Greetings (And An Update!) from Dave's Granddaughter

Hello, dear readers, my name is Jennifer. I'm one of Dave Jenkins' two best granddaughters, as he often tells me. I happen to be the red-haired one with five children who farms the lands he used to own in McLemore Cove, which he's shared quite a bit about here. His other granddaughter is a trained ballerina and soon-to-be medical school student!

My grandpa loves this blog and you, his readers and friends, so he asked me to share an update. I’ve actually been working with my grandpa for a while on his blog and print shop, so it was an honor to be asked to author a post, too.

If only it were under better circumstances.

Let me assure you: contrary to the title of his last post, he is not obsolete. However, he might feel like it at the moment, as he’s currently recovering from complications related to his fractured vertebrae, which he wrote about a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, things got worse before they got better, and he was admitted to the hospital—hence, the lapse in blog posts.

The good news is that he quickly improved again in the hospital and was moved to a rehabilitation center, where he'll stay for several more weeks. The plan is to make sure his back heals properly and that he gets the physical therapy necessary to get him back on his feet—literally.

He’s still unable to sit up much, so he probably won’t be blogging again anytime soon, but we’ll see if we can come up with some content I can post. I visited him last weekend, and although I hate to see him in pain, I enjoyed talking with him as I always do. His back might be broken, but his sense of humor is still intact! He managed to tease the nurse, tell me he’s proud of me, and finish his favorite strawberry milkshake. We even discussed one of our ongoing projects together: getting some of his books republished.

So, again, he’s not obsolete. Not even close. We’ll keep working on this blog and other projects together, and if any of you can recommend an interested publisher or self-publishing platform that allows for a hardcover wide-format book, please let me know. You can reach me at jenny@peachesandpotatoes.com.

I’m also going to be answering comments, so if you have a message for Dave, please leave a comment below and I’ll make sure he sees it!

About the photo:

This has always been one of my favorite shots by my grandpa. It’s also the photo that serves as the background for this blog, as you can probably tell. So here’s your chance to see it in detail! 

Coincidentally, there’s a photo of this exact same spot in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park hanging on the wall in the room where my grandpa’s staying. (It’s actually not far from there—only a little over an hour.) However, at first it was almost unrecognizable as the same place because the colors were so oversaturated and darkened to make the photo look more dramatic. 

I think this shot by my grandpa is worlds better. Tranquil. Transcendent. And much better suited for a place of healing, if you ask me. Hey, maybe there’s a market for that—fine art prints for medical and office buildings. That might be our next project.

I Am Obsolete!

Obsolete and abandoned, but still beautiful. 1937 Hudson Terraplane.

 A few months ago I logged onto the web site of one of my credit card companies, only to be informed that I could not access the site because my computer's operating system was out of date.

A little background: In 1993 or '94, around the time we built our house, we got our first computers -- a desktop, and a neat little Toshiba laptop that I really liked and used to write the text of the the Rock City Barns book. It was eventually stolen.

 Over the years we went through machines from several different manufacturers and used successive versions of Microsoft software. In 2009, Windows 7 came along and I really liked it -- so much so that as Windows 8, 9, etc. came along, I looked at them and said "No way. Too complicated to fool with.

I got my first digital camera in 2003 -- a Canon EOS 10D -- and began to teach myself Photoshop. It seems as if I have done nothing since then but learn software, and I am heartily sick of it. When Photoshop went to a subscription model, I stayed with CS2. It costs me nothing and does everything I need to do. For sorting files I use a version of ACDSEE that is at least 15 years old. I'm writing this on a 2003 version of Microsoft Outlook.

My computer is a Lenovo laptop at least 12 years old, running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit upgraded with a 1000 gigabyte hard drive. I need to upgrade again to three terabytes. 

As I've frequently preached on this blog, photography does not have to be complicated nor expensive. With my antiquated computer equipment, plus my eight-year-old Fuji X-T3 and nine-year-old X-T20, I can do 99% of everything I'll ever want to do.

And have fun doing it. I may be obsolete, but don't bury me quite yet.

About the photo: I found this lovely old car in a patch of woods alongside State Highway 158 near Silverville in Lawrence County, Indiana. Although we are the same age, the Hudson appears to have had a more difficult life. At least, I still have my wheels, although they don't work as well as they used to. The picture was made with an Olympus E-M5 digital camera.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photographs and text copyright 2026 David B. Jenkins. I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     digital  photography   travel photography     Olympus E-M5 digital camera     Silverville, Indiana    old/abandoned cars     Hudson Terraplane     Windows 7     Lenovo computers    Photoshop CS2     ACDSEE

My Overhaul Got Derailed!

 

RCB-TN-57-B, West of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.

Warning to first-time visitors: If you haven't visited my blog before, I suggest you read some of my older posts first to get a true sense of what the blog is about. Because today's post is a downer. Here's a good place to start.

If you're still with me, and you don't have delicate sensibilities, let me bring you up to date. My last post was on August 10. On August 12, I lost my balance in our bedroom, my foot got caught in the carpet, and I fell heavily. A trip to the emergency room confirmed the bad news — I had a compression fracture of a vertebrae. T-11, to be specific. 

The pain was not much fun, so I began wearing a back brace and taking pain medication (tramidol), and in seven or eight days found myself with an impacted intestine. As in blocked. As in I had to drink a gallon of that vile bowel prep solution to get myself unplugged.

So, I switched to oxycodone. and in about a week found myself plugged again. I hadn't realized that all narcotics have that effect. So, back to the vile bowel prep. Nowadays I'm making do with Tylenol and Ibuprofen and gradually getting better. I should also mention that in the midst of the fun and games with bowel obstruction, I developed a hernia.

Healing is a slow process. I haven't been writing because I can't sit at my computer for more than a few minutes at a time, and also because I've been having some general brain fog. But I'm slowly trying to work myself back into the groove. 

Still ahead are an aortic valve replacement sometime this fall, and an angioplasty to open up the arteries in my left leg. Also, possible surgery to repair the hernia. And many, many hours of physical therapy.

So that's the story. Unless something else happens.

About the photo: The building behind the old truck is Rock City barn TN-57. The old farmer who owned the place told me that he pulled out of his driveway onto the highway one day and was promptly smacked by a passing car. He reversed back into his driveway, parked the truck, threw away the keys, and never drove again. Canon EOS A2 camera, Fujichrome 100D film.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photographs and text copyright David B. Jenkins. I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography    Rock City Barn photography     Canon EOS A2 film camera     Fujichrome 100D film    old/abandoned cars     senior health issues

I'm Getting Overhauled!

Abandoned Corvair, Sunbury, Georgia.

I've been blessed with pretty robust health for most of my life. In fact, I was doing okay at age 87 until I had a bad fall while going down into a canyon to photograph Potter's Falls near Wartburg, Tennessee. (You can read about it here.) That cost me some walking mobility, and things have been moving slowly downhill since then.

I haven't been writing much lately because, frankly, I haven't been feeling great. I've been lethargic and unmotivated. I think what I need is an overhaul!

Around the end of World War II, while I was still a child, my father owned a 1937 Chevrolet which he drove to work every day -- a 75-mile round trip. After about 60,000 miles the car would need new valves and  piston rings, and maybe some bearings -- what we called an overhaul. Dad, a man of boundless energy and many abilities, would  park the car in my grandmother's garage and do the work himself.

Fortunately, I have somewhat more than 60,000 miles on my odometer, but the time has finally come for an overhaul.

About five weeks ago, I had an angioplasty in my right leg to clear out the arteries and improve circulation. The left leg will get its turn in a few weeks. Two weeks ago I had surgery to remove parts of the large and third toes on my right foot. They had become infected and the infection had reached the bone.

Today I am having a heart catheterization as a prelude to an aortic valve replacement. And Friday, I am having a small skin cancer removed from my chest. Who knows what may be next?

So I'm getting overhauled. I hope the doctors are as skilled as my father. Maybe I can get another ten years out of this overhaul! 

Of course, if I were still a kid and Dad were still around, he would take off his belt and solve my motivation problems very quickly.

The Picture: Abandoned Chevrolet Corvair at Sunbury, on the Georgia coast. Photographed with a Canon EOS 20D digital camera.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photographs and text copyright David B. Jenkins. I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     digital photography    travel photography     Canon EOS 20D digital camera    Georgia    Sunbury     Georgia coast     old/abandoned cars     Chevrolet Corvair