Happy Birthday

This week the National Park Service celebrated its one hundredth anniversary. Called "America's best idea" by Wallace Stegner (who attributed it to James Bryce), the national parks are splendid treasures belonging to all Americans. They are a tribute to the foresight of their many originators, and a lesson to all about what can be accomplished with vision, effort, and the will to create things of benefit to the public at large. May today's leaders be inspired to follow suit.

I'm lucky enough to live near the C&O Canal National Historical Park and have taken thousands of photos there. The image below is of a back channel of the Potomac River flowing through the area called Rocky Islands, from the vantage point of the canal towpath. This point is about 10 miles, as the crow flies, from the White House. The park extends along the canal into the District of Columbia and in the opposite direction to Cumberland, Maryland, a total distance of 185 miles. Whenever in the park I marvel at its beauty and its proximity to the Nation's Capital, and give thanks for the efforts of those (including Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas) who worked to preserve it as a park.

You needn't be a photographer to appreciate our national parks. Get out there and soak up some magnificence soon. 

Rocky Islands and channel, C&O Canal Park

Flora

We have had a very green year in 2016 around here. Adequate rainfall had a lot to do with it.

On a short trip to Virginia wine country outside Charlottesville we found a beautiful redbud outside our AirBnB (the very nice Gum Tree Lodge).

Redbud Leaves

We took a stroll around a large nursery nearby. They had a big inventory of just about everything, but what caught my eye were the poppies growing wild.

Wild Poppies

Back home the rain, a maturing garden and who-knows-what-else has us marveling at blossoms and pruning like never before. The flowering bush image in the previous post came from our front yard. We've also had a bumper crop of cone flowers (echinacea).

Cone Flowers (Echinacea)

I've updated my greeting card collection with some of these and other new images. Head over to the Greeting Card page to have a look.