Bloodroot: Another Five Months

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I can’t remember for sure but I think it was Flickr where back in the spring the folks at Monticello found this picture of bloodroot (click for larger version) and asked if I’d be willing for them to use it. That just fell into place this week.

I’m pleased to have my image from our roadside (with a tiny photo-credit and bit of compensation adequate to pay for a month of DSL) to illustrate a timeline of Thomas Jefferson’s brothers and sisters birth and death. It is or will soon be accessible (on screen display?) in some fashion at Jefferson’s home place near Charlottesville.

Spring wildflowers–they bide their time under a skiff of snow this morning, waiting for a cold five months in the frozen ground. Somehow just knowing they’re out there invisible gives hope: color, warmth, and short sleeves will come again.

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fred
fred

Fred First holds masters degrees in Vertebrate Zoology and physical therapy, and has been a biology teacher and physical therapist by profession. He moved to southwest Virginia in 1975 and to Floyd County in 1997. He maintains a daily photo-blog, broadcasts essays on the Roanoke NPR station, and contributes regular columns for the Floyd Press and Roanoke's Star Sentinel. His two non-fiction books, Slow Road Home and his recent What We Hold in Our Hands, celebrate the riches that we possess in our families and communities, our natural bounty, social capital and Appalachian cultures old and new. He has served on the Jacksonville Center Board of Directors and is newly active in the Sustain Floyd organization. He lives in northeastern Floyd County on the headwaters of the Roanoke River.

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  1. Oh, I love bloodroot! I love how it unfurls so early in the spring. And I love your shot, Fred. Congratulations on having it used (and getting paid for it!)