Survival and beauty scale great heights

Highland Lakes — Last winter’s ice storm devastated wide swaths of Vernon neighborhoods. Who could have guessed that this summer a sunflower would bloom from the broken stump of a tree, some 25 feet in the air? Ann Studer sent these before and after photos. “This has been quite the spectacle for the neighborhood,” she reports. The tenacious flower inspired Student to write a “reflection.” The overarching theme, she feels is simple: “Out of the devastation comes opportunity for new growth.”