A Prairie Gift – Black Eyed Susans

Black Eyed Susans

Buy Real Diazepam Black Eyed Susans © 2012 Bo Mackison

https://www.pslra.org/kj0iub6rz6k “Each step we take creates a cool breeze, refreshing our body and mind.
Every step makes a flower bloom under our feet.” ~ Thich Nhat Hahn

follow url Each morning I walk. Each morning a part of my walk is walking with meditation. I don’t do it long, only 5 minutes or so. I usually do it at the beginning of my walk, when I am still on sidewalks and have not yet reached the  pond destination or the prairie destination. I do it to prepare myself for the day, to open my senses for what I will be seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and speaking in the hours to come. To prepare a space for the new to assemble next to the old. To focus on the present.

https://thelowegroupltd.com/9xi5ew6 As I walk for those first few minutes, camera silent, hurried mind slowed, I find it helpful to breathe in and out slowly. And every few steps as I inhale, I say, “Imperfect…” and as I exhale I say, “I am enough.”

https://hereisnewyorkv911.org/tijl82k And then, in my mind’s eye, a flower blooms under my feet!

click —————-

go here Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Walking, Bo first slows down, offers gratitude, and then does a brief walking meditation. Then she is ready to take off the lens cover and begin taking photos.

Lands that I Love

Late Autumn in the Prairie - Hidden Colors

https://www.frolic-through-life.com/2025/01/k3wqo3cw Hidden Colors in the Prairie © 2012 Bo Mackison

follow site A passion builds inside anyone who spends time on the prairie. ~ D. Showalter

click In the winter, I spend my time in the Southwest and often wander the open spaces of the desert. It felt like home, the desert stretching as far as I could see, the first time I stood in the desert’s midst, turning in a circle, looking at the diversity, at the low clumping grasses, the bursts of yellow wildflowers, standing in the thick ground vegetation where I had perhaps expected sandbox sand.

go site It was a surprise to me. Why would I have such a thrilling connection to this secret land, land many people describe as desolate, and yet I could see nothing but wonder. This was not a land of my desolation.  A land of little water, yes, and of grand schemes for plant conservation, but wherever I looked there were compact surprises of the natural sort.

source url And now, in this last week of summer, where the touch of autumn rests heavily in the niches of Wisconsin, I notice similarities of the prairie and the desert.

https://www.infotonicsmedia.com/about/where-to-buy-valium-in-the-uk.php The tallgrass prairie stretches far, blocks my view with its six-foot tall grasses and flower stalks, and I imagine it stretching for miles. Imagine I must, for most of the prairie has been swept clean, readied a century ago by the tractor’s plow, for corn and soybeans.  And now the neighboring land waits for winter covered with a different type of remnant, the sheared rows of cornstalks.

follow link So I keep my eyes focused on the prairie spaces, on the swaying grasses, the sudden stalks of flowers dancing above my head, the prairie flowers twisting, wending their way, forcing their way ever skyward. Grasses and flowers with pioneer names – calico asters, switch grass, prairie cord grass, needle grass, cup-plant, compass plant.

http://foodsafetytrainingcertification.com/food-safety-news/e9wsdks9bd In autumn, these prairie spaces have a certain look, the familiar is so similar to the arid desert grasslands.

How To Get Tramadol Online Uk Prairie in the autumn. Desert in the winter.

enter site Lands that I love.

enter site ——————-

https://osteopatiaamparoandres.com/6517rll0dpd Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Another day traipsing paths through prairie – her muse for both photography and words.

Walking the Tallgrass Prairie – Sunday Series

Sunny

follow link Prairie Rosinweed © 2012 Bo Mackison

Buy Diazepam Ampoules The disappearance of a major natural unit of vegetation from the face of the earth is an event worthy of causing pause and consideration by any nation.  Yet so gradually has the prairie been conquered by the breaking plow, the tractor, and the overcrowded herds of man…that scant attention has been given to the significance of this endless grassland or the course of its destruction.  Civilized man is destroying a masterpiece of nature without recording for posterity that which he has destroyed.  ~  John Ernest Weaver, North American Prairie (1954)

Tall Grass Prairie

Order Tramadol Online Cash On Delivery Little Bluestem in Tallgrass Prairie © 2012 Bo Mackison

follow link I like to think of landscape not as a fixed placed but as a path that is unwinding before my eyes, under my feet. ~ Gretel Ehrlich

Autumn Macro

follow Autumn Macro of Wings and Leaves © 2012 Bo Mackison

https://www.iql-nog.com/2025/01/19/3lf134wzl7s . . . the joy of prairie lies in its subtlety.  It is so easy—too easy—to be swept away by mountain and ocean vistas.  A prairie, on the other hand, requests the favor of your closer attention.  It does not divulge itself to mere passersby.   ~ Suzanne Winckler (2004, Prairie: A North American Guide)

Prairie Rosinweed © 2012 Bo Mackison

Prairie Rosinweed © 2012 Bo Mackison

. . . there don’t seem to be words, let alone colors, to do justice to the land and sky-scape that surrounds me . . . as empty as this place can seem, a person might never weary of looking at the land and sky.  ~ Kathleen Norris, Introduction to On the Plains (1999)

Tall Grass Prairie - Seedheads

Achenes and Wings of the Autumn Rosinweed © 2012 Bo Mackison

The sea, the woods, the mountains, all suffer in comparison with the prairie. . . The prairie has a stronger hold upon the senses.  Its sublimity arises from its unbounded extent, its barren monotony and desolation, its still, unmoved, calm, stern, almost self-confident grandeur, its strange power of deception, its want of echo, and, in fine, its power of throwing a man back upon himself. ~ Albert Pike (1831-32, Journeys in the Prairie)

Eight Foot Tall - Sunflowers in the Tallgrass Prairie

Prairie Cup-Plant © 2012 Bo Mackison

A world of grass and flowers stretched around me, rising and falling in gentle undulations, as if an enchanter had struck the ocean swell, and it was at rest forever. . .   ~ Eliza Steele, Summer Journey in the West (1840)

Bluestem Grasses in Tallgrass Prairie

Autumn Macro of Little Bluestem © 2012 Bo Mackison

“Grasslands challenge our senses, calling us to open our eyes to impossibly broad horizons and then, in the very next breath, to focus on some impossibly tiny critter hidden in the grass.” ~ James R. Page, Wild Prairie: A Photographer’s Personal Journey (2005)

Looking Above my Head

Above my Head in the Prairie © 2012 Bo Mackison

 It seems to be a constant contradiction of itself.  It is delicate, yet resilient; it appears to be simple, but closer inspection indicates that it is extremely complex; it may appear monotonous, but it is diverse and ever-changing throughout the seasons. ~ James Stubbendieck (1988)

——————

Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Today I offer you a few photographs of the prairie combined with quotations that describe the prairie in America’s Midwest throughout its recent (200 year) history with man. There isn’t much prairie left to see, but whenever I walk in a remnant, I feel awed by the possibility of a prairie that goes as far as the eye can see. More to come . . .

Lessons from the American Lotus

Sunlit Ice on Pond

American Lotus through Sunlit Ice © 2011 Bo Mackison

  Nature is a mirror held to our view so we can see the ongoing process of growth, renewal and transformation in our lives.

~ Mary Anne Brussatt

I love this east corner of Strickers Pond in Madison. It is the only part of the water that has these pond plants which I’ve photographed for a few weeks, and I just discovered what they are – American Lotus plants.

The American lotus is an emersed native – the roots of the plant are in the muddy bottom of the edges of lakes, and the stalks protrude from the water. Their leaves are circular; they do not have the familiar indentation that water-lily leaves have.

Before the stalks weaken and break in late fall, the plants look like open umbrellas, all together, rather like big-city commuters, hurrying home in a downpour.

Plants are fascinating to study throughout the seasons. I didn’t see these in bloom, but I’ve read they have large, plate-sized blossoms, bright yellow.

Sounds lovely, but I rather like them at this stage, in their winter existence stance. Some will keep standing, especially if the pond gets its typical snow fall. After a good storm, they’ll be supported by a foot or more of snow. Some of the stalks will be smashed to the surface by the ice storms that often precede the snow accumulation.

American Lotus Seedheads

American Lotus Seedheads © 2011 Bo Mackison

No matter, each plant already dropped its seed head, the seeds have loosened from the heavy protective pod, some settled in the pond’s muddy bottom waiting for winter to come and pass into spring, for the long dark to turn into days of lengthening light. Next spring a new crop of lotus will be waving their green high above the water and in summer a sea of yellow flowers will show off for the neighborhood.

These plants give me hope. Today they are brittle brown, broken, most are leaf-less. They stand in disarray. Yet, I still see a deep, rich beauty in them. I know the new plants will fascinate me when they rise from the water, and entrance me even more when they form a yellow floral carpet above the water.

There is a beauty throughout their life cycle. Just as I am learning that there is beauty in all of us, both in our up and down periods and throughout the cycle of our lives, too.

When I stand with my feet in the mud, broken, ashamed, worried about my future, I am beaten by the cold and winds of indifference and harsh words, even hateful words. But also by my sensitivity, my fear. I feel alone and vulnerable.

And I walk around the pond and I’m reminded of the promise of fresh growth, new experiences, deepening awareness — these thoughts hold me upright through the darkness. The light will return. The cycles will continue.

Seeds. Light. Water. Earth.

The cycle of life continues.

——————–

Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She anticipates the approaching winter solstice, and the promise of lengthening days.

Garden Door in Late Autumn

Garden Door - Autumn

Garden Door in Late Autumn © 2011 Bo Mackison

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile is the source of your joy. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

I am smiling at the memory of the many hours I spent in the gardens and national parks in Arizona. The waning sun often cast a golden glow before it quickly set for the evening.

The quote that I used today is one I repeat often to myself. I found it easy to be filled with joy when I was strolling along the garden paths at Tohono Chul or the Tucson Botanical Garden. A smile came readily to me. Back in Wisconsin, I find the conditions outside are not always conducive to outside shoots. And when the temps are below freezing and the skies are gray, I have to work a bit harder to reach that feeling of joy.

I find that the simple act of smiling while preparing a cup of tea, or sorting through photo catalogs brings me joy. My smile can be a source of joy — for me and for the people around me.

—————-

Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She has returned to Wisconsin from the Southwest to celebrate the Holiday Season with family and friends. Bo’s first show back in Arizona will be in early February – the Tubac Festival of the Arts!