Beauty is in the Eyes (and Nose!) of the Beholder

Nature can be beautiful in many different ways.

Beauty in God’s creation can be brightly-colored.

Male Northern Cardinal in a snowstorm

Or it can be subtle.

Pair of Mourning Doves in our Crab-apple Tree

It can be tiny.

Newly hatched Painted Turtle

Or massive!

Notice the flower on this Snapping Turtle's head!

Beauty can be just that ~ simply beautiful...

White-tailed Fawn

Beauty can even be “ugly”!

Nestling and egg that were blown out of a tree... we put the nest back carefully.

A gorgeous sunset might make you feel like crying.

This photo is from my trip to Haiti, which you can read about here.

The natural world can also make you smile...

Grey Squirrel eating sunflower seeds

or maybe even laugh out loud.

This Robin needs to eat a few less worms if it's going to squeeze in that hole!

So, I was thinking... how could I get you to smile more while reading my blog?  Seems like some occasional ‘comic relief’ would be good!  Therefore, I now present another of God’s beautiful creations - Ruby the Basset Hound!

Ruby is not only beautiful, she also has a noble and dignified soul, even though you might not always think so from her outward appearance.  Because of this, I have decided to give Ruby an honorary PhD in advance for her future help here on my blog.   (That’s PhD for “Phunny Hound Dog”).

Watch for Ruby, PhD, in coming posts, where her beautiful nose will help us sniff out... who nose what?

But wait, that's not all!

No, it really wasn’t!  Once I found the pretty Dog-tooth Violets that I showed you in my last post, more treasures started turning up all around the woods. 

Another kind of flower I was keeping an eye out for were Hepaticas.  Since they are one of the earliest bloomers of the springtime, I thought I might have missed them.  I was in luck though!

In this photo, you can see the front of one Hepatica flower, and if you look carefully, you can see the back of another one behind it. 

One of the neat things about Hepaticas is that they have so many variations.  First of all, there are two kinds - “Round-lobed Hepatica”- obviously with rounded leaves, and "Sharp-lobed Hepatica” - the kind we have.  Besides the shapes, their leaves can be green, purple, or brown - and the flowers can be white, pale blue or even pink!  This makes hunting for them fun, to see what you can find. 

Now, if you saw these blooming in the woods, would you think... “that might be good for my liver?”  That’s apparently what the folks long ago who named them thought.  The name Hepatica comes from the Greek word for “liver”  and another common name for them is “Liverleaf.”  In times long past (thankfully!), people had the idea that if a plant had the shape or likeness to a certain body part, it could be used to treat that organ.  No, I do not recommending next time you have a “liver ailment” you chew on a Hepatica leaf!  
 
Something (a deer maybe?) did chew on this next plant... notice the two stems with no leaves.  Also, notice how this one has a pinkish flower and purple leaves!

The next photo is interesting because it shows the Hepatica flower as well as seed heads on the same plant. 

Even the seed heads are pretty with their delicate fuzziness!

The Red Trillium were beginning to bloom nearby.

And the yellow violets were, too.  Sweet is the word for violets, don’t you think?

An hour and a half slipped quickly by while I walked slowly thru the woods delighting in these beautiful little treasures.  Then it was time to head home. 

On my way, I saw this cute cottontail and had some fun sneaking up to see how close I could get before he turned tail and ran...

                                         There he goes!

Walk or Window Cleaning?

It was a beautiful Spring afternoon and I had a choice.  Wash windows or go for a walk to see if I could find some wildflowers?  They aren’t called “Spring Ephemerals” by wildflower enthusiasts for nothing.... they aren’t in bloom for long, so I grabbed my camera and binoculars and headed out to the woods.  I’d be looking for blooms and also for birds.

Ephemerals (“lasting for a very short time” according to Webster) are treasures, and like other treasures they aren’t always easy to find.  I headed for a particular patch of woods, where I would search because I’d seen lots of flowers on walks in past springs.   

Doesn’t look like much at first glance.  But, let's look closer...

  

I saw a lot of these leaves.
Then - ahhh - a lovely yellow flower!

It’s all alone - but, no.... once I really started to look, they were all around - probably 50 of them scattered here and there.  Each one blooming by itself... no wait, here are two side-by-side.

When I was growing up, I was taught the common name for this flower was ‘Dog-tooth Violet’.  I didn't know why it had this strange name, but I’ve since learned that it comes from its’ underground bulb resembling a dog’s tooth!  They are a flower with several common names -- ‘Fawn Lily’ (because of their spotted leaves) and ‘Trout Lily’ (because they bloom when it’s Trout fishing time). Both of these are actually better names for it than Dog-toothed Violet, because it’s not a violet at all, but is in the lily family.  Another common name for it is ‘Adder’s Tongue’ but my goodness, it’s way too pretty for that!  I’ll stick with ‘Dog-toothed Violet’ although that’s not very pretty sounding, either.... but it’s what I’m used to!  Botanists use the name Erythronium americanum.

Only once have I seen a real mass of Dog-toothed Violets blooming together.  It was a few years ago about a half-mile from my house.  This year they are gone. 

They were beautiful, but I think I love more to look at each special one by itself in our woods. Here’s one that’s really showing off in front of a dark colored log.

Some of them have a harder time of it.  The leaf on the left in the next photo started up thru a hole in an old beech leaf and that’s where it was going to grow no matter what!

This one started growing in a place where it had to struggle, but it managed to bloom in spite of it.

Do you think God has any lessons for us in the Dog-toothed Violets?

This day on my walk, I ended up looking down at the ground at flowers more often than up into the trees thru my binoculars.  (I was kept company by a small flock of Chickadees though).  

My windows are still dirty, but my spirit was refreshed by a lovely afternoon in the woods.