I talked my husband and my daughter into going up to the woods with Lolli and me the other day.  I know that Emily was annoyed at the number of times I stopped to photograph something.  “I can multi-task,” I told her.  I was able to participate in the conversation she and her dad were having AND take pictures.

It made me wonder… what do they SEE when they walk? I think they see this:

It is very beautiful, to be sure… the way the light comes through the trees in the spring and lights up the forest floor.  I saw that, too.  I guess my real question is:  What don’t they see?

Until I bent down to take a picture, I don’t think they noticed that one section of the forest floor was covered with white trillium… Trillium grandiflorum… Large Flowered Trillium.  Did it occur to them to wonder why this “large flowered trillium” was so tiny?  I wondered…

Later they were pleased with themselves when they found a red trillium near the edge of the creek.  I was proud of them, too.  Yet I marveled at what they didn’t notice:  If they had lifted their heads just 90 degrees to look at the steep bank beside the creek, they would have noticed not one, but hundreds of Red Trillium… Trillium erectum…  Not to mention trout lilies, blue cohosh, spring beauties, wild oats, several kinds of violets, wild geranium… and so many more.

And I was dumbfounded that I could not get them excited about a brand new (to me) flower!  What is it?  It sort of looks like a buttercup, but not quite…  Isn’t it pretty?  Look how the blooms seem to be playing hide and seek under the leaves!…  Nothing…  They just kept walking…  Oh well… Maybe they’ll read my blog…

P.S.  Since writing this entry I learned the flower above is “Barren Strawberry” (Waldsteinia fragarioides).  There’s always something new to learn.