Eye Spy

But he that dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose.—Anne Bronte

The Portland Rose Garden up at Washington Park is just beginning to come into bloom. Many of the plants are still sporting buds closed up like tight little fists. But enough have opened to lighten the morning air with the scent of roses.

I practically had the place to myself early this morning. A few dedicated joggers and birds were about to keep it from being too quiet. By the time more people began to walk the gardens—I’d played enough with my macro lens that I was ready to go.

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.
- John Muir, The Yosemite (1912)

“In the woods we return to reason and faith.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Another composition from yesterday’s photo walk to Little Zig Zag. I happen to like this one a little better than the previous. But now I’m motivated to go back to try and get something better. I got kind of hung up on using my wide angle lens. Perhaps next time I’ll mix it up a bit more.

I had hoped to make the journey to Rowena a little earlier in the Spring, but alas the fates didn’t allow it. The balsamroot and lupine are nibbling around the edges of fading, preparing for their summer malaise.

Luckily, the sunrise kissed the sky on this particular morning, offering up the extra crimson in the clouds.

If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now,
It’s just a spring clean for the May queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on.
And it makes me wonder.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival
April 2012

There’s nothing more gorgeous than that gold morning light that floods a scene. It makes me willing to get up at crazy hours and drive a stupid number of miles in search of it.

Sunrise, Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival, May 2012