Our minds, bodies, and souls need wild places. I am not talking about cultivated, mowed, sprayed parks, lawns, and gardens. I am talking about real nature, where plants have been left to grow as they were designed to grow. Where birds, animals, and insects act and interact without human intervention. If you have ever spent any time deep in a forest far off the main trail, you may know exactly what I mean. Once away from man nature is free to be nature. If we pause and watch, listen, pay attention to our senses we will notice that we too feel more wild, more alive in these places. We are losing our connection to our land and in so losing our selves. God made this planet and everything on it and in it. We were made from the dirt of this land and we shall return it in our end. That is a given to a lot of people. Why then do we think we are so separate and above nature? Why do we think we can abuse our land and not abuse ourselves in that process? Why do we allow our land to be used up and tossed aside–is this not just another form a domestic violence? If a man hits his wife, rapes his wife that is wrong, why is it not also wrong for a man to abuse our land, soil, water? Can we live without our land, soil, and water? If all nature is connected are we not a part of that connection?
Look at these beautiful buds on the trees!!! I am hoping I have time to go back out and get some better macros of them before they are gone. The lovely old bridge is just tossed in for good measure as it too may be gone very soon. Nature offers us lessons all the time if we just look: everything has a season, and all things come to an end to allow new things to start.
Meet Gus he is a fun guy!! Sorry couldn’t help myself there. This fungus got a lovely ice coating last night on the limbs of a locust tree. I have so so many more photos of this. I think I spent well over an hour just on this one tree with all of it’s beautiful colors.
I found some wonderful old barns this last week and decided to play HDR with them. Normally I don’t HDR barns, maybe the idea never occurred to me when it comes to barns so I have never even bothered to bracket images while shooting them. Silly me! At least there is always Photoshop to adjust exposures on hind sight. I like the BW version for it’s stillness but wow all the colors that were pulled out from the color version is just short of amazing. Who knew barns had so many colors.. my barn of many colors that my mamma made for .. oh wait that was a coat not a barn.
I found this little road side park just north of Ava Missouri on Route 5.  This is by far the prettiest road side stop I have came across in a very long time. Most likely all the recent rain has allowed this creek to enjoy the benefits of water and  highly possible that the next time I pass this way this area will be all dried up for the season- all the more reason to enjoy it now!!!
Some days you just need to get away and go to your happy place. This was mine on this early spring day. The sounds of the birds and the creek as it hurries along it’s way. Â There are still a few Red bud trees out and the rest of the trees are starting to fill out as well.