Phlox Beauteousness...

Phlox - more beautiful this year than ever before, according to my Master Gardner dad - and I believe him!

Fabulous phlox, OH!

Your beauty is amazing!

Please be back next year!

~~~

xo

Ending & Beginning

Once again, beautiful petunias - one spent, one in its glory

Lovely as it fades

Like a dancer's swirling skirt

 Petunia girl

~~~

xo

Free Fall

The loverly petunia - scrub to some, a favorite of mine

How do I love thee?

For your beauty-there's no doubt!

Browning would approve!

~~~

xo

Perseverance

Chicory & some pollinating friends

Mown down to the quick.

Still I find a way to bloom.

Perseverance. Key.

~~~

xo

Summertime Snowflake

Queen Anne's Lace
in the fields around my folks' MO home

(http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/queen-anne-s-lace-wild-carrot)

Things I didn't know: "A myth says the purplish flower at the center is a drop of blood shed when "Queen Anne" pricked herself while making the "lace". In reality, that small flower attracts insect pollinators. This nonnative Missouri plant competes against our native species." 

Summertime Snowflakes

Through the fields 'round my folks' home

Warmer than winter's

~~~

xo

'Till We Meet Again...

Columbia Regional Airport just after take-off and back home to Connecticut

O, my Missourahhh...
It's always so hard to go
But! I'll be back soon!

~~~

xo

Iris of Late

One lone iris bloomed

Totally out of season

Lovely just the same

~~~

xo

Tiger!

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 

(Papilio Glaucus)

Most times I spot you

When I'm inside looking out

Frustrating? Oh yes!

~~~

xo

The Old Man

The Old Man as he returns to mother earth

 As those who stop by here know, we spent Christmas in our beloved Columbia, MO. While it was a ~balmy~ 8º both the day we arrived and seven days later on the day we left, the time in-between were days of 40º or so weather. Perfect for hiking in the valley. Daughter Rem and I hiked down to see the turnip patch that had been planted to help over-winter the deers' food supply and, of course, to go see ~The Old Man~, (pictured above (in 2008) in the header). My brother had taken photos of him over Thanksgiving, but I just had to see for myself that the old guy had finally fallen down to the sands of time. Well...he has. A mere skeleton of his former self, he's still beautiful in his own way. Even better, even in winter, you can see evidence of his ~children~ growing all around him. 

For sure, nature renews herself. Out of death rises life. Though that beautiful old sycamore is close to being nothing more than wood dust, generations fueled by his roots will live on and on. 

And the memory of a great tree (and the family hikes we took to go see him) will stay with me forever. 

~~~

xo

Old and New Again

Old Barn on Rustic Road

An old barn that's been photographed by me (and a lot of us shutter snappers) over and over again. It's one of my very favorite images. If I look back on my old photos, it's a picture I've taken "over and over again". It's changed subtly over time - getting more worn down by time. Kind of like all of us. Falling into disrepair, but still beautiful in its own way. In another twenty years from now...will it finally fall down? All of us have a finite time to be here on earth. Not a bad thing, just what it is for all of us. A good thing? All things considered, it really is good.

And, Miss Gail? You will be missed. By me and all of us who loved you.  

xoxoxoxo