Not My Words Wednesday

To read more about John Parker, check out my post here.

2013 Project 365 – Week Thirty-one

This was a nice low-key week. Dr. M is done with summer school so he stuck close to home & our pictures reflect that. And I didn’t even get my camera out after Sunday! I’m only posting a few pictures here – go to Dr. M’s blog to see more of them.

Sunday, July 28^th

We did take a bit of a road trip after church on Sunday, so there are a lot of pictures this day. First of all, this :)

Then we drove down to Ripley, Ohio to spend a little time by the Ohio River.

The State of the Bug – happy!

On our way home we saw these things. With a Bug Household Road Trip the journey is always just as important as the destination!

We’d eaten a BIG lunch at Skyline Chili, so I just had some edamame for dinner. OK, maybe I had a LOT of edamame for dinner!

Monday, July 29^th   

It was getting toward evening & we realized we hadn’t taken a picture, so here are our first ripening tomatoes.

Tuesday, July 30^th          

Flowers out back.

Wednesday, July 31^st   

Supercilious robin.

Thursday, August 1^st    

Our flower garden is a riot!

Hummers…

Friday, August 2^nd  

Juvenile robin rocking the attitude… (or maybe he’s just confused).

More flowers out back. I can’t believe how gorgeous our hanging basket still is!

Saturday, August 3^rd     

Just to switch things up, these flowers aren’t from out back. Ha!

Finally, a very busy, tiny visitor.

Go to Mamma Fran’s blog here to see the blogs of all the other Project 365 participants. Have a great week!

Most of our photos are taken with a 12 megapixel Nikon D5000 DSLR, using a 55-200mm zoom lens. This is the camera that Dr. M takes with him most days. He also takes pictures with our old reliable 7 megapixel Canon Powershot A710.  The Bug uses our new Nikon Coolpix S6200 most of the time. If you’re interested in which camera was used for a particular shot, just ask! 

Two Tales for Wednesday

1. On Sunday Dr. M & I headed down to Ripley, Ohio. We just like to check to make sure that the Ohio river is still there (it was). It was a glorious day (you'll see those pictures later). But on our way home we drove by an alpaca farm so of course we had to stop to take pics.

At first they couldn't have been less interested.

Then they started wondering - is it that man who takes pictures all the time? No! It was actually The Bug taking pictures - which is why they aren't quite in focus.

If the paparazzi can't be bothered to use their best photographer then we aren't going to be bothered to hang around!

2. Dad I'm starving up here - can't a kid get a seed?

No I don't think we're going to try to get it ourselves!

Landing on that little ledge looks too much like trying to merge onto the freeway!

That was exhausting...

I could use a drink!

P.S. For more fun pictures check out Dr. M's blog post here. 

John Parker

Into Ripley Ohio John Parker came

Not on a white horse

But in a john boat

His namesake slicing through

That salvation water

To bring souls to the

Almost free side of the river.

Almost free.

100 souls

300 souls

500 and more

almost free souls

500 miles from freedom

John Parker

In his john boat

Opened wide

That freedom gate

Although this is a bit of a romantic view, John Parker was a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad & really did rescue hundreds of slaves by ferrying them across the Ohio River. The fugitive slave act meant that, while Ohio was a "free" state the runaway slaves couldn't stay there. Canada was their only hope for freedom. 

John Parker was more than just a freer of people - he was a former slave who had purchased his own freedom. He owned a foundry and held three patents. Five of his children graduated from college (his daughter Hortense was the first African American graduate of Mount Holyoke College).

Parker wasn't the only conductor in Ripley - there were four (I think our docent said) on his street alone! And that didn't include Reverend Rankin who lived on "Liberty Hill" at the top of the 100 steps to freedom. Here is what he said about his work: "My house has been the door of freedom to many human beings, but while there was a hazard of life and property, there was much happiness in giving safety to the trembling fugitives. They were all children of God by creation and some of them I believe were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb."