Elderberry Sunset

Bull thistle next to mint, a treat for busy bumbles painted ladies, and snooping hummingbirds.
Vertical and bushy, crowding next to the barn, spikes entwined, pushing for an extention on their sun bathing.
.
.
More elderberries! A sambucus surprise.
I was certain the birds and deer would have picked and nibbled every.
last.
one of them. 
.
More syrup for winter. Yum.
.
.
Nestled and watching, someone spun her campsite and hunting grounds. 
My four legged and two legged pups watch from a distance. The polar bear dog is too busy hunting grasshoppers to pay much attention anyway.
.
Majestic, eight legged power, golden garden spider (as far as my ID skills can decipher), she is long, lean, with a web of three feet, she stills herself in the middle. 
.
(Does her web make her feel weightless?)
.
I imagine she is hungry. 
.
I give her plenty of space too, although I wonder about her shell. Is she cragged, silky, hard shelled or spongy..? I have a nearly full basket, so I back away, making sure not to snag her web.
.
.
Sunset gratitude.
.
I never knew my Dedko, my dad's dad...and the stories of bravery, endurance, and tenacity that I've heard time and again, do not paint a warm and affectionate sketch that little girls or women retroactively wish for in a grandfather. 
(He had to survive, affection was a luxury. I get that.)
.
.
But the Sunset greets me as He slips behind the hills, warming an embrace across the horizon and a smile to my face.
I relish these bronzed and golden minutes each evening, and I imagine that Celestial Fire saying,
​"Dobrá večerná vnučka..Ľúbim ťa!"
.
"Have a good evening grandaughter, I love you!"
And in return, I smile, petting the Queen Anne's Lace, "I love you back Dedu!"

#bullthistle #elderberries #sambucus #spiders #sunshine #sunset #ancestral#ancestors #slavicamerican #lemko 
#grandpa #foraging #wildflowers #wildcrafting #rewild #remember #rewilding#dogsofinstagram 
​#queenanneslace 
#wildcarrot #goldenrod