End of the Week Musings

The following photos were taken

when I headed out past our small but excellent hospital

into the countryside that borders that edge of town.

I went west far enough that I crossed over the Belmont County line

into Guernsey County which made me a bit nervous

as I was uncertain where I would end up.

However I persevered, stopping to snap shots of whatever 'caught my fancy'.

I am intrigued by vine, brush, and wood piles such as this.

I imagine the hidden treasures within.

Can you imagine what Beatrix Potter would do with such a scene?

I have been on my own for the past two days as hubby is on a business trip.

I had the TV and the living room to myself--a rarity.

I 'seized the moment' to indulge in a chic flick:

the movie about Beatrix Potter starring Renee Zellweger.

It's titled Miss Potter.

It also stars Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson,

who are both as delightful as Zelwiger.

I imagine most of you know that she's the author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit,

the naughty little boy rabbit who did not heed his mother's warning,

but instead headed straight into Mr. McGregor's garden.

I imagine the area in these photos, complete with an old fence hidden in its tangles,

could house a whole village of Beatrix's whimsical animal characters.

Peter Rabbit was actually a pet rabbit that belonged to her and her brother

as did another bunny character,mice, and others. 

Beatrix lived in London, but her folks would take the family

to spend summers in Scotland and also in the Lake District of northern England.

She and her brother would roam the countryside where her imagination would thrive.

She later bought a working farm complete with a lovely old house

and she kept on the workers and maintained its status as a working farm.

This was when farms in the district were being eyed by greedy developers.

There is a scene in the movie where she outbids one such developer

much to his anger.

He instructs her solicitor to control her better.

Renee Z. does an excellent job of playing Beatrix

who, having achieved with her books an independence and wealth

unimaginable by most women of that time period, 

 informs the developer that she is under no one's control.

(A bit of an early feminist was Beatrix--definitely a woman ahead of her time.)

Thanks to B. Potter 4,000 acres of Lake District land was saved from developers

and donated to the National Trust of England

upon her death.

You see, she kept buying up the farms around her

as farmers gave up,

and she worked at finding new ways to keep the farms thriving.

She continued to write and publish books which were the foundation

that supported her and her environmental concerns.

I am giving a loose recap of some of the info from the movie

and the two brief documentaries that accompanied it on the DVD.

I am a B. Potter fan, especially of her illustrations,

so I ordered the movie from Netflix.

I recommend it to anyone who enjoys her books and also enjoys that type of movie.

It was delightful, although there are some sad parts.

Moving on in my musings:

Having turned around, I was headed back into Barnesville when I spotted a home

far out in the distance and a ghost of a road leading to it.

I came upon the entrance to that road

and stopped for two quick shots.

I am fascinated by how folks end up out in the middle of 'nowhere'.

How do they find such places?

They have to be organized or else they have some disappointments

when they go to make a dish or a baking recipe

and find the kitchen bare of milk or eggs or a much needed seasoning, etc.

I do appreciate the proximity of a neighbor when I need some assistance in that area

and don't want to run to the store.

In the above case, the store would be a good twenty minutes or more

with a good portion over gravel roads.

Next:

Why is it that though an abandoned car makes me shudder,

I will pull over and immortalize abandoned farm machinery?

I zoomed in on this relic and came up with what is almost a piece of art.

(Of course art, like many things in life, are in the eye of the beholder).

Next:

This shot reminds me of the forest in the movie The Last of the Mohicans.

When taking drives through the countryside and peering down into densely wooded areas,

I often ponder how the Indians felt treading this hallowed ground.

I muse on how the early frontiersmen, pioneers, and settlers

had to be filled to the brim with a combination of awe and fear

when seeing America's wilderness for the first time.

Last:

I will leave you with this photo of our early blooming trees

and a wisp of road leading out to yet another homestead

snuggled in the hills with only animals for neighbors.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.