Monday, April 19, 2010

On the Ephemeral Nature of Spring Beauty



I love hiking, and I especially love hiking in the early spring, when the ephemerals, those transient woodland blooms that last such a brief time, are flowering.







But every year it seems like there's some reason why I miss hiking during this season.









Some years it's the weather, others it's the press of other duties taking up all my time.




This year it was my ankle, which I sprained while in New York. Thanks to my hiking buddy Pauline, though, I did manage to get out once.


Robert Herriott (1591-1674) wrote:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.



He may have lived 400 years ago, but Herriott's words still ring true today.

Because wildflowers' are not the only lives that are fleeting.

13 comments:

  1. I love these photos, random flowers in the middle of woods. Very nice!!!

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  2. Beautiful. I'm doing my best to get out in the spring, but I'm allergic to this time of year....... (hayfever)

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  3. It's true that the early spring flowers are the most beautiful. The trees in our yard are going crazy and the blooms are more developed every minute. But I know that they are there only for a short time. I'm trying to enjoy them.
    Hope your ankle is healing.

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  4. Beautiful photos. I miss living in the mountains and seeing all the wild flowers come up.

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  5. That last shot is beautiful! So alive with the promise of Spring!

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  6. How beautiful. I walk everyday, at least a mile and a quarter, but the time in the woods is best. Thank you for reminding me that this activity is ultimately more rewarding than me dancing with my wive's girlfriends in the living room last Saturday night while Lady Gaga's new CD blasted through the Cabernet fog.

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  7. Beautiful photos. Everything is so fresh and tender. A perfect antidote to life in the city.

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  8. I have found some great Ephemerals too..yours are beautiful..
    Yes they are fleeting..I am glad you took the time to notice them:)

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  9. I remember stalking the woods in Spring, looking for photos that might be interesting.. I miss my Canon AE-1

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  10. Ah-choo *sniffle* I love going out too in spite of my darn allergies, there is a mysterious beauty to the floor or our woods and forest, one that also shares in the eco system...oh okay, story short, your photos are gorgeous!

    One reason I love the area I live in, its one big arse forest and they call NJ The Green State!

    Also, to put that knowledge we walk around with in our heads to use- I learned that bushes are really just stunted trees that would flower if we did not have to have them trimmed to perfection all year! A few of my neighbors used to let native plants, flowers and trees (bushes) go a la natural when I lived in Texas!

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  11. Oh Elizabeth

    One morning a droplet of rain
    falls through clouds and strays into mist

    A sparrow asleep feels its splash

    and a new bird will fly today.

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  12. I am a sap about spring this year. Everything is blooming, and I couldn't be happier. Glad you made it on a hike despite your ankle.

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