What I saw - Bernheim Forest

Kentucky native vine

Art Installation - Bernheim Arboretum

The Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest is a located in the Knobs section of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  The Arboretum was the gift of Isaac W. Bernheim.  Mr. Bernheim immigrated to the United States from Germany.  He and his younger brother established a beverage distillery in Paducah in 1872.  Later they moved their operation to Louisville.  The statue of Thomas Jefferson at the Jefferson County Courthouse is a gift of Isaac Bernheim.

Though his works in Kentucky have been appreciated in the Commonwealth he also was associated with Colorado.  In the 1920s he moved to Denver, Colorado.

The Arboretum site was reclaimed from a heavily cut over area.  That area had salt production and iron production during the 1800s.  Both of these products used wood for fuel in their production.  Most of the trees were cut to accumulate wood for the industries. Many different trees live at the Arboretum. The site is privately owned and is open for visitors to see the trees of the Arboretum.

Leaves extending

 

Cedars in deciduous forest, Marion County, Kentucky

Green leaves extending from forest trees, Marion County, Kentucky

 

 

 

Normally in Kentucky the branches of deciduous trees become alive with new leaves growing along the branches in the month of April. The grass, vines and bushes produce new green leaves.

Flood Waters

Swift Water -Floyd's Fork

Flood water  - Floyd's Fork

During the week before Easter severe thunderstorms hit the Louisville area.  Flood waters caused extensive damage.  The power of the rushing water was heard for days. 

What I saw - Smoke Over Louisville




GE Appliance Park

This smoke from a fire at GE Appliance Park was visable around the city.

What I saw - West Point

Water cascading over the creek bed - Fort Duffield, KY

Wildflowers in bloom - Fort Duffield, KY 

A wooded area has been set aside for historic preservation along Highway 31W at West Point.  The U.S. army constructed a fort there during the American Civil War.  The high area where the fort was located could have controlled a large area of the surrounding land.  The fort and the area of  surrounding land was never attacked during the American Civil War.  The winter of 1862 was a harsh winter.  Some of the soldiers in garrison died of their illnesses during that winter.  There is a listing of deaths and the illness for each decedent if known posted at the park.

It is springtime in Kentucky.  There are numerous flowers in bloom along the streams in this historic park.

The quiet beauty of the flowers stands against the loss that occurred at Fort Duffield. The area speaks of healing.

The attraction of the mountain

Forest - Early Morning Light - Dale Hollow Lake SRP

Warren Macdonald was so drawn to the attraction of walking in nature that he kept going to remote places.  When a huge rock fell on him he lost both lower legs in the post accident surgery.  And after learning to use a prosthesis for each leg he returned to the outdoors.  He returned to walking to summits in less than twelve months from his accident.

Misquoted

Cathedral of the Assumption Marker capped with snow

"First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they attack you. Then you win."

This wonderful thought is attributed to Gandhi.  But a study of the record shows no evidence that Gandhi ever said this.  Gandhi did show perseverance in his work. 

"First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you. And that, is what is going to happen to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America."

Research shows that Nicholas Klein said this in 1918 in Baltimore, Maryland.

The takeaway is when you are moving uphill you may be just short of a breakout.  So walk on!

Your life's purpose

Walk Signal capped with snow.

As you walk you consider your happiness or your suffering. Or perhaps some of both.  You consider others around you that you know.

You know something about what you do.  You know who you do it for.  You know what you do well.
You know how others change because of what you teach other people.

The life which is unexamined is not worth living.
Socrates

I appreciate

Morning Mist - Forest- Dale Hollow Lake SRP

"Our real journey in life is interior."
Thomas Merton

"Contemplation is not and cannot be a function of the external self.
There is an irreducible opposition between the deep transcendent self that awakens
only in contemplation and the superficial, external self which we commonly identify with
the first person singular."
Thomas Merton

"If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what
I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am
living for, in detail ask me what I think is keeping me from living
fully for the thing I want to live for."
Thomas Merton

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.”
― Wendell Berry

Now comes the opportunity. Walk. Practice sitting appreciation. Practice walking appreciation. Your breath fuels your heart.  Let your feet walk peacefully on the land.   Hear the notes in the trees.