terrible things I've ever done.

Prompt #96: Write about the most terrible thing you've ever done.

We are family...

I'm sitting at my friend Sarah's computer, because I still don't have internet at my new apartment. It's coming this week.

lack of internet certainly has presented a few posting challenges, but I think I've managed to conquer them pretty well.

so...I'm sitting here in Sarah's precious little house, which is currently full of toys and children and noise and television, and adult conversation, and baby cooing. and it is the most blissful cacophony of beautiful noise.

because it is love. surrounding, encompassing, down-to-earth, unconditional. love. her house is always filled with love.

I met Sarah when I went back to college at age 28. she was 18. we hit it off almost immediately. actually, we hit it off when I chose her for my interview partner in our journalism class.

she had super short, hot pink hair, gauges in her ears, tattoos...and I knew she was the one person in the class I really wanted to know.

after that we were pretty much inseparable. Long-lost sisters. so much so that people think we actually share familial blood.

sometimes, we're lucky enough to find those people who are "family" without being blood. and that makes us pretty lucky.

Prompt #95: Write about family. chosen or born to.

a quote is a quote is a quote...but if it inspires...it is bliss

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. ~ Mark Twain

Find your greatness.  embrace your greatness. never let anyone squash your dream.

go. go. go!

Prompt #94: What did you write this past week? what are you going to write this week? Find a publication for it...submit your work. be brave. be unafraid. Go!

Bravery

 Lately, several of the bloggers I follow have opened up to the webiverse. Deep, dark secrets and pains that have received amazing response and encouragement...solidarity. 

It's been incredible to be a part of it...even just as a reader. Because the bravery it takes to show the world what lies beneath your skin...is massive.

I've been learning, over these past couple years, to be a bit braver.

It's a daily process for someone like me. I grew up solving my own problems. harbouring my secrets. running through my own scenarios in my mind until I'd resolved my issues. I internalise. Keep it close to the vest.

But the thing is, we all have pain. something hurt us. someone hurt us. we hurt ourselves.

so, taking the blogiverse...this personal, world-wide diary, and using it to reach out...to blast through our boundaries...that's beautiful. Because in telling, we heal. in sharing, we find kindred spirits. and in saying "I hurt" we can start finding the tools to heal.

I'm getting there slowly. I still push the bullshit into the shadows. but I'm getting there.

I hurt. step one.

Prompt #93: Write about that thing you've been afraid to write about.

Red Dresses

I'm totally and completely head over heels for The Bloggess.

so much so, that it's not enough to write about her on my other blog, I feel I also need to share her here.

This woman is so...awesome! she is inspiring. uplifting. brave. witty. crazy. passionate. and wicked cool.

She gets an idea...blogs about it, and these ideas take off! fly into the upper atmosphere and clear out into space.

you must go read all about the Traveling Red Dress. if you're not totally amazed and at least a wee bit inspired, I'm sorry, but you are a dullard and you have no soul.

I'm kidding, you're not soulless.

but truly, this is one of those reminders that there is GOOD in the world. and after scrolling through the news headlines day after day, headlines that are full of tragedy and bad news, it's nice to have a ray of sunshine.

Prompt #92: What is your red dress?

It's a popcorn prompt...

I'm a fan of the popcorn prompt.

take 5 or 6 random words and create a poem from them. I've done several works this way before...it's a good way to stoke those creative fires when you're a wee bit stumped.

so today...

Prompt #91: write a poem (story, essay, or whatever suits your fancy, using the following words:  Pragmatic. Flock. Doorway. Spice. Simple. Lonely.

A quick prompt...

My step-father is headed into emergency surgery. My mind is a little bit elsewhere. 

**update 1.17.12: They chose to delay surgery - but have not totally ruled it out. They kept him overnight for observation and are running more tests today. pokes, prods, swallow this pill, dye injections. fun stuff. (not)

Prompt #90: Use the following as the first line of a poem, essay, short story, etc...
"The last time the sky was this shade of grey..."

Ode to Wine

So I love wine. and today I stumbled upon this lovely little Ode in praise of wine - which then compares wine to love, and I thought "perfect! this is my prompt today!" But first, I have to share the Ode with you.

Ode To Wine
by Pablo Neruda

Day-colored wine,
night-colored wine,
wine with purple feet
or wine with topaz blood,
wine,
starry child
of earth,
wine, smooth
as a golden sword,
soft
as lascivious velvet,
wine, spiral-seashelled
and full of wonder,
amorous,
marine;
never has one goblet contained you,
one song, one man,
you are choral, gregarious,
at the least, you must be shared.
At times
you feed on mortal
memories;
your wave carries us
from tomb to tomb,
stonecutter of icy sepulchers,
and we weep
transitory tears;
your
glorious
spring dress
is different,
blood rises through the shoots,
wind incites the day,
nothing is left
of your immutable soul.
Wine
stirs the spring, happiness
bursts through the earth like a plant,
walls crumble,
and rocky cliffs,
chasms close,
as song is born.
A jug of wine, and thou beside me
in the wilderness,
sang the ancient poet.
Let the wine pitcher
add to the kiss of love its own.

My darling, suddenly
the line of your hip
becomes the brimming curve
of the wine goblet,
your breast is the grape cluster,
your nipples are the grapes,
the gleam of spirits lights your hair,
and your navel is a chaste seal
stamped on the vessel of your belly,
your love an inexhaustible
cascade of wine,
light that illuminates my senses,
the earthly splendor of life.

But you are more than love,
the fiery kiss,
the heat of fire,
more than the wine of life;
you are
the community of man,
translucency,
chorus of discipline,
abundance of flowers.
I like on the table,
when we're speaking,
the light of a bottle
of intelligent wine.
Drink it,
and remember in every
drop of gold,
in every topaz glass,
in every purple ladle,
that autumn labored
to fill the vessel with wine;
and in the ritual of his office,
let the simple man remember
to think of the soil and of his duty,
to propagate the canticle of the wine. 

Prompt #89: Write an ode to one of your favourite things

365 days...

So wow! I'm doing it.

I started my new project.

Things I Love - 365 days

check it out. if you will.  

Prompt #88: Be doing what you love. If you're not...make some changes. We should all do what we love.