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.