I'm sad...are you...

The other day in our local paper, I was stunned by this article...local man helps economy by hiring workers...he started his family farm with a dozen sows and now has 5000...yup, you heard me right!

This is how 5000 sows and their offspring live their short lives...so you can have your sausage and egg McMuffins...however they forget to tell you about the pollution these factory farms create and how many small family farms they put out of business. This meat is also unhealthy compared to farm-raised pork, the amount of stress put on these animal directly effects the standard of the meat...oh, don't let your local butcher tell you that all his cows eat is corn and it's the best meat...HELLO...cows are herbivores...they eat grass...try it, the taste is totally different and far leaner...you are being deceived by the beef growers of America...imagine that!

I don't eat pork, but millions do, how can you look at this picture with a clear conscience...I can't...

Yup...it's your Egg McMuffin again...buy local, from family farms, help support struggling family farms and fight to rid us of these Guantanamo's of the farmyard...oh and another juicy tidbit...did you know that chicken droppings are fed to cows in feedlots of factory farms...just thought you'd like to know...!

Just Google factory farms if you wanna ruin your day!
Buy local, it'll make your day...get to know your family farmer
you won't regret!

A Misty Maun...

“This benefit of seeing... can come only if you pause a while, extricate yourself from the maddening mob of quick impressions ceaselessly battering our lives, and look thoughtfully at a quiet image... the viewer must be willing to pause, to look again, to meditate.”


I borrowed this wonderful comment from Patty over at Crisfield Maryland, a retired photographer, she has the eye that many of us strive to achieve.

A misty morn on a hometown riverfront caught my eye...I'm frequently seen standing in the mists taking shots of my ol' man river...the Mighty Miss...the Mighty Muddy...now so polluted from industrial and farm run-off, the fish we used to love catching are no longer fit to eat, the shores now littered with used diapers and pop cans...how did we get so uncaring...?

We need to stop bickering about health care insurance and what a new president hasn't done, considering the load of crap he inherited and start believing in the real issue...global warming...what difference will it make to a dead and dieing planet...

Think green and think organic, it's the only way to save my view of this majestic river...click to enlarge and be there in the moment...

The Changling Seasons...Sister's Garden

Yes...it's getting close...the season of lights and sparkle and Sisters does it up right...

Shadow Shot Sunday...This is for the Birds...

As I watch
the determined flock
flutter back
again
and again
each new intruder
parting this black sea
again
the tides
flow back
fear envelops
as I approach
the shadowed
corridor of
undulating
whirligigs
I hear
the calls of
frenzy
beckoning all
back again
and again
this was surreal
did I really
enter a whirlpool
of apocalyptic
avian demons
riding death wishes
to be hood
ornaments
what lies beyond
as the tides
returned
in my rear view mirror
again and
again

s.wilson

Shadow Shooter wannabees go here...fun lies just ahead...

The sounds of nostalgia...

A city tries to put a feeling of 'olden days' back into it's busy lifestyle... now we can hear the clip clop of hooves, as a surrey shuttles giddy passengers up and down the streets of downtown Muscatine. The beautiful draft horses prance in unison, where trolley cars delivered their passengers all over a once bustling city.

A busy river port was the scene, back in the day, as passengers and product flowed up and down her course day after day...back in the day...as the whistle of an arriving river boat stirred curiosity from the locals. Bits of these nostalgic scenes are trying to show their past splendors on the weekends...BUT...as with every city, there are always those that have to hover like a black cloud over a parade...

Some have complained that the hooves and wheels of the horses and buggy are scuffing the asphalt...white scuff marks leave ghostly paths and hints of the trail left by the weighty beasts...WHY!!! There is always someone living under that dark cloud of doom that wants to ruin the parade for everyone else.

Our beautiful, historic downtown is a ghost of it's past splendor. Slum apartments, owned by deadbeat landlords, have brought in the bad elements that wander the streets, making it uneasy for older generations to safely walk the streets. They take up parking space needed for retail, leave their trash everywhere and allow their kids to run wild.

Typical of so many downtowns, but maybe the economy will do a turnaround and bring life back to this beautiful old downtown of my youth...we have elections coming up, maybe bringing in the new and out with the old will help.

Black is the new white...

...well, for some anyway...but some pieces just scream BLACK...like this wonderful dresser/buffet...isn't it gorgeous!!! It's being displayed at Grasshoppers...SOLD!!!

...this is a marriage of two pieces, a cutoff 'possum belly' and a hutch top...possibilities are endless for either piece...

Bow fronts are always a fave in my book and black brings in the Pzazz...

A wonderful gentleman's chest....all are featured at Grasshoppers...so come this weekend for the festivities...hope the snows stay away...

Don't be a Scaredy Pants...

The mummies are on parade in LeClaire Iowa, as the Fall Market days and Apple Fest takes place this weekend. My daughter and Lori R. will be setting up outside the barn at Grasshoppers, where Lorie C. and I have our antiques set up.

If you wanna see the rest of the stuff, go here to Friend's Candle Shed. Piper and Lorie have been busy all month making birdhouses and stained glass beauties for your pleasure...check out Lorie R's stuff here...

If you have nuttin' to do this weekend, come join the festivities long side the Mighty Mississippi River, the leaves are turnin' and beauty is all around...Happy Fall all...

Puppy love...ARGH................

Have you ever tried to take a closeup picture of a puppy...well this is Rorie's debut...he's a yorkie-poo and full of 'IT'...to the brim...never a dull moment training a pup to sit still on the grooming table...however Rorie was well behaved, sat fairly still and made me laugh!

How 'bout them ears...just a small part of his charm...

TA DA....finally...

Maddy before...

Maddy, another poodle mix glowing with pet pride...what would we do without our furry heathens...be less whole I guess, I know for me, my life would have fewer belly laughs and Kodak moments without my terrorist terrier Scratchy...how 'bout you...

Shadow Shot Sunday...Sweet Kate...

frosty morns
fading warmth
seeking solice
seasons close
and winter winds
wind weary paths
through shaded screens
of solstice past

my tour is closed
my guests have gone
all is silent
and turned to brown
the hush awaits
my Gypsy wing
'tis time to sleep
yet one more thing...

have you seen my Katydid
sweet Kate?


s.wilson


Shadow Shooters again rally 'round Hey Harriet for some good ol' fun, go here to see the rest of the clan.

Thanks Tracy for opening up a whole new world of artistic creativity and vision...as I enjoyed the last bit of Indian summer with opened windows letting in fragments of heat, I spied this Katydid grasshopper sunning herself on my screen, what a sweet last moment of life before the frosts nip it away...remind me again why we live in the North country...

Have a great weekend all!!!

Where are they now...the 2 Kewpies...

...just some shots of the space we're in at The Noe Haus, Amana, Iowa...let the drooling begin...