Sewing the Wild Oats

Roadsides in Central Illinois are a bit longer this year due to the cost of fuel and the State of Illinois' plan to reduce costs by limiting roadside mowing to twice during the season. I personally love the idea and have been enjoying the long waving grasses. They sort of give me the impression that I'm traveling by ship being passed along by a rolling sea of green.

Anyway, it's nice to see the large bends of Wild Oats getting a chance to build up their seed heads. If the price of fuel continues to rise, there will be plenty of roadside feed for those returning to horse and carriage too!!

For Sale

Spotted this great old truck cab sitting in a country lane marked "For Sale". I didn't get closer to check, but could image it might have read..... "Low Engine noise and Great Fuel economy with this one and four tires sold separately!!"

Purple Salvia

Huge plantings of this purple Meadow Sage are popping up around our area this week. It is a nice tall perennial plant that really comes into it's own when planted in mass.

Clouds in the Morning

It's nearly 7 a.m. and a storm front is moving away to the east as I drive in to the office. I've darkened the image a bit to show how striking the clouds were this morning.

A Good Man Knows........

Here is the new dishwasher and the new kitchen stove that my Lovey bought me. The dishwasher went down last week and one of the kids cracked the glass top on my stove around the holidays. The stove still worked, but the crack bothered him too much. My theory is, that a good man knows how to keep Momma happy!! 'Cause, If Momma isn't happy, ain't no one happy!!

Peony Petals

I snapped this image in a yard near to where I work. I played with the color in Lightroom until the details in the petals became more important than the rush of pink. I'm constantly amazed at all that is creation and nature.

From the Porch

I often get asked about country life. This is one of the best answers I have - My front porch. We added this wrap around porch several years ago and put a Gazebo type corner on it. I felt I needed an ideal place to shoot all the big moments in the kids life, like Prom Dances and such. This is one of the best reasons to work hard all weekend and end the evening here.