Autumn Prairie Delights

“It’s hard to grasp at first the density, the specificity with which the world has been named. This is a planet of overlapping lexicons… . Name upon name, terms of identity in endless degrees of intricacy. And all at hand, if you look for them.” — Verlyn Klinkenborg

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The prairie saves some of its best surprises for September. Gentians. So many gentians.

Tiny stiff gentians budding in blue.

Maturing to lavender.

Cobalt blue prairie gentians on the brink of opening.

Each interior a delight.

Or some gentians tightly closed in bloom. But no less delightful, for that.

Color is overrated, say the cream gentians.

And what joy to find a cross between the cream and the blue.

Sure, there are other spectacular prairie blooms in September besides gentians.

Turtleheads. Like this one.

(Not this one. Although it’s a welcome surprise, too.)

The wild white ladies’ tresses orchids, drilling themselves deep into the grasses.

Inhale. Mmmm. Such a lovely, light scent!

Even a few of the weedy non-native flowers, like chicory, give us pleasure.

Like chips off the September sky, aren’t they?

The month is more than half over.

Yet the prairie offers new blooms and other delights in September wherever we look.

If… we take time to look.

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The opening quote is from Verlyn Klinkenborg’s book, Several short sentences about writing (2012). Klinkenborg (1952-) grew up on a farm in Iowa. He teaches creative writing at Yale University, and has written reflections on the rural life for the New York Times editorial pages. Read NPR’s interview with Klinkenborg here.

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All photos copyright Cindy Crosby (top to bottom): Stiff gentians (Gentianella quinquefolia), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; stiff gentians (Gentianella quinquefolia), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; prairie or downy gentians (Gentiana puberulenta), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; prairie or downy gentians (Gentiana puberulenta) Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; blue bottle gentians (Gentiana andrewsii), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL;  cream gentian (Gentiana flavida or sometimes, Gentiana alba), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; possibly pale-blue gentian (Gentiana x pallidocyanea), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; white turtlehead (Chelone glabra linifolia), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; eastern painted turtle (Chrysemys picta), Nachusa Grasslands, The Nature Conservancy, Franklin Grove, IL; nodding ladies’ tresses (Spiranthes cernua), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; nodding ladies’ tresses (Spiranthes cernua), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; chicory (Cichorium intybus), Nachusa Grasslands, The Nature Conservancy, Franklin Grove, IL; sky over the Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; sky over prairie grasses at Hidden Lake, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, Downer’s Grove, IL. SaveSave

Sun, Surf, and Tallgrass

Like many Midwesterners, I migrated south this week. I’m temporarily trading tallgrass for beaches and waves, warmth, and a change of pace.

Florida sunsets are legendary.

 

No more exotic, however, than prairie sunrises. So much color! From tangerine, rose, and purple …

 

…to solid gold.

 

Prairie sunsets are also in a class of their own. Often, they close the day with a smooth pastel coda.

 

Other evenings, they bring the day to an end with texture and movement.

 

Between sunrise and sunset, the prairie skies are a prime canvas to thumbprint a sundog.

 

A sundog’s fleeting rainbow luminescence is a pleasant, unexpected bonus; especially after a bone-chilling February day hiking the tallgrass.

 

This week, I’ll walk the beach each night, enjoying the light show over the Gulf of Mexico.

On one evening the spectacle is in neon …

 

… on another, the display may be more subdued.

 

But—for a Midwestern girl like myself—nothing beats the winter kaleidoscope of Illinois’ prairie skies.

All photos copyright Cindy Crosby (top to bottom): sunrise, Captiva Island, Florida; sunrise, author’s backyard prairie, Glen Ellyn, IL; sunrise, Hidden Lake, Forest Preserve of DuPage County, Downers Grove, IL; sunset with tent, Nachusa Grasslands, Franklin Grove, IL; sunset, Hidden Lake, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, Downers Grove, IL;  sundog, Cook County Forest Preserves; sundog, Russell Kirt Prairie East, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL; sunset, Sanibel Island, Florida; sunset, Captiva Island, Florida; sunset, author’s prairie, Glen Ellyn, IL.

A Prairie Solstice

If you love light, today is not your day.

It is the winter solstice.

The shortest day of the year. Following the longest night.

No other day will have less light.

It’s the first tick of astronomical winter’s clock. But in the Chicago area, the only thing that says “winter” is the date on the calendar.

It’s been a month full of talk about El Niño, a warming trend. Spring shrubs, deluded by cold nights and daytime temperatures fluctuating into the upper 60s, push out flowers. Lilacs hint purple. Forsythia opens its blooms.

Listen! Look up! The sandhill cranes migrate over us by the thousands, belatedly waking up to the realization they’ve been lulled into lollygagging up north. They dallied a little too long in Wisconsin.

The bison wonder why they bothered with their shaggy overcoats.

 

The warm temperatures this month belie the lack of light that drains inexorably away; minute by minute, hour by hour.  In the morning, we drive to work in darkness; arrive home for dinner under cover of night. But we dimly remember the sunrises…

…and the sunsets….

… the light we took for granted, that turned the savanna edges and prairie misty and luminescent.

We long for the light.

As I’ve felt the darkness brush against me, surround me, and submerge me this month, I’ve thought about what’s coming. Christmas. A day dedicated to light.

This year, Christmas morning will dawn with a “Full Cold Moon” or “Long Nights Moon” as Native Americans once called it. It’s the first full moon on Christmas since 1977 — more than 35 years ago.  We’ll wake up to it when it rises at about 6 a.m.

On this darkest day, after a string of dark weeks, in a world that so desperately needs it…

Send the light.

We’re ready.

All photos by Cindy Crosby (top to bottom): storm over author’s prairie patch, Glen Ellyn, IL;  full moon with Venus rising over author’s prairie, GE; partial moon over author’s prairie, GE; forsythia flowering December 18, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; sandhill cranes over Springbrook Prairie, Naperville, IL;  bison herd at Nachusa Grasslands, Franklin Grove, IL; sunrise, Hidden Lake Forest Preserve of DuPage County, Glen Ellyn, IL; sunset, HL, GE; prairie edge, NG; December morning sundog, Chicago, IL; full moon, GE, IL.