…and it’s time for a change.
Having reached my limit on blogger (I am currently at 94% capacity), it was time to find a new home. Here it is! What do you think? I am still keeping my blogger account active – being almost 2 years old, there is a lot of history I’m not willing to throw away. I enjoy visiting old posts and seeing where I was 6 months ago, a year, or even two.
Readers who have been with me since last spring will recall one of my favorites places to photograph – the pond at Madison Park. After four days of rain, the sun made a rare appearance . The gentle showers combined with warm temperatures to make flowers POP! One of the earliest spring blossoms is that of the dogwood tree. The tiny buds have unfurled their delicate snow-white petals to reveal a center cluster of green.
There is a Christian legend of unknown origin that proclaims that the cross used to crucify Jesus was constructed of dogwood. As the story goes, during the time of Jesus, the dogwood was larger and stronger than it is today and was the largest tree in the area of Jerusalem. After his crucifixion, Jesus changed the plant to its current form: he shortened it and twisted its branches to assure an end to its use for the construction of crosses. He also transformed its inflorescence into a representation of the crucifixion itself, with the four white bracts cross-shaped, which represent the four corners of the cross, each bearing a rusty indentation as of a nail and the red stamens of the flower, represents Jesus’ crown of thorns, and the clustered red fruit represent his blood.
I took several photos of the dogwood in front of our office building today. It was difficult narrowing my selection to only a few. Click each photo to view in larger format. Enjoy!