In order that this page might load faster, I have split it into two pages.

.....I have started a small albium of my own personal West Virginia wildflower pictures. I also told my wife tht I would include some of her floweres also. In addition to the flowers, I would like to use this page for the casual things that you can enjoy at just about any age such as walking and for some of the things you might see while enjoying yourself outdoors. This page is not for those fast and crazy things like whiteater rafting.

..... Have you ever walked though a dewy sunlit morning amid an explosion of wildflowers? If you have not, VISIT WEST VIRGINIA IN THE SPRING!

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................The rare and beautiful pinkster azalia. The old folks call the wild azalias honeysuckle.
..................photo by Okey L. King

Flowers of the Koeigsburg by Okey L. King and Jonathan King

A bit of woodland--a summer day--
Green Swarded earth kept close as if clipped by hands
........of gnomes.
Towering trees with interlacing branches
Arching high o'erhead, like unto cathedral domes.

Blue-eyed grass and mountain ivy mingle here.
Trailing pheasant berry on rock and tree roots
..........closley pressed;
Moss, moss everywhere pale green, firm and flawless,
Deep green, soft and springing, into which I seek to
..........rest.

A tree once young, now huge, old, and fallen almost
..........into dust.
Beyond--What this? A fairy dell?
And those of lacy softness all playing sentinel.

Sentinel to one of natures's oddities
...........Indian pipes--Ghost flower--
Pure waxine white from spring earth
...........Through stem to very blossom tip,
...........Fern shrouded whiteness in their eerie bower.

...........Wherefore? Legend? I know not.
But this I do know--I would go their tonight
To see that self-same fairy dell again,
..........See snow white Ghost Flowers
..........Blooming under pale moonlight!

.....Alberta Ruth Egbert wrote of these things she saw from her invalid's bed. Shouldn't we visit these things while we still have the strength to do so?

Egbert, Alberta Ruth. I Sing a New Song in a Strange Land. Poland, Ohio:
.....Gold Seal Publications, 1942.

Photo by Okey L. King
.....These bloodroots bloom at the foot of my drive. Soon they will be blooming again.

photo by Okey L. King
.....This is Woody Cox. Often, we walk the West Virginia trails together. Some of the photos on this site are his work.

photos by Woodson P. Cox

My tiny section of Greenbrier County is the Redbud Capital of the World.

These photos were made in the spring of 2005 by Okey L. King.

.....The first is of redbuds in the Howard Railway Cut. This was once tyhe site of the old Howard Tunnel. Behind the the photographer is the site of the old Caldwell Depot.

Photo by Okey L. King

This is a photo of redbuds on the road leading to my home. The road to the left leads the site of tha abandoned homes of my black neighbors. They were good niighbors, but, they have moved on. In the middle of the photo, just out of sight, is the spot where the black elementry school stood.

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This is a close up potrait of a buttercup that I made: Okey L. King Jr.

photo by Woodson P. Cox

The sarvis (service berry: )Another Wild Fruit Tree

a flame azalia
photo by Okey L. King.

More wildflowers:THE BEAUTIFUL WALKING PLACE

If you smell a very spicy fragrance, if may be coming from a autumn olive

........
photo by Okey L. King

Hike West Virginia's many trails.

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