Spring Wildflowers

Flowers worry me. As soon as they appear, I fear that they will soon be gone (they will!).

I have issues with impermanence (especially the spring/summer/youth/childhood variety).

I need to learn to appreciate the moment (whatever it holds).

I'll be taking a "master naturalist" class over the next year, starting in a couple of weeks, and I decided to get a jump on collecting a few specimens of these tiny woodland flowers that will be gone all too soon. I grew up with a very strong "take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints" ethic, so it was hard for me to dig wildflowers up by their roots! I made sure to take them from a place where they're plentiful, so that there will continue to be flowers in that spot next June.

For now, I've just pressed them into the pages of an extraneous phone book. Later I suspect I will have to key them out (I know they are star flower, violet, and Canada Mayflower, but I don't know what species of violet, and I have not looked up their Latin names) and preserve them somehow. Dried, mounted flowers won't equal eternal spring, but I hope learning more about the natural world will help me slow down and notice/appreciate each season as it comes.