A Sense of Sutton - A Photowalk

Edster, Bruno, Arthur, and I were blessed to be able to take a vacation to my second home...West Virginia.

In the heart of this state is a quaint small town of 992 people called Sutton.  Sitting on the Elk River, Sutton is a slice of Americana...  It is also a town that cherishes the creative endeavors of local, Appalachian artists.

This colorful building truly drums up the curiosity...

And this old church converted to Landmark Studio for the Arts...particularly emphasizes drama and dance.

While the Cafe Cimino is an elegant restaurant and a Bed and Breakfast, it also has a gallery that is an extension of Mountain Made, arts and crafts of West Virginian artisans including pottery, jewelry, painting, textiles, and photography.

But walking down the brick streets...there are other treasures and components that give you a sense of Sutton...

This town is big on swings...(so love this wicker swing!)...

And porches...

and places to sit...

whether alone...

or joined by a friend or a friend you haven't met yet on a bench...

And plants and flowers are sprinkled as you walk along the way...

Tulips in white, wooden flower boxes...

Lilacs outside curtained windows...

Potted posey outside a cafe...

And these breath-taking bleeding hearts in a neighbor's front yard...

But I loved looking at buildings, signs of wear, and structures...

Like these blue arches...

Or a door and stairwell heading who knows where...

And old, ornate wrought iron fence that has seen better days...

A sign that hints of the culture of this town...

Locking in or locking out?...

And this delightful positive graffiti at the Girl Scout center...

And signs of children...

And no matter how short or long your stay...you cannot help but know this is a true American home town.

A Sense of Style - A Sense of Place

I've been lavished with the grace of a week in remote West Virginia, with Edster, Bruno, and yes, Arthur's first vacation and trip to this amazing state.

In editing some photos to give a Sense of Place, as challenged by Kat Sloma, of Sutton, West Virginia...I found a certain style emerging that appealed to me.  I hinted at it on the Groupies of Kim Klassen facebook page...

But I want to hear from you...by viewing these before and after photos...

I'm drawn to a lighter, hint of details kind of look...where it doesn't scream "photograph"...

Not sure if this will become "my style"...but dying to hear what you think...

Before

After

A bicycle on the porch...and I can just hear a boy dropping his bike, running through the front door hurriedly and yelling, "Mom!"

Before

After

Does this swing not call your name?

Before

After

So...I'm not certain if this is part of a trend...or a creative breakthrough...or nothing really that special...

My full sense of place of Sutton will be posted in the next day...

What fun!

A Sense of Place - Our Home for a Week

We are up in the Stuart Recreation Area of the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia...renting a home on a mountain...about 5 miles from the nearest paved road...overlooking the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River...

Spring in West Virginia...like everywhere else...has been slow comin' especially compared to the early  Spring down here this time last year.  As you can see, the May Apple on the property is just starting to open their "umbrella tops."

...and leaves just starting to pop forth.  Things are further along down in Elkins, however, where the elevation is lower (photos to come from our photowalk we plan to take today).

Actually things looked a little "gnarly" up here on the mountain...stacks of tree branches everywhere and a lot of trees snapped in two. (Actually this scene isn't too bad because I didn't take ones of the really bad areas...this was on our property...but you can see piles of branches to the right...).

West Virginia folks are folksy...especially when they don't think you're here trying to take advantage of their wealth of natural resources.  History has taught them a hard cruel lesson about quickly trusting outsiders...

(Photo courtesy of New York Daily News)

Yesterday...as we traveled down the mountain...we ran into a WVDOT worker running a grater continuing to clean up the road from debris.  I yelled out the window, "Hey...I gotta question."  He turned off his motor and said, "Yes, ma'am?"  "What happened up here?"  "Ever hear of a storm called Sandy?"  (I love the sound of a West Virginian voice...hard to believe my parents worked to hard to lose their drawls to assimilate into northeast Ohio.)

And then I recalled national TV reporters broadcasting from Elkins...and did some "review" on the internet...how soon we forget.  Talk about a change of perspective...now I appreciated the survival of those among the remnants of that perfect storm...

I'll be the first to tell you...it is hard to get photos of a place before the Edster starts putting luggage and bags and jackets on every empty flat surface within 3 seconds.  But I did grab this quickie of this long table for eating (beautiful without the pads on).

And next to the phone on the counter in the kitchen is the gentle warning sign...

This is the main living area...and while there is a flatscreen TV...there is NO cable...thank God!

And yet there were games...where you could find out it was the maid in the library with the candlestick who did it...

And a large variety of DVDs...but Deliverance?  How stereotypical! (smile)  Okay I confess:  We brought along about a dozen DVDs ourselves which DID include The Hatfields & McCoys miniseries...

And somebody likes Oprah...(that's one of Arthur's toys in front)...

And there were three bathrooms...this one with a huge jacuzzi tub.  This entire house is filled with light, many windows and many skylights from all the ceilings...

And a variety of little details...but let me take you outside...

The deck/porch wraps around the entire home...with ample sitting room...overlooking the property and Shavers Fork...

And a walkway...leading across a swampy area filled with skunk cabbage into a spacious grassy areas along the riverbank...

And here's the view from there...(okay, I struggled with aligning this photo -- do I make the roofline straight or the deckline straight...obviously I couldn't do both...I chose roof.)

Then this gorgeous river, which I might add...

Arthur unknowingly explored...

But he dried out in the end...no worse for wear...loving his bone...

I've only scratched the surface of our wonder home away from home and hope to grab some more photos before we leave...

...but I hope this gives you a sense of place.