Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Woodford count courthouse


I love it---the total cost of the original courthouse---$22.50!

I will have to take another walk downtown and get pictures of the courthouse, and other buildings along Main Street, Versailles, KY.

Only in Kentucky---it's pronounced: Ver-sales ,   but the towns in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and in France are Ver-sye. Well, that's your bit of trivia for today.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

A day for Art in the Park


Big Spring Park is at the bottom of the hill, in the center of Versailles, and about 2 blocks away from my house. Here are some random images from a couple of 'passes through' during the day. About 40 local artists and vendor participated. Some of my dolls were included in the stall set up by Joyce and Wendy's Truly Bluegrass Arts and Gift shop.  The doll, 'Art in the Park' was sold in the silent auction at the fundraiser event on Friday evening

 
And now, the photographer takes a little digital  "artistic license"  with this last one. A 'goofed setting' of the camera produced a very bad tint to a mediocre shot, so it was fair game to play around with. I think it captures the mood very well, this way.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Cellophane Wings


I rescued this dragonfly from the cat, who was proud of himself for catching it and not too pleased with me for taking it away. It died anyway, may have been injured before he caught it. It was a big one, nearly 5 inches, wingspan.
I love the 'cellophane' wings.


Not all her eggs in TWO baskets!

I thought you might enjoy this snapshot of Mom gathering eggs, almost 49 years ago. She was 49, at the time. If you remember how many hens they had, please add a comment, and let us know.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Fine Pix Photos



These were taken with a Fuji FinePix S700 (borrowed from Kathy). At first trial, it seems the quality is about equal to, or maybe slightly better than the Canon sx20. It has less telephoto (but enough) and a few less features than the other one, but easier to navigate, and in many ways I like it better. I'm giving it a try.
The columbine was cropped, and sharpened a bit, and resized. The Peonie was resized and sharpened slightly. Not cropped. The bird is cropped from a full zoom telephoto (10x). It lost a little quality, in slightly resizing it.I had already tweaked it to get the best out of it.
I might as well tell you, I was not happy with the image quality of the Canon sx20, and returned it for a refund. I will try out this one, and rethink the selection. May wind up getting an SLR.


Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mothers Day!

Dutch Iris first to open, today, Mothers Day.
These taken with the 'little camera' SD630.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Fauna and Flora

Joy suggest a new blog titled Versailles Flora and Fauna. Hmmmm, that would be a challenge, getting the names of things correct.  I'll just put them here, for now.
Well, actually these first two are Anderson County Farmhouse Fauna.   (hehe)  And the flora below are  in my Versailles front yard. Monday a.m. (May 3rd.) A very dewy, but sunny morning. Total rainfall over the weekend---six and one half inches.  I think that brings the total up to 'normal' for this time of year.
The best photo, Allysum, was taken with the 'little' camera, the rest with the new sx20.  They have been cropped and tweaked and poked and prodded to get the best out of them.

Flooding Salt River



This is the Salt River, in Anderson County, near Lawrenceburg, on May 3rd, after two days of rain, 6 to 8 inches in the area which this river drains: part of central Kentucky, flowing northward to near Lawrenceburg, (here) then west and eventually into the Ohio. It does not flow into the Kentucky River, which at this point is only about 3 miles to the east. Note: the dam is totally overwhelmed. The second photo is a normal flow after light rain. That photo was taken a couple years ago, from a position about in the center of the third and fourth pictures.
Kathy and Barry's 'farm house' property comes down to the road, but the house is well above the river. This picture below, taken 3 years ago, is the view  from an upstairs window. The group of buildings on the right in the photo, are the flooded ones below,and that road was closed (flooded) from this point, as it follows alongside the river for a little ways. Mill Creek Pike, on the left, was ok, at least no warning signs at this point.  That is the Four Roses Distillery in the background. Looking east, toward Versailles, (10 miles)  and Lexington (20 miles).

These old buildings have been standing empty for many years. This is the first time I have seen the water high enough to surround them.
I was surprised by the number of tiny little fish seeking safe areas in the very shallowest waters along the  edges.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

A very Rainy Weekend

After a sunny Wednesday and Thursday, and most of Friday, the rain moved in early Saturday morning,  with a little thunder now and then (nothing bad). Yesterday evening there was 2 inches in the gage. Here's the way it looks at 10 o'clock this morning (Sunday). Still raining lightly, and lots more to come, by the looks of the radar.
Knowing this was going to be the case, the people who were presenting the photo "class" cancelled it. (Bummer!) They plan to re-schedule it in the fall, when the photographer will be in the area for the Breeders Cup, and will be able to stay around, in case of another 'rain-check'. Well, I should be more familiar with the camera by then, huh?