garden | Sunearthsky

I drive by this pasture at least once a week. Although the image looks rural, if you pulled back on the shot you would see that it’s actually on the corner of a busy thoroughfare right in town. I often gauge the change of seasons by what’s happening in and around this field at various times of the year (you can view a couple of the images here and here.)

I set out last night to get a shot of the field as the owners had recently harvested its wheat crop. As often happens though, once there I was sidetracked by something completely different – in this case a patch of purple coneflowers poking through an old barbed-wire fence.

Coneflowers are the quintessential Midwest perennial, and you see them in many home gardens. They have it all: beauty, hardiness, native habitat and they’re attractive to goldfinches, hummingbirds, bees and butterflies.

The sight of purple coneflowers in front of a field of gold is about as summer a scene as one will find in the Midwest in mid July.

Oh, and the pretty gold field stubble is still visible in the background. 🙂

Not long ago, my friend and fellow blogger Nigel Borrington did a post on Kilcooley Abbey, a Cistercian Abbey in County Tipperary, Ireland. Nigel is an artist and professional photographer whose images of the Irish landscape and knowledge of its history are not to be missed. Please do yourself a favor and check out his blog!

I really loved Nigel’s Kilcooley post as I had visited England and France this past spring and found the religious structures incredibly beautiful and fascinating in their history – especially the lesser known churches that dot the English countryside. Although Westminster is the most famous of England’s abbeys, I found the simplicity of the small churches to be just as intriguing. They are remote and peaceful; austere yet humble. You can stand in the nave of canons priory, for example, and imagine this place in the thirteenth century – the monks communing in silence as they prayed, read, fished, meditated, held services.

It’s high summer in the Midwest. The sun is blazing down and the air is thick with humidity. I thought it would be nice, then, to revisit the cool spring afternoon of the English countryside.

The light was low on the day we visited, and these are mobile phone images, so please excuse the poor quality.

I want to thank Nigel for his encouragement and support. He answers my questions with patience and wisdom. He is generous and kind with his feedback of not just my blog but other fellow bloggers on WordPress as well. So thank you, Nigel!

🙂