First Lady's Slipper Bloom in the Barrens

About the photo: This is the first lady's slipper I've seen blooming this year in the Scotia Barrens. Lady's slipper, Cypripedium acaule, is an orchid native to the Pennsylvania woods. I have only seen them in pink, never yellow, though I've looked hard. The ladies start out wearing pale green nightgowns, and then change into bright pink fancy ball gowns.

My husband and I were in the Scotia Barrens, him jogging, me walking with camera. I'd been photographing vernal ponds, bedecked in all of their reflections and raindrop glory. I had my pink umbrella. I only needed it off and on. It was a lovely spring drizzle, mostly; nothing too concerning. A fine soft morning, as the Irish might say.

I had gone as far as I was going, and I thought to myself, Isn't it odd that I haven't seen any lady's slippers? But then a song came on my ipod shuffle, one of the Boss's songs that reminded me of my friend Ellen.  And I was thinking of her, and remembering, and I turned around and saw my first lady's slipper! And suddenly, I saw that they were EVERYWHERE. Somehow I just had not noticed? Or magically, my fully seeing eyes were finally turned ON?

And what next? Well, I started to cry. Why? Because this was one of Ellen's songs, and Ellen is one of the pink ladies now, and it is springtime and the orchids are starting to bloom, and so it is that my friend has come back to me!

Here's the Boss, with Tougher Than the Rest.