I had a pretty remarkable conversation with a feller over the weekend. He is a blacksmith - no joke - making iron fixtures and talking about how he had sold work to all 50 states. I was watching him fire his work, and noted he was using coal to fire his work, and asked him where he was buying it from these days.
He said, “Well, that’s actually getting to be a tough part of the job these days, its getting hard to find! The last while, I’ve had folks say I could come take it out of their coal cribs, because they are changing how they heat their house. It’s all for the best though, I’ve been thinking about changing to using wood - carbon neutral.”
I don’t know that I can come up with a more apt story for how the winds of change are blowing around this state.
It’s tough to know how to see it all - sometimes, taking a longer view is helpful (and calming), although that’s not always possible - tough to think about next year, when you need money today - but if you can take that time, sometimes the perspective goes a long way.
How’s that tie to this photo? Taking a long view helped me pull the chop out of the water, making things just a little clearer - but the prevailing winds keep blowing.
Prevailing Winds - West Virginia