Jon Kay

With its beautiful meadows and countless meandering streams, picturesque Parke County, Indiana, is home to 31 historic covered bridges, ranging from 43 to 315 feet long. Every October, the county hosts the Covered Bridge Festival, which draws more than two million people nationwide to the courthouse lawn in Rockville. From there, tourists set off to visit the bridges and to seek out the arts and crafts fairs located in each of the festival's nine communities. Photographer Marsha Williamson Mohr has spent years in the area, capturing spellbinding images of the bridges and nearby farms and the natural beauty of the area, season by season. The warmth and vitality of Parke County brings her back time and time again, and this gorgeous photographic collection will call you back as well.

Growing old doesn't have to be seen as an eventual failure but rather as an important developmental stage of creativity. Offering an absorbing and fresh perspective on aging and crafts, Jon Kay explores how elders choose to tap into their creative and personal potential through making life-story objects. Carving, painting, and rug hooking not only help seniors to cope with the ailments of aging and loneliness but also to achieve greater satisfaction with their lives. Whether revived from childhood memories or inspired by their capacity to connect to others, meaningful memory projects serve as a lens for focusing on, remaking, and sharing the long-ago. These activities often help elders productively fill the hours after they have raised their children, retired from their jobs, and/or lost a loved one. These individuals forge new identities for themselves that do not erase their earlier lives but build on them and new lives that include sharing scenes and stories from their memories.

Growing old doesn't have to be seen as an eventual failure but rather as an important developmental stage of creativity. Offering an absorbing and fresh perspective on aging and crafts, Jon Kay explores how elders choose to tap into their creative and personal potential through making life-story objects. Carving, painting, and rug hooking not only help seniors to cope with the ailments of aging and loneliness but also to achieve greater satisfaction with their lives. Whether revived from childhood memories or inspired by their capacity to connect to others, meaningful memory projects serve as a lens for focusing on, remaking, and sharing the long-ago. These activities often help elders productively fill the hours after they have raised their children, retired from their jobs, and/or lost a loved one. These individuals forge new identities for themselves that do not erase their earlier lives but build on them and new lives that include sharing scenes and stories from their memories.