just what I needed

Fried. That’s how I was feeling by the end of last week. All creativity dried up. A heavy heart. Exhaustion. Sunday afternoon was cold but sunny yet I knew I needed to get-out. Alone. So I took off, just me and my camera, for a little walk around the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

I’d been wanting to go but hesitated thinking everything is still so dead, how can the garden’s be anything but dead and depressing right now? I was so wrong. My little jaunt ended up being a 2 1/2 hr adventure. Time was non-existent. It took about 30 minutes to find my groove, after a while I began seeing color! A rainbow of colors! And texture everywhere. Even in what would seem like winter’s grey slumber – I slowly felt my creative spark returning. I came away with deep sighs of relief and refreshment. All I could think to say was, “Thank you Jesus, that’s just what I needed.” I drove into the garden a heavy burdened girl and drove out filled with grace and freedom.

Check out the rainbow I found … red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. They are all there.

Believe it or not, I didn’t notice I had captured a rainbow until the very end of my time there. I was thinking back on my images and realized … there is truly a rainbow of color pre-spring! How refreshing.

These were the last two images I captured before my memory card became full. There were three of these potted wishing trees with individual messages on glassine tags tied to the branches. Wishes and prayers for those suffering in Japan as a result of the recent earthquake. So beautiful.

I think Kiana and I will return soon when the daffodils and tulips are blooming. I can’t wait to see how the landscape changes in light of the seasons. It’s an atmosphere where you can’t help but take a deep breath and escape the complications of life for a bit.