A Landmark Lost...

You never really know who is looking at or reading your Blog. You just put the stuff out there for whatever your reason and there is sits. For me, it is a record of my life (or bits of it) that I want to be there for my family. It is a good resource for Claude each year when he writes his very amusing Christmas letter. He keeps a list through the year and the checks my Blog journal to fill out his list and remember things. So it serves the purpose for which I intended.

However, every now and then I get a glimpse into the fact that others know my Blog is out there. I have had two people authoring books find pictures I took that they wanted to use in their books. I find this amazing. I just take pictures. I might crop them but they are really just things I want to remember when I am too old to travel. I plan on pulling those pictures and travel scrapbooks out and travel again in my mind. So they contact me and say something about what they are writing and why they would like to use my picture. I verify they are legitimate and then I give permission for the use of that picture. It has always amazed me.

While we were in Guatemala I received an eMail from a man in California working on a PHD about Blogs and the people who write them. Something about extracting data and understanding, etc. My antennae went up and I just left that one until we returned to the United States. Then I researched on-line to be sure this was a legitimate deal. Sure enough. It was. It is part of a University research project. However, this time I just feel I am too busy to add another thing to respond to or worry about. That is evidenced by the length of time it takes me to get to do my little bit of Blogging. So I deleted this request. 

While Bonnie and Shannon were here I received another request. This one touched my heart. Claude and I visited Rabbit Hash, Kentucky and I posted pictures of that visit. We visited August 24th, 2015 and I posted August 27th, 2015 in a Blog post titled "Rabbit Hash, KY" (How original is that title?). This little spot on the river is a fun bit of Kentucky history. Then a while back I heard on the news where the store caught fire and burned down. I was so grateful Claude and I made it there before that happened. Then I received this eMail from a member of the board of that works to preserve Rabbit Hash and its history. It seems a candle company wants to make and sell candles to help raise funds to restore the Rabbit Hash store. They came across my picture of the store and, since it is not one used all the time, they wondered if I would give permission to use it on the candle to help raise funds for the restoration. This is a tender part of my life. I am chair for the Friends of Sadieville. We worked to raise funds to help restore the Rosenwald School in Sadieville. Now we are working to raise funds to restore the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church to be used as the Sadieville Community Center after its restoration. I assured this good man that he could use my picture. He asked if I had a watermark to put on it and said they would give me full credit. I felt like a real photographer for a just moment. Then I assured him I had no watermark and if that picture would raise money for a very worthy cause they were welcome to use it.

Here is the picture. If you see it on a candle...buy the candle and help a good cause.

There are truly lots of good things we can do with our time and our money. Learning about our history and contributing to preserving that history are very worthwhile things. That is the gospel according to Sandi!