We have wonderful flowers coming up in our yard now. But there is something special about the things we see in the woods when we go for a hike. The picture above is Round-lobed Hepatica; the picture below is Spring Beauty.
A few weeks ago, I heard a podcast of the scientist Roald Hoffman at a Moth storytelling event, relating his childhood escape from the Holocaust in Europe. His story of life continuing despite a backdrop of death moved me so deeply that it has impacted how I see the flowers: this year, I keep seeing the dead leaves in the background.
My joy in seeing the emergence of the Trout Lily and the Purple Trillium is not diminished, but is colored by the recognition that life grows out of death, and that death sometimes comes too early.
Some of the most beautiful spring growth is in the new leaves of plants, which have a green energy and wonderful shapes and patterns that flatten out and become a bit gnawed-upon by bugs as the summer progresses. But right now, they are sharp and bright.
Strange things emerge in the spring -- flowering bushes that, despite years of plant-watching, I have never seen before.
And on the wettest days, reminding us of the clever vitality of Life, we see the newts.
