Up…. Wildflowers!!….Down

Outside our office window our neighbors’ red bud is about to bloom, a clear reference to the woodlands of more southerly Appalachia. The tree is struggling, perhaps with our climate, and may not make it through another year.

After days of cloud and chill, yesterday the sun came out. This morning is bright and warmish, even though overnight the temperature fell into the thirties. Being May, the sun quickly overcomes the early morning chill, and I have donned short sleeves and summer slacks for the first time this year!.

Last evening we delayed dinner and went for a walk in the woodlands not far from our house. I encourage those who ask me for aid to go into Nature, and to do so often; it was good to actually follow my own prescription, even if it was at Jennie’s insistence!

Jennie wanted to show me the wildflowers growing on the rock ledges. This meant a bit of a climb, a challenge for me in the new full-leg brace. Still up we went, carefully, sans camera! The May wildflowers were out in profusion, creating lyrical swaths of color across the rocky forest floor. We were in search of wild columbines, which we finally found at the western end of a high ledge. Then it was down slope towards home, the real challenge for the brace, and thus, me.

I chose a path I believed would connect with the lady slipper trail, hoping to discover whether they were blooming. As it turned out, we joined the trail to far down and missed them. I let it go, as Jennie had reported no blooms were visible when she visited them Sunday, and it was unlikely they had budded and blossomed overnight.

Then it was happily home to prepare a late meal after a long day of work. Our hearts were lifted by our forty-five minutes with the flower people, mine still sings this early morning.