Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

  What a beauty!  Little guy tucked into the leaves of a lily plant. The walkway to the table under the maple tree. Broken wing but still getting along. The abandoned stroller. Kinda creepy. (This was at a state forest I visited last week. I want to return and take more pictures of this with better lighting.) One last lightning but photo. Taken right after sunset, over the field directly behind my house.

You know how a great idea occurs to you at the last minute? And it's one of those sit straight up in bed in the middle of the night ideas that won't leave you alone until you do something about it? That's what happened to me with the jersey I suddenly decided I had to create for the BTUSFMS ride this summer. I knew without even hesitating what I wanted to have on the front: a large sunflower. Mom loved sunflowers. I'm no artist, though, so even though a sunflower isn't all that difficult to create, I knew I wasn't going to capture what was bouncing around in my head. I do have, however, a beautiful artist friend who has been my friend since the fourth grade. I knew Connie would understand what I wanted and be able to design the idea I put in front of her. In a matter of just a couple of days, she had the design ready. She even got in touch with the company creating the jersey and spoke to the point person there to make sure the design happened just as I envisio...