In the past, I would have discarded this image. It did not turn out as I had intended, the shutter speed was too slow to capture the butterflies in detail. It was a mistake. Or was it?

The slower shutter speed, 1/40 second, does communicate the movement of the butterflies. the photo is more expressive of the near constant motion of these blurs of color. Not a mistake after all. I can even pretend that this was just what I hoped would occur.

Some art is just a happy accident, being in the right place to see. And inviting others to see.

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How far back is the good old days? I remember listening, when I was very young, to Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers on the radio. We lived in a duplex and I shared a bedroom with my younger brother and sister. Was that the good old days? My school years were spent moving from place to place, with my dad always changing jobs. That didn't seem like the best times. I remember that the air was dirty and coal soot would collect on the snow. There may be adventure and promise in the future, but there is comfort and nostalgia in looking back, although our memory is selective. How could it be so good when it wasn't in color?

Yeah, I'm teasing some. But all in all, I choose today.

My best friends, the ones who have had some kind of working relationship with me, know that I have control issues. I say, I can't help it if my hands just perfectly fit the steering wheel. I do like to drive. I like to know where I am going. And I am guilty of wanting to be in charge of how we get there and when. I have ridden the bus, and the train, and in airplanes, and helicopters, and in ferries. And I admit that sometimes it is more comfortable to let someone else drive.

On our recent trip to Jackson, Tennessee, Judy discovered that the Greyhound Bus Station in downtown Jackson was an original art-deco style. History and Why Halfway We drove down at night to photograph it at night but there were no lights. So we went back in the morning and a bus was waiting to board passengers to Dallas.

Most of us don't travel this way anymore but there are many with limited resources who find the bus will get them where they need to go.

As I have heard many times, the best camera is the one you have with you. This is an image using my iPhone 7. And I'm not certain that my expensive Sony a7rii could make any better of a photo. I could make a much larger print using the Sony, but for the web, this looks terrific. And this scene was begging to be captured.

This is an update to an earlier post that showed the maple tree blossoms just beginning to open. Now they are in full bloom. The air seems different, not just unseasonably warm with a reminder of the calendar. Yesterday felt more like spring has sprung. Warm. Birds singing. The phlox has begun to bloom. The bridal veil spirea is blooming. It is probably difficult to see on this photo that is sized for the internet, and I didn't notice when I was snapping the picture, but there are strands of spider web stringing from blossom to blossom. I'm ready.

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The Gospel Lesson, Matthew 5:39-48, contains familiar words even to those who do not claim to be Christian. "But I say to you. love your enemies...If you love only those who love you what reward do you have?" It is not reasonable to love one's enemies. And Jesus compounds the commandment because the word "enemies" refers to personal opponents, adversaries that we know. Enemies are not far off. They live next door. Sometimes we work with them. I have even witnessed that they can be in the same church. Our current environment warns us that enemies are everywhere. So we respond with fear, and exclusion, and war--the opposite of what Jesus said his followers should do. Love. Difficult to do. We love our enemies because God loves all. Every one of us.

Do you know of Shel Silverstein's poetry?  In his book, Where the Sidewalk Ends, is a delightful poem entitled "Hug O' War".  I'd like to share it with you.

   "I will not play at tug o' war.

I'd rather play at hug o' war,

Where everyone hugs

Instead of tugs,

Where everyone giggles

And rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses,

And everyone grins,

And everyone cuddles,

And everyone wins."

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We took a short trip this week to Reelfoot Lake and ate catfish at Boyettes, in business for nearly 100 years. The staff at the visitors center encourages us to walk on the boardwalk to the edge of the lake. Judy asked me if I had seen the green plants just below the surface of the water. I hadn't, so I looked down and saw this amazing sight, of green at the top of the cypress trees and green in the water. Reflections tend to trick our eyes and make us question what we are seeing. By looking down, we are seeing up. My iPhone 7 is responsible for the capture of this image.

What stirs the sleeping plants to spring forth from the earth? An increase in the daily amount of sunshine and the corresponding warmth of the earth signals the plant that it could be time to start. Sometimes, our hopes are thwarted with late hard freeze. Not so many years ago I recall that the trees in southern Illinois had leafed out. It was an early spring with a late frost that froze the new leaves and the leafing of the trees began all over again. I was disappointed as I think many others were as well. The early pink cherry trees are blooming. The forsythia is starting. Even the tulip magnolias and the star magnolias are beginning to bloom. I certainly hope they are not wrong.