SPRING 2013 AT THE KILGORE OLD PLACE

In this year of 2013, the spring season has been a pleasant one with mild temperatures, soft cool breezes, and plentiful rains.  Only in this third week of May have muggy, warm-to-hot temperatures, typical of Alabama weather, appeared.  This spring has reminded me of the perfect weather I’ve experienced  in the past while visiting my children in California.  

As this special season sprang forth, the trees appeared with bountiful foliage, seeming to be even thicker than in recent years.  The grasses in the fields and yards emerged from the ground more slowly because of the cooler than usual temperatures.  Bushes, trees, and grasses appeared with multiple layers and shades of green--more than Crayola could ever produce. The wooded hills and mountains were a canvas of unmatchable contrasts and hues of light to dark green, and every shade in between.

While visiting the Kilgore Old Place this month, I took some photographs of plant life.  There was nature’s color in the field all around the old house.  I was a little boy again, reflecting on those springs of my boyhood when the daffodils appeared in February and March in yellows and whites, and the robins appeared in the yards digging for worms.  The air was full of music as nature was alive and restating her presence. The wild flowers and other plant life were exalting the majesty and beauty of God’s creation.  The cliche‘ “ a picture is worth a thousand words” is a fitting statement for you, the reader, to experience.  I do not know the names of the varying plants you will see through these photographs, but I do know that the little boy in me wanted to share it all with you.

   

Daffodils planted many years ago and appear everything
spring around the back of the old house

I do not know the name of this plant.  The leaves are feathery
and will close up when you touch them.  There are small briars
on the stems of this wild plant.

This is a sweet shrub  taken from the woods and planted
behind the old house.  The blossoms are very pleasant to smell.

The field behind the old house is filled with yellow
color from  the wild flowers.

A close shot of the deep yellow of this wild plant.

Standing in the field surrounded by the yellow wild flowers
 separated by space created  a sensation of
distance, placement, and movement
in a fashion much like a 3D movie.

In one section of the back field around the outhouse
blue wild flowers are a plenty.

Feathery wild grasses are also prevalent in the field
behind the old house.

This is one hardy Petunia.  It was blooming until late
fall last year, and  returned in bloom in early spring.  The
plant  is next to the foundation supporting the front
porch of the old house.

New growth is evident on this small pine tree near the
front yard of the Kilgore Old Place.  You
can see the old barn in the background.

Among the daffodils was this beautiful wild plant with
its flowering stems.  

There is a special beauty in the natural and unplanned appearance of nature's happenings, especially when that appearance signifies "new life." This was most evident as I stood among all that the Kilgore Old Place field displayed on a spring day 2013.  The old place is sacred to us cousins.  But even more sacred in the appearance of God's creation.  Let's enjoy it and enjoy He who made it.

Johnny Kilgore