Morning light is the prettiest when it filters through curtains and warms walls in its path. The morning I captured this photo, we'd had a night of nonstop rain. I thought we were going to float away!

Suddenly as if on cue, the rain stopped and sunshine broke through.
"Change, like sunshine, can be a friend or a foe, a blessing or a curse, a dawn or a dusk." - William WardLife occasionally tosses us moments of gray, unrelenting downpours--times when it feels like the sun will never shine again. I've learned to look forward to the return of sunny ribbons of light, because I know that tough times don't ever last forever. Just as our seasons have been changing right on time since the days of Creation, life's seasons constantly change, as well.

Besides, how we cope with the dark times determines how much we'll savor those sunny mornings when they eventually do return.

Read more about color at my blog, Seedplanter's Porch, where I've posted
A World Without Color?.

When I dug up my backyard two summers ago, I didn't really know what to expect. I just knew that I wanted something besides grass and an occasional bush. If you've visited my Backyard Makeover: Before and After lens, you know that the space has been transformed into a peaceful outdoor sanctuary for birds, butterflies--and me!

Here's a flower that has reached well past its prime. I still enjoy
photographing flowers long after they're fresh and pretty. There's something interesting about watching plant life age.

When my daughter was a preschooler, she brought home a jelly jar filled with wildflowers. I made a big fuss over how pretty they were, and set them on my kitchen windowsill. Every day she'd check those flowers. She didn't see them as stinkweed (which, by the way, was part of her impromptu bouquet), but as a surprise that made her momma happy.

I can't pass a wildflower field without remembering that sweet, priceless gift.

I'm a fern lover from way back. I remember the first time I spotted wild ferns growing near our family's campsite. I was a little girl, and those lacy plants set my imagination soaring. What would it be like to be an ant curling up in the middle of a bed of ferns? I began thinking of everything in tiny terms, and the world took on a new look.

Everywhere we hiked that week, I paid attention to details in nature. Suddenly, the veins of leaves and the scalloped edges of ferns captured my attention and gave me an appreciation for the beauty of our world. It's no wonder I eventually became a nature photographer specializing in macro (closeup) images.