I love the softness of weathered cottonwoods and spring grass. A walk through this area was solace for my soul.
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,In the bleak midwinter, long ago. -Christina Rossetti; excerpt from In the Bleak Midwinter
A Western Conifer Seed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis), from the Hemiptera order, I saw on Monday.