The temperature hit 60 this afternoon (Dec. 18), less than 80 hours before calendar winter begins with the solstice. I hiked six miles across the shortgrass prairie in this balmy weather, and I'd love to describe the beauty of the experience to you. But I can't. The right words haven't yet been invented, nor am I a good enough writer. These pictures will have to do, but they only nibble at the edge of actually being there. My life is incredibly better than I deserve. Click the images for a larger view. May each of you have a surfeit of days of joyful wonder.
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| Me an' my shadow |
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| Spent Tenpetal Evening Star, Mentzelia decapetala |
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| Someone forgot to police up his brass |
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| Light, shadow, sky, water |
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| Stuff of life |
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| Sun, water, ice, carbon |
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| Where are the polar bears? |
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| Sweeter than champagne, and even (temporarily) bubbly |
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| Warning, treacherous footing here |
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| Backlit grass seedpods |
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| No sun all winter = deep freeze |
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| Lichens thrive |
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| Grass, yucca, snow, sky, clouds, sunshine |
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| Spent Stemless Hymenoxys, Hymenoxys acaulis |
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| Sun-kissed late-autumn prairie |
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| Old bower in leafless sumac -- baby birds raised here in the spring |
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| The reason I can hike here |
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