Hunting for Wildflowers

We have a cabin we go to sometimes. When we are there, the rest of the world goes away, and we can relax.  More on this another day.  What I wanted to write about today is flowers.  One of my favorite things to do at our cabin is to hunt for wildflowers that have opened since our last visit, and mark them in my wildflower books.  I have 3 books of wildflower identification, my favorite is Wildflowers of Ohio, by Robert l. Henn.  It is nicely organised, with good pictures.  I use the other 2 books if a flower I find is not in this book.  Sometimes I find a flower that is not in any of my books, then I write about it in the margins of my favorite book near the flower it most closely resembles. 

This is the best time of year for hunting flowers.  There are so many popping open, the array changes from one day to the next.  Hunting flowers is one of those activities that gets me out of myself, focussing first on the hunt, then on the study and identification of each new flower I find.  I am noticing that I am remembering more of them each year (I started doing this in 2006). 

Other benefits of flower hunting, besides giving me something to focus on, is the exercise, fresh air and sunshine.  If you are sun sensitive, as I know many people with with autoimmune diseases are, especially with some of the meds, you can wear sunblock clothing, or go out in the early morning or in the evening.  I highly recommend flower hunting.  There is something about flowers that refreshes the spirit, and holds promise for the future.  Maybe it is the bit of color they splash on the landscape.  Maybe it is the hunt itself, where I know that each time I go out between March and October, I will find something new.