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There is a little patch of ground near the barn where my family lives that harbors a small stand of one of my favorite plants. This particular Lycoris radiate or Red Spider Lily is a "volunteer." No one knows who planted it but it comes up with annual reliability— all red, showy tendrils and arsenic green stalk. It is a bit of a harlot, as flowers go. I don't know what really attracts me to the plant, but somehow it makes me smile whenever I see it.

It is a perennial, which means it comes back year after year. Maybe I like its constancy, all my life it has produced a striking red bloom. Maybe I like the idea of volunteer flowers. People fuss so much over their gardens that sometimes it is nice to see nature providing an uncultivated and impromptu performance. Whatever the reason I like Spider Lilies, I was lucky enough to receive a huge bag of their bulbs from David Atkins, an heirloom bulb preservationist and all around man of the world. I have to admit that I left the bag on my back sink after he gave them to me last year, somewhat safe in the knowledge that the bulbs would dry out but that the spark of life and beauty still lived within them.

My mother has shamed me by finally planting the last of her bulb haul from Mr. Atkins so I really could not put the process off much longer. Plus, the Red Spider Lilies were putting out long green shoots, begging for light, soil and water. So, I cleared a spot in my very neglected back yard and planted the lot of them.

It was pleasant work on a cool, early spring day and it distracted me from some of the burdens that had been weighting on my mind. It also seemed appropriate, although I am not a religious man, to honor Ash Wednesday and the close of Mardi Gras with a little planting.

Hopefully, the bulbs will survive and thrive (they did well enough in a plastic bag on my sink). Maybe one day someone will look at the stand of Red Spider Lilies and wonder who planted them and pause to marvel at the regular, predictable cycle of life in which we should all feel fortunate to participate.

Check out more at my blog, for lots of photos, recipes, tech talk, travel writing and other ramblings. I appreciate any feedback but, please do not post graphic awards or invitations in the comments, I'm just not crazy about them. Also, if you want to use any of my Commercial Commons licensed photos please link the attribution back to my blog (listed above) and use my full name, Frank McMains. Thanks! Sorry, but you have to pay to use fully copyright protected photos.

There is a little patch of ground near the barn where my family lives that harbors a small stand of one of my favorite plants. This particular Lycoris radiate or Red Spider Lily is a "volunteer." No one knows who planted it but it comes up with annual reliability— all red, showy tendrils and arsenic green stalk. It is a bit of a harlot, as flowers go. I don't know what really attracts me to the plant, but somehow it makes me smile whenever I see it.

It is a perennial, which means it comes back year after year. Maybe I like its constancy, all my life it has produced a striking red bloom. Maybe I like the idea of volunteer flowers. People fuss so much over their gardens that sometimes it is nice to see nature providing an uncultivated and impromptu performance. Whatever the reason I like Spider Lilies, I was lucky enough to receive a huge bag of their bulbs from David Atkins, an heirloom bulb preservationist and all around man of the world. I have to admit that I left the bag on my back sink after he gave them to me last year, somewhat safe in the knowledge that the bulbs would dry out but that the spark of life and beauty still lived within them.

My mother has shamed me by finally planting the last of her bulb haul from Mr. Atkins so I really could not put the process off much longer. Plus, the Red Spider Lilies were putting out long green shoots, begging for light, soil and water. So, I cleared a spot in my very neglected back yard and planted the lot of them.

It was pleasant work on a cool, early spring day and it distracted me from some of the burdens that had been weighting on my mind. It also seemed appropriate, although I am not a religious man, to honor Ash Wednesday and the close of Mardi Gras with a little planting.

Hopefully, the bulbs will survive and thrive (they did well enough in a plastic bag on my sink). Maybe one day someone will look at the stand of Red Spider Lilies and wonder who planted them and pause to marvel at the regular, predictable cycle of life in which we should all feel fortunate to participate.

Check out more at my blog, for lots of photos, recipes, tech talk, travel writing and other ramblings. I appreciate any feedback but, please do not post graphic awards or invitations in the comments, I'm just not crazy about them. Also, if you want to use any of my Commercial Commons licensed photos please link the attribution back to my blog (listed above) and use my full name, Frank McMains. Thanks! Sorry, but you have to pay to use fully copyright protected photos.

There is a little patch of ground near the barn where my family lives that harbors a small stand of one of my favorite plants. This particular Lycoris radiate or Red Spider Lily is a "volunteer." No one knows who planted it but it comes up with annual reliability— all red, showy tendrils and arsenic green stalk. It is a bit of a harlot, as flowers go. I don't know what really attracts me to the plant, but somehow it makes me smile whenever I see it.

It is a perennial, which means it comes back year after year. Maybe I like its constancy, all my life it has produced a striking red bloom. Maybe I like the idea of volunteer flowers. People fuss so much over their gardens that sometimes it is nice to see nature providing an uncultivated and impromptu performance. Whatever the reason I like Spider Lilies, I was lucky enough to receive a huge bag of their bulbs from David Atkins, an heirloom bulb preservationist and all around man of the world. I have to admit that I left the bag on my back sink after he gave them to me last year, somewhat safe in the knowledge that the bulbs would dry out but that the spark of life and beauty still lived within them.

My mother has shamed me by finally planting the last of her bulb haul from Mr. Atkins so I really could not put the process off much longer. Plus, the Red Spider Lilies were putting out long green shoots, begging for light, soil and water. So, I cleared a spot in my very neglected back yard and planted the lot of them.

It was pleasant work on a cool, early spring day and it distracted me from some of the burdens that had been weighting on my mind. It also seemed appropriate, although I am not a religious man, to honor Ash Wednesday and the close of Mardi Gras with a little planting.

Hopefully, the bulbs will survive and thrive (they did well enough in a plastic bag on my sink). Maybe one day someone will look at the stand of Red Spider Lilies and wonder who planted them and pause to marvel at the regular, predictable cycle of life in which we should all feel fortunate to participate.

Check out more at my blog, for lots of photos, recipes, tech talk, travel writing and other ramblings. I appreciate any feedback but, please do not post graphic awards or invitations in the comments, I'm just not crazy about them. Also, if you want to use any of my Commercial Commons licensed photos please link the attribution back to my blog (listed above) and use my full name, Frank McMains. Thanks! Sorry, but you have to pay to use fully copyright protected photos.

EDITED- I think it's an improvement. psst... it looks better big

I drove to Eunice on Sunday night in spite of the excesses of Spanish Town Mardi Gras and an unsightly rug burn on my forehead. I had to photograph a boucherie for Spencer Magazine at 7AM and leaving my house at 5:30AM just didn't sound to appealing. So, the magazine was nice enough to arrange some accommodations for myself and the writer.

The pig was killed, butchered and cooked in a phenomenally short period of time. But, many hands speed the work. Sadly, I can't post any of the 1,200 or so shots I got of the boucherie because the magazine doesn't go to print until April. But, I did see some interesting things on the way back.

There was an abandoned grain silo that looked like a castle and the constant s-curves of crawfish ponds replete with huge flocks of white egret and black marsh ducks. I also stopped at the boat launch off of I-10 for the Atchafalaya and played around with the fisheye there. I think I need to do some more work on the shots of the flocks of birds. Their alternating black and white plumage was very stark against the cloudy, Cajun prairie sky. The two treatments here just don't do justice to the flapping, startled natural palate that was these birds in flight.

Regardless, it was a good day to be up early and driving through that green, sunken landscape. I have had a few offers to head over to one of the smaller Cajun Mardi Gras in Iota tomorrow and I may tag along for the photo opportunities but work at the bar beckons and I do have the aforementioned 1,200 photos to wade through. Who knows what tomorrow may bring but I hope you all have a safe and happy Mardi Gras (more happy than safe). And, I look forward to things getting back to normal after what feels like the endless festivities of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Football Season and Mardi Gras drunkenly sloshing into one another.

Check out more at my blog, for lots of photos, recipes, tech talk, travel writing and other ramblings. I appreciate any feedback but, please do not post graphic awards or invitations in the comments, I'm just not crazy about them. Also, if you want to use any of my Commercial Commons licensed photos please link the attribution back to my blog (listed above) and use my full name, Frank McMains. Thanks! Sorry, but you have to pay to use fully copyright protected photos.

I drove to Eunice on Sunday night in spite of the excesses of Spanish Town Mardi Gras and an unsightly rug burn on my forehead. I had to photograph a boucherie for Spencer Magazine at 7AM and leaving my house at 5:30AM just didn't sound to appealing. So, the magazine was nice enough to arrange some accommodations for myself and the writer.

The pig was killed, butchered and cooked in a phenomenally short period of time. But, many hands speed the work. Sadly, I can't post any of the 1,200 or so shots I got of the boucherie because the magazine doesn't go to print until April. But, I did see some interesting things on the way back.

There was an abandoned grain silo that looked like a castle and the constant s-curves of crawfish ponds replete with huge flocks of white egret and black marsh ducks. I also stopped at the boat launch off of I-10 for the Atchafalaya and played around with the fisheye there. I think I need to do some more work on the shots of the flocks of birds. Their alternating black and white plumage was very stark against the cloudy, Cajun prairie sky. The two treatments here just don't do justice to the flapping, startled natural palate that was these birds in flight.

Regardless, it was a good day to be up early and driving through that green, sunken landscape. I have had a few offers to head over to one of the smaller Cajun Mardi Gras in Iota tomorrow and I may tag along for the photo opportunities but work at the bar beckons and I do have the aforementioned 1,200 photos to wade through. Who knows what tomorrow may bring but I hope you all have a safe and happy Mardi Gras (more happy than safe). And, I look forward to things getting back to normal after what feels like the endless festivities of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Football Season and Mardi Gras drunkenly sloshing into one another.

Check out more at my blog, for lots of photos, recipes, tech talk, travel writing and other ramblings. I appreciate any feedback but, please do not post graphic awards or invitations in the comments, I'm just not crazy about them. Also, if you want to use any of my Commercial Commons licensed photos please link the attribution back to my blog (listed above) and use my full name, Frank McMains. Thanks! Sorry, but you have to pay to use fully copyright protected photos.