the good life apart
from the hustle and worries
of a main street world
From The Appalachian photographs of Earl Palmer by Jean Haskell Speer, The University Press of Kentucky, 1990.
The caption for this photograph reads:
With a generous-giving milk cow, a pen full of fattening hogs, and a flock of Plymouth Rock hens of high laying qualities, Blaine Sartain lives the good life apart from the hustle and worries of a main street world. [Near John’s Creek in Craig County, Virginia, 1960]
In her forward to the book, Ms. Speer writes, The first time I saw some of Earl Palmer’s photographs I was captivated. As a folklorist interested in the traditional culture of Appalachia, I was struck by Palmer’s images of the folklife of mountain people. There were photographs of farm life, mountain cabins and rail fences, quilting, basketmaking, gathering mountain herbs, boiling molasses, stirring apple butter, and making moonshine. But it was not only the subject matter that drew me to the photographs. I had seen and even made photographs of mountain folk culture many times before. I was struck by the quality of the photographs, the range of subject matter, the apparent age of some of the photographs, and the story they seemed to tell about Appalachia.
Paging through the book, I too was captivated.
Captivated by the photos sure.
But the thoughts behind the photos, behind the images, the people.
People who live the good life apart from the hustle and worries of a main street world.
No Haiku For You 