Friday Ramble - All in Their Time of Blooming

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

There is only one way to capture the delicate perfection of woodland wildflowers, and that is to recline full length in rustling sun-warmed leaves with camera and notebook in hand, eyelash to eyelash and nose to nose with some of the most beautiful and subtly elegant blooms ever to appear anywhere on the planet.

At close quarters, one can take in the perfect shapes and colors and textures of a bloodroot colony flowering in its native place, watch sunlight and leaflight journeying across individual blooms. One can revel in the flickering shadows flowing over everything in the alcove, the joyous movement of the awakening woodland in spring.

Then along comes the wind.... Within minutes of capturing these images, the velvety petals had been blown from their moorings and were drifting across the clearing in soft fluffy heaps like new snow. I was fortunate in being there and seeing the blooms before they were deconstructed by the roistering elements of springtime.

There is something to be said for looking at life and wild places from a slightly different angle once in a while. When I rolled over and looked up at the sky through the budding maple trees yesterday, the prospect was absolutely dazzling, and I felt like an otter cavorting in the sunlight. All I needed was a river.