Five Feet High and Rising

With apologies to Johnny Cash, it's not water I'm talking about, but the grass and weeds in my yard!

We had sunshine all day yesterday -- hurrah!-- and my water-logged yard dried out a bit. This morning's sky, however, showed clouds containing the threat of rain AGAIN! Looking at the weather map and reading the forecast is just down right depressing!

Therefore, with forehead bound up with a bandana to keep the sweat out of my eyes, and a day's water and rations dangling from my belt loops lest I be lost in the jungle between my back door and the garden shed, I got out the lawnmower, mowed a track to enable me to reach the front yard, and made hay (but not while the sun was shining.) Since we're also under a wind-advisory, I didn't take time to sweep the cuttings off the walk. Mother Nature sometimes comes to the aid of lazy folk.

Of course, I exaggerate the height of the weeds and grass, but some clumps of what looks like wild oats (who's been cavorting in my yard when I'm not looking?) were a good 10-12 inches tall. However, I have seen grass five feet high, and rising; a remnant of the tall grass prairie which used to cover huge sections of the plains states. This particular batch was in Chase County, Kansas, the setting for a wonderful book, PrairieErth, by William Least Heat Moon, who is also the author of Blue Highways. I recommend both for your reading enjoyment.

Wikipedia (I love it!) has a wonderful article on Tall Grass Prairies here. Conservation efforts are alive and well in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and elsewhere (including parts of Canada). A bit of Googling on "tall grass prairie" will take you to some very interesting sites, should you be tempted to take a look.

Note to Jeannelle of Iowa: Prairie City, IA has a tall grass prairie preserve. I don't know how close that is to your home, but I know you would find it interesting, chock full of photo ops!

A Fall Excursion - Post 101

Lake Barnett, White County, Arkansas

I had a wonderful time this afternoon! I threw caution (about gasoline consumption) to the winds and hit the road. My trip was only a relatively short jaunt away from my regular stomping grounds, but something I haven't done for quite some time. My friend Barbara, always game for an mini-adventure, accompanied me. She rode shotgun; I was on a photographic mission.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm enrolled in a Basic Photography course at a local camera shop. We have homework every week for which we are to use something we've learned in the most recent class. This week (the class meets Thursday evening) we are to submit a photograph of 'Nature;' no buildings or people included. Since I've not had my chosen photograph critiqued as yet, that one is not included here. I'm still on the short end of the learning curve and have a great deal to learn, but I had fun taking the photos I'm sharing here.
 This afternoon, we wandered down several roads that I've never before driven over, all within about 50 miles northeast of my home. Following is a small selection of the photos I took this afternoon.

A gnarled tree.

Not much color, but an interesting shape, I thought.

Immediately across the road from the gnarled tree was a meadow

backed by a colorful hillside. Still a lot of green, but getting there!

Geese swimming on Lake Barnett.

Fall colors reflected on the water

at the far end of the lake.

(The photo at the beginning of this post was taken at the nearest lake access point. The lake itself covers about three miles. More information about this little jewel can be found by clicking the link under the first photo.)

Dried grasses and colorful plants, dappled with light.

I captured a beautiful sunset, too, but I'm saving that photo for this week's Sky Watch.

I came home with lifted spirits after viewing some hitherto unseen, and very beautiful, parts of my home state, well worth the quarter-tank of gas I burned.

I hope your day was lovely, too.