Sunshine and Thistles

I'm behind on this blog because I spent the weekend at an Opening to Grace workshop with Tilda Norberg at the Hermitage in Michigan. I was part of the support staff, providing meal prep and clean up, and participating in the sessions as we were able.

I meant to post before we left for the weekend, but last minute preparations here took longer than expected. So here's a post for last Friday, and more will be coming from the weekend as I continue to receive that experience more fully.

I'm enjoying the sunshine and bright flowers of early summer. I was photographing the flower above and clicked the button just as the bee zoomed in. There's plenty of pesticides still out there in the world, but the bees haven't vanished yet, praise be to God.

Some cheerful flowers for gazing at when life seems gray....

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And here is "Thistles, part III."  John and I went for our usual evening walk on campus a week ago and discovered this thistle thriving in the middle of the prairie plantings, where several days earlier I had not been able to find any thistles except some stunted and dying ones that appeared to have had some chemical treatment.

I would like to now set aside the analogy of thistles and cancer, because this one gave me delight, seeing it thriving and producing a beautiful bloom, glowing in the evening sunlight, thorns and all. I haven't checked recently to see if it's still there, but for the moment when I took the photo, surrounded by golden coreopsis and gray grasses, it was a lovely sight.