Photo Journal — Rhoda Lewis

December’s Bare Beauty

So quiet and subtle is the beauty of December that escapes the notice of many people their whole lives through. Colour gives way to form: every branch distinct, in a delicate tracery against the sky. New vistas, obscured all Summer by leafage, now open up.

Flora Thompson

Missouri Mist

It is morning in Missouri.

Overnight a fog crept into the field

where I slept,

soaking the earth,

dripping from the barbed wire,

clinging like diamonds

to a tuft of grass caught there,

coating the trees - delineating

every darkened limb

against the blue grey sky.

I walk into the mist

along a lonely farm road

and these bare beauties

emerge one by one-

disappearing

as I pass

quietly,

cloaked in solitude.

December 7, 2022 - lonely drop from barbed wire

November 29, 2022 - Fennville, Michigan. It has been gray and cold today. I decided to look for small beauties - like these berries and the dried buds and wildflowers that follow.

November 29, 2022 - Dried before blooming

December 3, 2022 - Sun setting through a fallen pine limb

December 3, 2022 - Fennville, MI - The golden sun was out again today, after a few days of clouds. When it set, I saw a pretty little fallen limb of pine on the beach and thought I would like to see how it would light up the needles if I could get a picture through them. It was windy, and I had to kneel in the sand, but I really liked the result.

December 8, 2022 - Robber’s Cave State Park - Oklahoma. This is the first night I’ve been able to see the moon at night on this trip. Haloed and hallowed. I love the way the bare limbs seem to be reaching out for it.

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Bursting

Atteva Aurea

Along the floodplain

Wild coneflower blossoms,

Yellow-

With a pale green core

and all around it

thin-bodied moths,

black, orange and white -

alight and explore,

like astronauts

probing another planet.

August 26, 2022 I walked to the Mildred A Peterson Nature Preserve today after yoga. I knew from my running group that there was a trail through there into the northern edge of Saugatuck, and that it would probably be pretty peaceful on a Friday morning. I was hoping to get some pictures of dragonflies… I didn’t. BUT. I saw these beautiful yellow flowers that I thought were daisies until I looked them up and found out that they are cutleaf coneflowers, native to North America; found mostly around wetlands like this. They were covered with so many different kinds of insects that I didn’t see until I got in close to get some pictures. An entire society living right under my nose. So many colors, so many shapes – some familiar, like the bee; some alien to me; like the dragonfly-ish dark small-winged creature sitting on a petal.

08.26/2022 Bee pollinating Cutleaf Cornflower

August 26, 2022 - Not sure what this flower is.. growing in the pond.

August 27, 2022 Three deer on the edge of the bluff as i was finishing my run

August 28, 2022 I started taking pictures of yellow flowers for my sister, Rita, because she loves yellow - and flowers, but after I took a few, I understood. It’s like sunshine, even when the day is gloomy.

August 29, 2022 Not sure if anyone but me would find this touching; but the dried out, holey leaf looked so much like an old, much worn jacket hanging up to dry…and in a way, I guess it is.

August 29, 2022 Playing with perspective - a rock inside a shell with the sun setting like a cherry on top.

August 29, 2022 Wally. A toy walrus I found on a road trip through south Florida. He’s been traveling with me everywhere. I took him down to sunset to get his silhouette over the lake. Just for fun.