Elaine Tweedy Foley is a dedicated gardener. She spends hours, days and months caring for her plants. In the fall she gathers the best seeds to plant the next spring. She works not only the gardens around our house but also the beds down by the river at the MRI museum and their boxes and beds around town. She plants so that butterflies, humming birds, praying mantises, walking sticks and grandkids will also come to play in our yard.
    I thrill at the color she brings to our yard each year. I also see her gardens as subjects for my next photo painting. With each summer I have new canvas with which to work. Her love of God's handywork extends into all the places we have taken excursions. As we walk she points out life that I should photograph.
    One of the most memorable times was on a walk through Wildcat Springs Park, where she called out, "Mike, look at the trillium." I immediately started scanning the trees for this new bird which brought the response, "No, silly, there on the ground."
    I got down on my stomach to take an eye level photo and found with great joy that Wildcat Springs was flowing out of the hill behind the trillium.
    See the red trillium to the left.
        - Mike Foley

    In 2009, I ask Elaine if she would speak to my visual communications classes at Iowa Wesleyan College. Her topics were to be her writings and her gardens, both visual works of art. I took photographs and video of her in the garden and video of her speaking at college. The students were given all of this resource media to create visual communications about Elaine. One of the edited movies is posted below. Others will follow. - Mike Foley