Musings,  This Life...

Nan in Search of Clarity–Day 14

talk about joy

I went for a walk with my lake pal, Moe, today–we walked about two miles down the bay front road and then all around Blue Spruce Road. We found an abandoned bird’s nest in the brush and trees along the gravel road. We rescued the tiny nest from the sapling it was in and discovered hatched eggs–probably from last spring still in the nest. They’re so small and fragile–we’re not sure what kind of bird laid them. But Moe’s going to use it as part of birdcage decoration she’s making, so it will continue to be beautiful.

IMG_0146The wildflowers are blooming alongside the road–spring beauties, violets, and the little white flowers that look like stars. They’re so beautiful and they reminded me of when PJ and Kate and I used to go out into the woods behind our church when we were kids and hunt for wild flowers. The woods there was gorgeous and full of flowers every spring. I think we came home from services each Sunday in April and May with bouquets of pink and purple and white flowers wrapped in damp paper towels.

Mom used to send us out to find “Dutchman’s Britches” and “Jack-in-the-Pulpit” and her favorite, violets. As Moe and I walked along, I found lots of spring beauties. They were abundant, coloring the ground with different shades of lavender and purple. We saw some purple violets, too, with soft velvety leaves, but alas, no yellow ones. Those are pretty hard to find–they were even when we were kids. I remember that PJ loved the purple violets and Kate loved the yellow ones and I loved to find the light purple and white ones.

I havenIMG_0148‘t really looked for wildflowers for years, so the best treat today was that we found Dutchman’s Britches and Jack-in-the-Pulpit. Look! The Dutchman’s Britches are so tiny, but they look like little upside-down pants, don’t they? The Jack-in-the-Pulpits haven’t bloomed all the way yet, so they’re not open yet, but I got a picture anyway. They look like they’re about to open up any day. See? Soon they’ll burst and look like a preacher IMG_0149standing in a pulpit ready to preach. I remember they always made Mom laugh…

I found some joy today in that walk and in finding the flowers and even in that happy memory of Kate and PJ and I together.

 

 

Five Things I’m Grateful for Today:

  1. Moe
  2. Long walks
  3. A cloudy day that turns to sunshine
  4. Wildflowers along a dusty gravel road
  5. Skyping with Grandboy and DIL–God, that kid is so precious!

4 Comments