Under the sea or through the woods?

When I gaze at this photo, it takes me down in the Puget Sound about 100 feet.  It’s reminiscent of an amazing invertebrate dancing in the water, dazzling me with its bioluminescence.  But the truth is that there was no SCUBA involved in capturing the essence of this beauty.

This mysterious life is indeed a flower emerging through the forest floor.  After scavenging books and google to discover its name, I learned this enigmatic flower is commonly known as Indian Pipe.  This fascinating botanical lacks chlorophyll, thus explaining its stark appearance.  This deep in the forest with such limited light, it’s amazing that any kind of flower can survive.  I'm so thrilled to have discovered it. 

Wildflowers and Weeds

Most days, my daughter and I try to squeeze in a walk.  We live in such a scenic area of North Bend, it’s a sin not to take advantage of nature’s majesty.  So I devised a new challenge for myself.  Create a bouquet with nothing other than flowers and foliage found on our walk.  By the end of the walk, it looked as if I had a handful of weeds, but in the end, the creation wasn’t half bad. 

Yes it’s simple, but I realize that crazy out of the box design isn’t for everyone.  Some brides want to carry a simple bouquet down the aisle.  It doesn’t get more simple than a few wildflowers organized into a neat little bouquet.  

Resilience

My pretty pink peonies finally popped and were soon after pounded by a deluge of rain.  Needless to say, the beautiful and delicate blossoms looked as though they had seen better days.

Yet after that same rainstorm this amazing tiger lily managed to survive with little visible stress.   This beauty captured my attention while walking the Iron Horse Trail. While most people enjoy the amazing mountain views and rock climbing the trail offers, my eyes are always glued to the foliage, searching for beautiful new things sprouting on the scene.  I’ve only seen lilies in my garden, in flower shops, and in books, but never growing in the wild.  I couldn’t believe I saw a wild lily!  The icing on the cake was that it was fragrant—what a surprise!