Selfie!

I was sending my niece an iTunes gift card the other day when I had a problem completing the on-line transaction. I called Apple support, they readily admitted the problem was theirs, fixed it, and suggested I wait 30 minutes for the fix to take effect.  By the time I logged back in, I was feeling just a bit more rushed, hurried through the transaction, and felt smug when everything seemed to work and the card was on it’s way. In moments, I received an Apple email, which I thought was a confirmation of the transaction, but on a closer look found that I had just sent the gift card to myself!  Did I feel stupid?  Yea, but that feeling quickly gave way to the realization that the charge for the gift card was committed, and I began to think about what I would get myself.  A couple of movies?  The new Robert Plant album?  It’s gets a little quiet up in the country.  I might just send myself an iTunes Selfie every once in a while! 

Lady Farm!

I co-hosted a camera club field trip here last month, a woman in the club did all the organizing and I plotted a tour of local sites for photography.  Depending on the time of day, we planned to shoot Sach’s covered bridge, sunset at Little Round Top, architecture at Gettysburg college, the view from Hauser’s Winery, the Round Barn, etc.  One of the places I had in mind was a beautiful vista on the back road approaching the battlefield. The view is gorgeous as you come out of the woods on the crest of a hill where the fields fall away to a panorama that stretches for miles.  You can see the super-sized Boyds Bears Barn off to the right and, looking over the top of the Eisenhower Farm, you can see both Big and Little Round Top.  The view is good from the shoulder, but I knew it would be even better just off the road in the field of the adjacent farm. 

So, one day, on a complete whim as I returned from errands in Gettysburg, I decided to drive down to the owners house, which sits way off the road, and ask permission for the group to walk into the field just a little ways and shoot some pictures.  Without giving myself time to consider any of the possible consequences, I turned off the road and started down the long, winding driveway.  The drive was closely bound by fence on both sides, so even as I began to have second thoughts, I knew there was no turning back!  This wasn’t like stopping at the curb of a city house and stepping to the door to ask permission to shoot the exterior.  This lane was at least a half mile long, and, as I passed the infrared alarm transmitter and receiver, I knew I was committed, or about to be!  I had heard that the owner was a widow, and, as I pulled up in front of the house, she stepped out of the front door, dinner napkin in hand, having been alarmed, so to speak, of my advances! 

I quickly introduced myself, explained I was a neighbor, and was organizing a camera club field trip; my bona fides tumbling off my tongue to minimize an angry reaction, the use of a shot gun, or a 911 call!  Much to my surprise, she was very pleasant and immediately took an interest in the possibility of a visit by the camera club.  She said, “It’s too bad you don’t have more time because the very best place for photography is way up there on the top of my hill”, pointing to a distant spot in the field above her house.  Recovering quickly and ignoring the ice cream in the car, I said. “I have time!”  Off we headed to her machine shed and a four wheeler with a motorcycle type seat.  She said, “Let me get on and start it, then you get on behind me”, which I did, glad for the panic bars so I didn’t have to hug her, and away she drove past the house and way up the hillside to a beautiful lookout of the surrounding valley.
 It was a gorgeous view of nearby fields of dark green grass and corn and neat farmsteads, giving way to hills after blue hills on the horizon.  We rode back to the house, I thanked her for her generosity, and, as I drove away smiling, I pondered what had come together in that impulsive  moment to make all that happen?  Living in the present? Being open to all possibilities??  Two weeks later the camera club also enjoyed the view from Lady Farm!