When Life Gives You Blue

For a nature friend whose wife is battling cancer and cannot make the trek to the prairie to view the wildflowers, this scouting report is for you. August rains have given the late-blooming flowers a boost, including sunflowers galore. Responding to the rain, stands of blue pitcher sage wave in the Kansas wind behind the barbed wire fences. The prairie is unaccustomed to such true blue, as if the sky has been robbed of its color for the down low. I believe the rain has prolonged the faint purple blooms of prairie petunia, the single bloomed fringeleaf ruellia, which grows mere inches off the ground. I find it widespread in our pastures. If timing is everything, then the tall thistle has someone to thank for watering it at a critical moment, as the stands are lusty and full of blooms to the butterflies' delight. Milder temperatures this week make the mind wander towards autumn, and I did see a black locust tree starting to fade to lime green in a ditch bank above the lake. The honey locusts are full of sickle-shaped pods that shake overhead like wind chimes. Along the rocky bank of a small creek, I spotted the first cardinal flower opening its spike full of vibrant red. And for those difficult days when life gives you blue, look ahead to the coming season when new flowers open for you. The down low gives you solid perspective and preps you for the climb up.