Elk herd, Moraine Park meadow, Rocky Mountain National Park, August 31, 2009

Tansy Aster next to ruin wall, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, September 14, 2009

Tugboat pushing barges up river; view from Big Dam Bridge – Pulaski County Pedestrian & Bicycle Bridge – Murray Lock and Dam on the Arkansas River May 12, 2007

Prickly Poppy, Windlass Hill on the Oregon Trail, near Ash Hollow, Nebraska, July 8, 2010

Argemone albiflora (Wikipedia)

Argemone albiflora, the white prickly poppy, also known as the bluestem prickly poppy or the Texas prickly poppy, is a small erect plant with a decorative white flower with a yellow latex. It is deeply rooted with yellow or red stamens. The plant is known for the sharp prickles on its stem and leaves. The sepals fall off as the flower of this plant grows bigger. It grows in the arid regions of the southern Midwest along roadsides and disturbed pieces of land. Native Americans have long revered this plant for its medicinal and other uses.

Art on Sunday #5

1886 oil on canvas painting by Eloise Harriet Stannard (1829-1915)

Eloise Harriet Stannard was one of fourteen children of Alfred Stannard, brother of Joseph Stannard, both important landscape painters of the Norwich School in England.  The painting is in the Museum of John Paul II Collection in Warsaw, Poland, established in 1989 in the building of the former stock exchange and National Bank.

Trail to Nymph, Dream & Emerald Lakes, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, September 3, 2009

Selected Information Resources:

Rocky Mountain National Park

• National Park Service– Rocky Mountain National Park
  • Suggested Hikes
  • Conditions and Closures
• Wikitravel
• Wikipedia

Palmettos in the woods, Middleton Place plantation, Dorchester County, South Carolina, 15 miles from Charleston, June11, 2012

Pedestrian Bridge to Credit Island (in the Mississippi River), Davenport, Iowa, September 25, 2012

Market House, Marine Way,  Paducah, Kentucky, September 5, 2008