Skip to main content

Worth a thousand words





Sunset - This is the sight I drove towards yesterday evening as I was returning from a full day out wandering my county and taking pictures of community events for the paper.

I may complain about how little I make at my part time paper job, but there is one thing I can honestly say about it - it's days like yesterday...wandering about...talking with people...learning about future, past and present through their eyes..and then being trusted to share it all with others - it truly makes for a full life of living, rather than just existing.....

Here is a glimpse into my day yesterday....




The day started with a trip over to the Labor Day Fly-In at the Mauston-New Lisbon Airport..an annual event that always gathers a crowd - A little airport nestled between corn fields comes alive with planes, an auto show, vendors and much more..




planes

Kyle drooling over cars...


Community coming together...

Next on my list to cover was the 2nd Annual Potluck at Stewarts Chapel ..just outside of Mauston ...again, in the middle of farms and cornfields. Going to this event for the Juneau County Historical Society always is like stepping back into time..many of the people who attend have lived in the area their entire lives, and have ancestors who built the area into what it is...many stories...many memories..and what Justin loves most about the event - lots of free food!



Rich in history...





Just imagine how many stories are contained within those walls..


Memories shared....



Food expressing the sense of community....



Simple beauty of the past...


After taking my leave from the potluck I returned home for a bit and then headed out later in the day for yet another celebration of community. One where yet again memories of loved ones were being shared, but this time those memories and the gathering was an effort to make a future brighter for someone with cancer, and their families...



Two days filled with kickball, games, beer, food, music and community...



However, it's those balloons where the real meaning of the gathering takes place...each one is in honor of someone who has either passed away or survived cancer...

And then..it was after this that I returned home and on my way saw...

The exclamation point to a beautiful day!






















Comments

Popular posts from this blog

History Shrouded in Mold - Part 1

  Sipping my morning coffee I sit on my bed looking out almost century old windows and into the backyards of my neighbors. This morning was no different. The sky is grey and there is a slight chill in the air, reminding me that outside that glass is another world filled with life and adventure, stories to tell and lessons to be learned...knowledge to be gained. In other words, hope.  That sentiment brings back the emotions I felt as a little girl. Then, I sat on my bed looking out the massive Victorian era windows of the 3rd floor apartment we called home. It was in the mid 70s -Evanston, Illinois. I loved being able to see into the green of the trees that lined our street. Between the leaves and branches was another world playing out before my eyes. The birds, the squirrels and sometimes even a stray cat - they lived out a day in their life without ever knowing they had an audience taking in their story.  I would spend a lot of time watching them and getting to know their personalit

A Pay it Forward Christmas...

The Christmas Clues came all month long.....a month filled with constant motion ..chaos...stress...and deep inside me the usual holiday dread. Those clues helped to divert my attention away from the emptiness that has been in me for the last few years.... Those memories of a large family coming together where I was the hostess for all the holiday feasts....the memories that usually remind me of the last few years and how much the boys and I have lost when domestic violence entered our home...and what destruction it left in it's wake. Yes, the clues had me looking forward to time that in the last three years or so I would wish I could close my eyes around mid-November and wake up on Jan 1st - yes, me...the one time overly merry hostess had turned bitter towards the holidays. This is the first year in a very long time that I have actually looked forward to Christmas.... That Secret Santa...and those elves....must have known that I was dreading another Christmas...another holiday in

Healing Hearts an outloud journal post.

https://pixabay.com/users/artsybee-462611/ Healing hearts, or I should say the desire to, comes with admitting one’s own wounds which are in need of repairs. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks appearing to be quiet but really I was just doing some internal work while my body adjusted to a switch in medication to combat autoimmune flares. A few years ago I would have tried to push through such a thing and not allow my body, and even my mind, a chance to go through what it needs, I would have pretended I felt fine when I didn’t, thinking that made me strong. In reality such behavior made me weaker and landed me where I am today. Anyway, that lull allowed me to do quite a bit of thinking, planning and decision making. Right now the money raised for the Healing Hearts kickoff campaign is sitting in Go Fund Me — no withdraws made as I am waiting to hear back from an organization and person I trust to take those funds and get them where they need to be, to address crisis intervention for th