A Long Wait

I lived in Chicago for 11 years before moving back to Missouri last summer.  About 2 years into my life in Chicago I got into photography, mostly because I hadn't made any friends yet.  Photography is an excellent solitary activity.  I had a great time learning to use my new DSLR, took classes and snapped many thousands of pictures that first year.

My favorite subjects to photograph has always been flowers and landscapes.   The one thing I missed most in Chicago were dogwood trees.  My love of dogwood trees came from my mother who had a tree in our front yard when we were growing up.  And when I lived in St. Charles, my husband brought one from the woods and planted it in our front yard.  It was a very small tree and I had to be patient many years for it to bloom.  But when it did, what a beauty.  I understand it still blooms every spring.  I remember driving down I 270 to work in the spring and being mesmerized by the thousands of trees in the wooded areas along the highway.

But I never did find a dogwood in Chicago.  When I asked people they didn't even know what I was talking about.  At the time I didn't have a car so perhaps there were some in the suburbs.  Anyway I swore each year I would take a trip back to Missouri to photograph dogwoods.  But since I was working and you never know when spring will really come, it never happened.  Until this year.  Finally.

I have been seeing them all over the city, coming into full bloom just over the last week but I haven't had my camera with me.  So yesterday, my daughter, Judy, and I went to the park.  And my waiting was over.  She was very patient with me as I took picture after picture.

By the way, Judy has just planted 3 very tiny dogwood trees in her yard.  There are none in the woods on her property.  I hope she can be patient.