I had a chance to work with the good folks over at County Lines Magazine again for their August special Supplement – “Stroll a Royal Mile… Malvern“!
Back in the beginning of June, I got an email from Jo Anne Durako the Editor of the magazine and the writer, Emily Hart about the idea of the supplement, and during the course of the thread, we had an outline for the issue.
On the First day of shooting, I took my two kids with me, as we walked King Street.
It was especially fun for me, because when I first moved down from Boston in 1993, I moved to Malvern, and lived there for a year.
Since then, there have been many changes to the town, and it very much seems to being in a growth mode!
During the Event, there are several stations with each showing a different phase in how the Water System works – It rains, the water washes over the roads and lawns, picking up various ‘elements’; flowing into the myriad of streams and creeks then into the Brandywine; the effects on the macro/micro organisms that are used to identify the health of the water; water treatment facilities to drinking water. Full circle!
During the course of the day, each group of kids was introduced to new skills such as rope courses, teamwork building, collecting live samples and orienteering. By the end of the day my Fitbit had logged just over 9 miles walking!
What was very wonderful to see, that the same skills that were introduced during the Red stream Blue stream at UHES, were now being reconnected ‘in the field’ while the children were tasked to search for various specimens in the pond and stream that are part of Paradise Farm Camps.
But alas, even they had succumbed to the intrusion of the modern vehicle…
Tire in Valley Creek 340
Tire in Valley Creek 327
Earlier this year, in April, I volunteered again to help the MC6GS Science classes in their first (hopefully continuing) measurement of Shamona Creek.
During each session, the students would record the creek’s temperatures, ph/acidity, velocity, volume and the various macro/micro creatures found in the waterway.
At the beginning of the day, as we approached the testing locations, I noticed a car battery, on the bank of the creek, about 4 feet from the water’s edge.
Some of the cosmetic case had been cracked, and there was no way to tell how long it had been there. I picked it up and moved it closer to the road.
During the rest of the day, the car battery sat there, as a reminder to all what some folks are doing to the environment.
At the end of the day, we took it back to the school for disposal.
Other times, I seem to find items, that have just been swept away…
Blue barrel
Rug in tree
Black Bucket
Then there are days, you still have to scratch your head!
Knowing the area, it is very difficult to imagine how this plastic doll head got to this spot!
“Oh dear! I’ll let our preserve manager know there’s litter out there!”
“As for the dry “ponds,” a few years back we restored the stream running through Stroud by removing the dams, which allowed land to convert from ponds (man-made and not good for water quality) to wetlands (more diverse than coral reefs and wonderful for filtering water).” – Stroud Preserve
Controversy
I have recently been reading several articles about the new Wyoming law that now
makes it a crime to “collect resource data”… including taking a “photograph”… – Slate.com
But as the article goes on to say, the law is unconstitutional.
I recently had a chance to photograph a friend of mine, as she slowly adds more ink to the various works of art that cover her body – A Work in Progress.