One of a Kind Names for One of a Kind Flowers - Name the Flower 3

Spring is still dragging her feet around here and letting Jack Frost hang around days too long. But next week, warmer air is supposed to show up and maybe that will mean flowers start showing up too. Are you ready for flowers?

I hope you're ready for a new flower to guess. Or to name if you don't know the name already. Or even if you do, you can say the name you think might fit the flower better. So, give it a try and enter my Name the Flower contest. You might win a couple of books, one of mine and one of a different Christian author. 

BUT FIRST, LAST WEEK'S FLOWER NAME

Several of you named last week's beautiful flower. A few guesses were Adder's Tongue, Dog-tooth Violet, Dutchman's Britches, but nobody came up with the flower's actual name or at least not the name for the flower in my Wildflowers & Ferns of Kentucky book. However, some of you came up with great new names for the flower. Dewdrop, Teardrops, Grandmother's Dancing Bells, Green Whisper, Job's Arrow or Flying Geese. Now those are some good names. The Flying Geese and Grandmother's Dancing Bells really caught my fancy. Karen's name of Job's Arrow showed some great thinking too. 

But the flower's actual name is Shooting Star. Here's what the wildflower book says about this flower. "The rocket-like flowers of this strikingly beautiful plant appear designed for space flight. It is frequent from Central Kentucky westward but rare in eastern Kentucky." 

It's not rare in my wildflower woods area, but it's a flower that always makes me want to take one more photo.   

NOW CAN YOU NAME THE NEW FLOWER

The flower up top is the new flower to name. It's one of my favorites to find. Let's see if you know its name. You can post that or you can still use your imagination and give it another name if you wish. You can even simply say you haven't a clue about a name. Any of those will get you a new entry into my Name the Flower Contest. Remember, each time you name a new flower posted here, you get a new entry into the giveaway. 

I'll pick three winners from the entries by random drawing on April 19, 2015. So April 18, 2015 at midnight EST is the deadline for entering. You must be 18 to enter and if the winner chosen lives across the ocean, the prizes will be in e-book form. If you haven't guessed on one of the other flowers and left your contact information, be sure to leave it with your comment. If you've already left it on a different guess for this contest, then I'll have it.

Thanks for playing my Name the Flower game.

Creeks, Cliffs and Wildflowers

Lots to do! Deadline zooming toward me for my work in progress and the words are coming slow. Chores need doing! New floor going down in the kitchen and bathroom and new room. New floors going down need everything moved off them! Not enough hours in the day.

Sometimes it's hard getting everything done since I have to spend so many hours sitting with Mom and trying to convince her she is home and doesn't need to head out the door to that home that is just beyond her view in her mixed up thoughts. That home she wants is long gone but so much more real in her mind these days than the home where she's been living for the last thirty years.

All this to say that sometimes a person just has to ignore all the have-to-dos and take some time for want-to-dos. So come go to the creek with me.

That's what I did Friday morning. I gave myself the gift of a couple of hours and forgot about the deadlines and chores. It's wildflower season at my creek and I feel cheated if I don't get a chance to admire the wildflowers there every year. So I said the chores can wait. The words might come easier after a little brain rest time. And I went walking. I didn't let Oscar go. He's still recuperating from his broken leg and surgery, but I didn't totally miss out on dog companionship on my hike. The short-legged little neighbor dog went with me. His name's Peanut Butter, but I nicknamed him P.B.

And I saw the wildflowers and heard the creek running. I spotted a Jack-in-the-pulpit, one of my favorites. I got a great picture of some shooting stars. I saw larkspur and buttercups. I took pictures of wood poppies and bent head trilliums, another of my favorites.

The creek was full from the recent rains with the water singing over the rocks. I got my feet wet and practiced my balance on the rocks. And then I climbed back up the steep hill, came home and headed to Mom's. It's good to give yourself a gift now and again. Especially in the spring when nature has given us the gift of beauty.  

What are some of your want-to-dos that make you happy when you give yourself that gift of time? Reading? Time with the grandkids? A favorite movie? Writing in a journal?