Prairie Creek Valley | Cottonwood trees Line the stream bank Diverse ecosystem |
H
iking on the trails of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, the sun spotlights a stand of trees sheltered by the hills and nourished by Fox Creek. From atop the overlooking ridge, a fragrant breeze in my face punctuates a landscape evolved over millions of years. Under normal circumstances, you cannot avoid always moving towards the future.
“...the receiver of a true artistic impression is so united to the artist that he feels as if the work were his own and not someone else's - as if what it expresses were just what he had long been wishing to express. A real work of art destroys, in the consciousness of the receiver, the separation between himself and the artist - not that alone, but also between himself and all whose minds receive this work of art. In this freeing of our personality from its separation and isolation, in this uniting of it with others, lies the chief characteristic and the great attractive force of art.” - Leo Tolstoy
