"The Glory of the Lord Shone Around About Them"

 I know I have mentioned in the past, that I have a hard time keeping track of the seasons in Texas, but I am not so confused as to be thinking it is Christmas.  However, on a ride north through the Hill Country to see my daughter last weekend, that was the verse that kept jumping to mind.  “The Glory of the Lord” was truly shining all around us.  For it is spring, and in the Hill Country of Texas that is synonymous with “glory” as flowers carpet the fields and the highways are a palette of color; blue, gold, purple, red, yellow, orange, pinks and on and on.  Glory.

We were stuck in a traffic jam outside of a town that was running a marathon and chose to give the runners/walkers full reign of the road and, what might have been pretty annoying, was a chance to get a good look and finally ID the flowers that were too hard to see clearly at 60mph.  But at 5 mph you can practically see them down to their pistils and stamens.  One tall, white, omnipresent flower was driving me crazy because it was EVERYWHERE yet no one seemed to know what it was called.  Yet the one place it wasn’t, was anywhere near my house, or at the nature center or somewhere I could see it at less than 60mph.  Finally, with the traffic jam I could hop out and get a better look and, Aha, it is called Prairie Bishop’s Weed.  Now I know, and can tell others if they ask, not that they are likely too, but all the same, it is just nice to know. 

And, just for fun, I will share with you the description in the book.  Remember, I am not bonafide botanist, just a curious naturalist, so the terms that they use in identifying these things always seem the most amazing mouthful to me.  Here is how part of the description reads,   “Its stems are striate.  The glabrous leaves are up to 2” long, and are three times pinnately divided into slender, threadlike filaments.  A few entire to pinnately divided linear bracts lie at the base of compound inflorescence.”   

Translation: Its stems have fine grooves along the ridges, the leaves don’t have hairs, and they have 3 pairs of opposite compound leaves, the leaves that are on the bottom of the flower are also compound and the flower itself is a collection of compound flowers.  Ok maybe it was easier to say their way but harder to get the picture if you are a novice.  Guess we all need to study our glossary more.

What also crossed my mind that day is how lucky I have been to have driven so many roads where the “Glory of God” indeed shone all around me.  Pick any back road in New England in the fall and it will take your breath away. 

 

  Drive the ever-twisting Rte 1 along the California coast where ocean and cliff, surf and soaring birds and, in the right season, a chance to see spouting whales, makes it nearly miraculous that you don’t go over a cliff yourself while looking. 

  My own beloved back-roads of Cape Cod are also full of “glory”, especially in June when roses climb through the trees like a bridal bower, or past salt marshes so green they seem the very definition of chlorophyll.

 

 We all have these images, tucked away, kept forever in some neuron bundle in our brain, to pull out when perhaps we are not in such a lovely place.  At least I hope we do.  And in a matter of weeks, I shall be hitting the highways again, driving to Maine in May for the birth of grandchild #3 and I know more glory scenes will be added.  And, it is a good bet; I will be sharing them with you.