Walking the Trail

My in-laws have a wonderful trail on their property that I love to walk when we visit.  It feels otherworldly to be encapsulated by trees and shadows, with only a bit of sky visible between branches. St. Francis welcomes our entrance, and at night, you can see dozens of fireflies burping their soft light.  I am so glad I'll get to walk the trail again in a few weeks.

Bunny People

These are a few of my favorite pictures of the bunnies.  Greta is sweet, calm, and always concerned about what I'm doing with the camera.  And Honey is exactly how she appears:  indignant when the food is late and ready to hop with her friend.

With our recent adoption of Lucy from the Hereford Humane Society, we've had quite the petting zoo at our house.  Every day is just a regular ol' lovefest.

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.