The landscape lay waste to February’s warm arrival and took on a most pathetic look.  The once beautiful, pure white blanket of snow had been reduced to the dirty, grungy spoils of a Winter warming, but that wasn’t all that remained in the receding snow. As the landscape below the mounds and mountains of snow began to…

  October caramelizes the landscape with deeply saturated tones and sweet, mellow flair.  The static display of Summer foliage turns dynamic, each species unique in color, smoldering in the brisk, cool air.   October is, by far, my favorite month, and she has yet to disappoint.  The bracing, crisp weather…

  The landscape became gilded in the warm, setting sun before donning the cool, amethyst robe of twilight.  Stars flickered in the silken, night sky as moths fluttered in the spaces in between.  Here and there, lumbering beetles shuffled towards the warmth of porch lights, and their appearance made a perfect…

  The once lethargic and hushed landscape became frenetic and boisterous with the jubilant sound of chirping and twittering birds who seemed to have a season’s worth of gossip to share.  The squirrels too descended in mass from the trees to forage and romp.  The landscape had come alive and intimated a welcoming narrative…

Like the receding tides, the snow melted to reveal a bruised and battered landscape.  The frozen ground couldn’t possibly absorb the melting snow and unseasonable rain, making for quite a soggy mess.  February is a fickle lass indeed, but she has given us our first peek at the landscape below.  …

  Tawny grasses roiled and heaved like flaxen waves on the sea.  Killing frosts followed, gnarling and twisting tender stems and wilting Summer foliage.  Trees continued to drop their brilliant leaves as October too was swept away in November’s wicked winds.   As you know, waning daylight and cooler temperatures are the catalysts…

  Sidling in on its belly, seeking refuge in the cool, low lands, the fog quickly bled into the surrounding areas, blotting out the light and swallowing everything in its path.  Soon the landscape was enrobed in a dreary gray murkiness, seemingly devoid of life or color.   Late Fall, early Winter can have…

  Admiring her work, May lingered on the fringe, contented and satisfied, as she packed her bags preparing for her upcoming departure.  Staring back at her were the fully leafed trees and blooming plants of a maturing landscape, the air perfumed with the bouquet of late Spring/early Summer flowers.  The groundwork…

  The air was silken and sweet as the velvety curtain of dusk fell, and the few, frothy clouds seemed to dissipate in wake of the sterling, shimmering stars.  It was neither chilly nor warm.  It simply was, and it was beautiful.   Frankly, it’s hard to believe it’s Winter, let alone February…

  Sweet June turned sultry quickly, and our every thought, our every word, our every action hung suspended in the thick, dank air.  The sheer weight of the humidity has left our soul and spirit mired and stale.  Sweet June is in a hurry to grow up, her innocence sullied, my…

October caramelizes the landscape with deeply saturated tones and sweet, mellow flair.  The static display of Summer foliage turns dynamic, each species unique in color, aflame against the sky. According to the US Forest Service, Illinois is in the throes of peak color.  We know this not to be true as…

There are times when the clouds become part of the landscape, rising from the earth like great, snow-capped mountains.  I like to imagine the Midwest’s tectonic plates have crashed and sent forth a mighty range which hovers above us in the highest and thinnest of atmospheres, teetering on the brink of space,…