Bitterweed

Last weekend I decided to walk the Llano Estacado Nature and Wildflower Trails, a 3.5 mile path that winds through an archeological site.  This area was once a dependable source of water:  a natural spring lake with miles of shallow marshlands that attracted giant creatures and the native peoples who hunted them. 11,000 years later, what seems an unbelievable myth has disappeared into the ground and all that we see now are miles of hot, dusty earth and our ever-attempts to make sense of this place.

Alone in the heat, I thought about the irony of this wildflower trail and the bitterness of lost water.  

But as I kept taking pictures, I began to realize that even in the absence of water, life endures.  

It hardens, grows stronger and more brilliant. 

As I thought this, my shutter clicked and a coyote moved across a field.

Bloom where you are planted.  I can do this, too.

Flowers photographed include globe mallow, giant dagger yucca, prickly poppy, and bitterweed.  Lucy is photographed with slender stem bitterweed from our backyard.