Category: Nature

When I get out of the habit of posting blessings, I start to think they need to be for big, momentous things.

But the point of doing this blog was to remember to be grateful every day.

So today I’m picking something small and wonderful — all the many wildflowers that bloom beside my lake.  Each day there are different ones blooming.  And they are beautiful.

I’ve got a small lake outside my windows.  Management recently drained quite a bit of water to fix some fountains on the other end.  So for a couple weeks, it was at a very low level.

Now it’s been raining for ten days — and the water level is up even above where it should be.  The world outside is green and lovely.

I went for another walk by my lake today.  It wasn’t a spectacular walk.  Cloudy sky.  The lake was drained a large amount and hasn’t recovered yet, despite recent rain.  I didn’t bring my camera, but Murphy’s Law didn’t work and I didn’t see the great blue heron.  (Though later I did from my house!)

However, even on a not-spectacular day, my walk is accompanied by birds singing.  When I take the time to notice them, that’s a blessing.

Last week, I went to Burnside Farms and took pictures of tulips.

In case you haven’t figured it out, I love taking pictures of flowers.

It was a lovely late afternoon.

Not too hot, not too cold, nice breezes blowing.

When you take pictures of flowers, you really see them.  You notice how delicate, how rich the colors, how perfect they are.

I took a special interest in the dramatic ones this time around.

And looking at the pictures, choosing a “few” from the hundreds I took, simply makes me happy.

And we even brought some home.

Some time in the last week or so, ALL the trees in the area suddenly got leaves.  They’re still new light spring green, and they’re beautiful.  But they wear it so naturally, already I’m taking them for granted.

Yay!  The leaves are back!

For years now, every year on my Friday off, about two weeks after the cherry blossoms reach their peak, I go see the bluebells in bloom at Bull Run Regional Park.

It’s all natural — in spots flowers as far as the eye can see.

There’s a loop trail that goes by the river.

I go on Fridays because it’s not crowded.  I’m free to take pictures like crazy to my heart’s content.

I love all the other wildflowers that show up, too.

There are always breezes blowing, birds singing.

Okay, the truth is that you can usually hear guns from the shooting range.  But it fades into the background.

The loop trail is a little over a mile long.  I take my time and ramble through the bluebells.

My spirit is always uplifted for another year.

Today while my son and I were eating dinner, a fox walked across the end of the frozen lake!  And I had just been taking pictures of the sunset, so my camera was handy.  (Though I didn’t reach it as quickly as I would have liked.)  That was a treat to get to see.