Asleep on the Beach

Asleep on the beach. Madras, India

 

In 1992 Compassion International, the Christian humanitarian organization, asked me to go the Orient to document some of their work with sponsored children. Accompanying me on the trip was Doug LeBlanc, the editor of Compassion Magazine and the one who actually selected me for the assignment.

Doug and I have remained friends through the years, although our paths don't cross. We stay in touch by way of occasional emails, Christmas letters, and the like. He tells me he reads this blog.

We spent about two weeks in Madras, India, a week in Seoul, South Korea, and had a one-day layover in Singapore.

I had some free time in Madras, which I used to roam around the city and photograph the people. One morning I got up early, hailed one of the little three-wheeled taxis that swarm the streets, and headed for the beach.

I don't much like rising early, but that's when I often find my best pictures. There's a different, softer quality of light, a calm freshness in the air, and both people and nature seem more relaxed and approachable. On the city beach the pictures come early or not at all, because the fisherman launch their boats through the surf at first light and head out to sea.

I found this person apparently sound asleep on the beach. I've always thought if was a woman, but I really don't know, nor do I know why he or she was sleeping there. The person looked comfortable, so I quietly made the photograph with my Olympus OM2n (an especially quiet camera) and a 35mm f2 Zuiko lens on Fujichrome film and moved on.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone

My book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

What's Happening with the Jenkins?

Louise and David Jenkins and Georgia

 

This past Monday, July 11th, marked 18 months of full-time RV living for us. It has been a mixed bag, but mostly good.

On January 11th, 2021, the sale of the home we built and where we lived for 27 years was complete except for signing the final papers and we had to get out of the way for the estate sale people to do their thing. Instead of renting or buying a smaller house or an apartment, we bought an RV, a fifth-wheel trailer, and moved into it at a campground near Chattanooga because we didn't know where we wanted to settle for the final phase of our lives. (We still don't know.)

There are two aspects to being full-time RVers. One is living; the other is traveling. Living in our RV has been great. We are extremely comfortable. There's just enough room for us, but not enough that we can allow ourselves to continue our clutter-bugging habits.

On the other hand, we haven't been able to travel as much as we had hoped, primarily because of health issues. When we first moved into our RV, Louise was in a great deal of pain and we knew that she was going to need two surgeries in the coming months: one to fuse vertebrae in her neck, the other to fuse vertebrae in her lower back. Both of those surgeries went well, and by July, 2021 we were able to travel around Georgia to work on the second edition of Backroads and Byways of Georgia (which is finally finished and in the hands of the publisher), and also went to Florida last fall for a few weeks.

We were scheduled to go to Florida for the winter, but while we stopped over in Chattanooga for a few days in early January, Louise fell and broke her hip. We didn't get to Florida until March 1st, but spent two months there, at two different campgrounds.

The night we arrived back at our campground near Knoxville in early May, Louise fell off the steps of the RV and had to be taken by ambulance to an emergency room. Tests showed nothing broken, but she was shaken up and sore. She fell again last week, but not as far, and skinned her arm. Meanwhile, she is seeing a doctor about her hiatal hernia and I had my pacemaker replaced yesterday, July 12. I guess this is what we get for getting older. We shoulda stayed young.

On the day you read this we plan to move to a campground at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for two weeks. We plan to go to southern Indiana on August 2nd for the Jenkins Family Reunion at Spring Mill State Park, and after that we're not sure what we will do. We would like to go to South Dakota, Montana, and Yellowstone, but the price of diesel fuel in Mr. Biden's economy is very, very scary. There's also talk of rationing.

Please notice that when we talk about our plans we are very conscious of the old Jewish saying "Man plans; God laughs!"

In any case, we are scheduled to return to the Escapees campground near Knoxville October through December, followed by January through March in Florida.  We consider Knoxville our base for now, since we spend more time there than anywhere else. We greatly enjoy being near our son Don and his family, and we especially enjoy attending Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church (EPC).

So, what does the future hold for us? God will give us clarity in his own time and way. Meanwhile, we want to enjoy to the fullest each day as it comes.

The Rig. Ready to roll.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone

My book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

The Old Mill in Cades Cove

Probably few mills anywhere have been photographed

as many times as the Cable Mill in Cades Cove.

 

The John P. Cable grist mill in the Cades Cove area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was built around 1867 and although it was restored in the 1930s it is still mostly original. It is the only survivor of the six or seven mills that over the years ground grain for the settlers of the Cove.

We were in Cades Cove on a day trip a few weeks ago; the first time we had been there since 2015 when we spent a few days looking for a bear for Louise. You can read about our most recent trip here.

The Cable Mill, along with the Visitor's Center and the Gregg-Cable House, built in 1879 as the first frame house in the Cove, are at the east end of the valley, about halfway along the Loop Road.

As one of the most popular features in the Cove, the mill has no doubt been photographed many millions of times, including a good number of photos made by me on previous trips. Many of those millions of photos are probably better than this one of mine from our most recent trip, but I'm sure there are some that are far worse; so I offer it with no apologies. It's an old mill; I photograph old mills. So here you are.

The mill photo was made with a Fujifilm X-T20 camera and the Fujinon XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OIS-II lens. Light, precise, and a great carry-around combo.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone

My book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

 

Cades Cove Barn

Sunset light outlines the old logs of the Tipton cantilever

barn in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

 

Since I lived in the northwest Georgia/southeast Tennessee area for many years, I've had abundant opportunities to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My favorite part of the park has always been Cades Cove, a remote valley completely surrounded by mountains.

In the Cove are preserved the homesteads, churches, and other testimonials to the way of life of the East Tennessee mountain people who once made the valley their home. An eleven-mile loop road encircles the broad, green floor of the Cove, much of which is still being farmed. The valley also has many hiking trails and a large campground.

I normally have an excellent sense of direction, but Cades Cove has always been counter-intuitive for me. The valley runs east-west and is entered from the north. When I'm there I invariably feel that east is west and vice-versa. (Actually, that kind of thing happens to me more in the Smokies than anywhere else.)

Approximately three-fourths of the way around the Loop is the historic Tipton farmstead, with its cantilevered barn. An unique design found only in a small area of East Tennessee, the barn features a large second story, or loft, supported by a first story formed by two cribs. The overhang provided a place to store crops out of the area's abundant rainfall and also a shelter for cattle and horses.

The photograph was made with a Hasselblad 500CM camera, 80mm Zeiss lens, and Fujichrome film.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone

My book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.