I Went for a Walk – Sweet!

I did a baaad ting. I went for a walk when I am supposed to “shelter in place.” Wuh Woh!

Actually, Georgia has been a much more liberal state regarding freedom of movement than other more notorious states. Unless it is extended, the shelter in place order lifts on June 12 anyway, come hell or high water, SARS-2 not withstanding. In fact, going out to exercise is legal and desirable in Georgia. We don’t have to be concerned about the police fetching us from the ocean or mountain trail. For that I am thankful.

So I decided to take advantage of our freedoms and I went over to Cheatham Hill trail, part of the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield. It is a very pleasant walk in the meadows and woods. And today was absolutely glorious.

Today was the first time I had walked in the woods since the virus from hell pandemic arose and national parks were shut down. The proverb goes “… to a hungry man even bitter herbs taste sweet.” Oh! It was so sweet, I almost skipped down the trail.

I did not realize how much I missed just walking in the woods, breathing the air, seeing the sky and clouds uninhibited by our communal fear. I counted nearly a dozen different wildflowers and other flowering plants in my dance within the bower.

I had previously decided to photograph on film. What? Yes, film. There’s a resurgence of late. I took my trusty Nikon FM2N (almost 40 years old and still kicking photographic butt), loaded it with 1 roll of Fujicolor 200, 36 exposure color negative film, attached a 50mm f1.8 lens, pocketed my Nikon 4T closeup lens, and hauled my equally trusty and heavy Bogen monopod out for a walk. Guess what. You’ll have to wait to see those photographs, as will I. Ya can’t beat digital for immediacy.

Having thought of the immediacy factor, and being afraid to totally ditch my well hone digital skills, I also took my Canon G7x Mark II, just in case. Guess what again. I remembered everything except loading said Canon with a SD card, which I had removed earlier to share the photo below. Another story may be coming about our friends at the funeral home. There is a funny side to dying. The owners here apparently have developed a grave sense of humor.

(I think “funeral home” is more a Southern thing in actual usage. Commercial funeral homes came into being when people began to feel uncomfortable with Uncle Joe lying amolderin’ in the tea parlor, and someone with an eye to a perpetual income stream, if not to an eternal home among the Saved said, “Here, I can handle those remains for you in a modern non-colloquial manner.” Simply dumping Joe’s dissolute and well spent mortal coil in a six board box, and summarily depositing it upon yon non arable hillside, within the lower back forty was just so… gauche.

Southerners don’t use the word “mortuary” so much I think, unless the dearly departed was a Yankee. I say “was a Yankee.” Joe’s personal eternal home in Heaven is contingent on complete contrition and conversion from his previous mode of life. And that’d be from New York in particular, and one who was only familiar with I-95, and who decided against all proper etiquette to remain here. Out of courtesy to the deceased we’ll allow foreign tongues to be spoken. Who cares. That war has been over 150 years. I just wrote the last two paragraphs for a couple cousins of mine. God bless ’em.)

Anyway, I’m a dufus. I forgot the SD card and I was forced to use only film. First World problem, right? Except. Hello. I have a smartphone in my pocket and I can still remain connected to my digital universe, and take crumby photographs to share online.

Below are the crumby photos to share online. Honestly, I do not see how anyone can just use a smart phone camera. The quality is non-existent in my opinion, and if the sun is anywhere around, just how can you see what you are photographing?

But here they are. Enjoy. The film photographs will come in a week or two. And there you have in ten words of the previous sentence the reason the world went digital.

Selah

#Nature #KennesawMountainBattlefield #Hiking #35mm #Flowers #CheathamHill #phototgraphy #film #Nikon