Saturday morning. Still in bed, trying to wake up. I can see it's cloudy outside, probably rain headed our way. Like my friend Vicki Lane, I feel burned out from talking about politics, mostly the passage of Amendment One, and want to think about the good things that have happened recently.
One of those has to be the Wildflower Pilgrimage over in the Great Smoky Mountains Park back in April.
Everywhere the sound of rushing water! What better background music to Star of Bethlehem, a not so common wildflower in this portion of the mountains. Along the the Little River trail, an old logging road, we found several patches.
The word that pink Lady Slippers lay ahead on the Porter's Creek trail had everyone excited. Cameras clicking, pilgrims gathering around the altar of Lady Slipper. After they left I walked back and had my own few moments of adoration.
There was rain, plenty of it, along the Lynn Camp trail. Maybe that's why the fairies like it so much, lifting their wands out of the leafmold, creating their own faeryland. Large gardens of Fairy Wand lay under the trees along the way.
A good place to be when you've grown tired of the mess that humans make of this planet. Out with the wildflowers and whitewater, the music of woodlands, the Blue Ridge where I am glad to live, I forget the angry debates about God and God's commands. Here I find Creation itself, quietly unfolding, as it has since the beginning of what we call Time.
4 comments:
A very nice way to clear the mind of the political messiness and appreciate what we have all around us. Lovely photos.
What a wonderful idea - a wildflower pilgrimage.
Even in the Piedmont I am surprised how many wildflowers survive development. Delighting. Thank you for sharing pictures and that it is hard on our spirits when our political process leads to unjust outcomes. Solace in nature.
Loafing in our mountain community’s grocery, hardware, and bait store, I watched through the screen door as a fancy car with four people stopped out front by the gas pumps. Two women wearing big floppy hats filled the back seat. The driver, dressed in pale green tourist shorts, a gaudy red-splashed shirt, and blue somethings on his feet, hefted his overweight self through the door and asked our shopkeeper, Jean Travis, “Where’s all the wildflowers we heard about on TV?”
She replied, “Why, they’re everywhere. The best place to see ‘em is to walk along the edge of some woods beside a pasture an’…”
“Naw, some we can see from the car.”
nice and wonderful ideas thanks for sharing that kind of awesome things .!
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