When I photographed a great colony of horsemints (Monarda citriodora) in Leander on May 29th last year I knew I was on borrowed time, as development had already begun not far past the edges of that colony. I hoped I might squeeze out one more spring there, but that wasn't to be. On our way back into Austin from the recent Palo Duro Canyon trip I passed the Leander site and confirmed that development had continued and the horsemint colony no longer existed. Two days later, on May 19th, I spent time at a Blackland Prairie parcel in Pflugerville and found a smaller, less color-saturated, but still pretty colony of horsemints. In a nearby part of the field firewheels (Gaillardia pulchella) outnumbered the horsemints, and Texas thistles (Cirsium texanum) formed a healthy group as well.

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Here's a disconcerting article by Park MacDougald about the lack of security and accuracy in the Dominion voting machines used in so many American elections.

© 2024 Steven Schwartzman