High Saturation

A family gathering in front of the homestead

Little did I know when my friend Carol told me about her husband’s family homestead that it would be a photographer’s dream!

Carol’s husband’s ancestors were among the first founders of Bethania, a Moravian settlement on the outskirts of Winston-Salem.  The Moravians tried unsuccessfully to settle in Georgia first, and  then moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,  along with settlements in New Jersey and Maryland. In 1753, the first North Carolina settlement was established in Bethabara, followed by Bethania and Salem. The skeleton of  the city of Winston-Salem was laid out.

The family history is fascinating. After settling in as a miller, Carol’s husband’s ancestor built a gristmill near Muddy Creek, a part of Forsyth county. Later on, in the 1800s, a fever epidemic caused him to drain his pond to please his neighbors! One William Leinbach moved to the property from nearby Salem and built a new log home, which is part of what still remains of the property. There must have been a wedding involved here. The family farm was built on a raised hill, above what was a familiar landmark in town for years and years, a farm tools company.

I am currently enrolled in a photography portfolio class at Better Photo. My teacher, William Neill, is an inspiring instructor and famous photographer. He won’t allow his students to be complacent, and old pictures just don’t meet his approval. Originally I had considered building a portfolio either of shots of the Blue Ridge or of the coast of North Carolina. This is not the winter to be going back to add to the portfolio. Last time I checked, most of the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed due to snow and other weather. The coast is even getting snow this weekend! So…a local theme just evolved.

I have visited the farm three times in the past 3 weeks,  originally as the first flakes were starting of the “big snow.”  It was a cold Friday afternoon after school. The next morning I raced to my car at dawn, envisioning fantastic shots in the newly fallen snow. After realizing how dangerous the conditions were, I barely made it home, my tail between my legs. It was Monday before I got out again, thanks to a school SNOWDAY! Many of the first shots were my favorites. Just two days ago, Winston-Salem was surprised by a very light dusting of snow, and I went back again. It was magical, perhaps bolstered by a little history lesson from Carol.

I look forward to a warm summer’s night for another visit, this time at sunset.

The remains of the old homestead

The old red barn

Home on the hill

Detail

Homestead and barn in background

Icicles by the barn

Locked forever

From the most recent snow, another angle

As a school teacher, I have plenty of children right at hand. Watermelon wine doesn’t sound too appealing; I tried pomegranate wine once and it was unmemorable. But…old dogs is my specialty. Boy, do we ever have old dogs! Two goofy golden retrievers, each with nagging physical problems.

Lester is 11, and Earl (the girl) is 10. Lester came to us first. He’s named for Lester Flatt. Earl was next, and we overlooked, as much as we could, the fact that she’s a girl! She’s named for Earl Scruggs. Yes, bluegrass is, or used to be a huge part of our collective lives. Her name was obvious to us even before we bought her.

Lester has a very strange skin problem, called granuloma. Granuloma happens when a neurotic dog licks himself incessantly…usually in the middle of the night, preferably while he’s lying on your bed. If you want to be enlightened, do a google search of granuloma. It’s not a cause, but rather,  an affectation. A bad one. Poor Lester used to have the best fur in town. Now he has very little,  and parts of him look like hamburger. It isn’t pretty.

Earl is way too fat. In the summer she’s a total jock, and will swim for hours on end. Last summer, she lost 6 pounds just through athletic pursuits. This winter she’s bulked up with our frozen environment here in North Carolina, and from finishing Lester’s food, which he abandons in preference to licking himself. Earl has $900 designer dog fur. After listening to her pant at night from under her furry self- blanket (while Lester was licking) we decided a week ago to have her shorn, so she now looks like a lab, not a golden. Then we noticed that she had a giant bulge on her under side, a scary sight. A trip to the vet assured us that she isn’t dying, just has a fatty area. The vet said she could have liposuction, for $500, and then a tummy tuck! It isn’t likely. Seriously.

A week ago I had a big photography assignment, and I had lofty ideas of going out and photographing a beautiful red barn in the snow. Problem was, I was tired after Lester’s licking all night and there were accumulated snowflakes. Driving was more treacherous than I could have imagined. All those years living in Buffalo gave me an inflated ego about my snow driving capabilities. It was a day off from school, and I had an idea that the red barn would be perfect with that new blanket of snow. Bad idea. I got stuck at a busy intersection and after 10 minutes of trying to free myself, I crept home, feeling humiliated. It was only 7 AM.

A Family Portrait

For the next 2 days I took pictures of Lester and Earl. Here are just a few. Notice their wonderful masks of white on their muzzles. A man who replaces watch batteries at the mall told me  never to bring all my watches in at the same time. Seems that the batteries will all expire again at about the same time two years later. I worry that both dogs are ageing out at the same rate, and I am already getting sad, but both dogs have had a momentary reprieve. Let summer come!

We’ve been home for a month and a half, but the memory of Geneva has been filling up my hard drive ever since. The city is remarkable in every way: clean, prosperous, and inspiring. I just have to share some shots, despite the fact that it was misty and raining, sometimes quite dramatically. Snow and skiing never worked out during the two weeks in the Jura, but I would go back in a heartbeat. I feel certain that we will in the not too distant future. It must be my Swiss heritage bubbling to the surface.

Ominous skies and rain

Marzipan and chocolate good luck pigs for 2010

Lac Leman

One of the bridges

A Swiss clock

Holiday lights

Surrounding mountains

A five star hotel...or is it 4?

Swiss chocolates

Party lights of Geneva after dark