Texas Cotton

We recently took a trip to Texas, and I kept sporadically seeing fields with some white in it.  To my mid-western eyes, it sort of looked like a little leftover snow, but that didn't really make sense given that the temperatures were in the 70's.

We stopped and pulled over, and discovered it was cotton!  I recognize corn, and even soybeans (most of the time anyway.  I might live in Iowa, but I'm definitely a city girl!), but cotton was a new one.  It was strange to think of it actually coming from a plant, as the only time I've really seen pieces of cotton was in the store, in the form of a cotton pad for nail polish remover!

I couldn't resist taking some photos.  Even though it's not quite spring, and these fields haven't been touched since last fall's harvest,  I was drawn to the red dirt, contrasted with the bright blue sky.

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Here is some cotton that was missed in last year's harvest.  I love the colors - the warm tones of the earth in the South!

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An un-opened boll:

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And an empty cotton boll against the deep blue Texas sky:

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If you live in the South, this may be an every-day sight for you.  But one of the things I love the most about traveling is the chance to get to see things that aren't a part of my every-day life, and seeing the absolute beauty found in nature.