Jun 26th, 2023 Monday Rainy
One of my favorite ways of relaxing my mind is hiking, especially hiking in places that I have not been to.
Compared to biking, hiking is slower, so it allows me to pay attention to more details in the environment – new branches on trees in springtime, tiny berries hidden in bushes in summertime, and unexpected wild life encounters. I also let my mind wander more freely while hiking, simply because walking is such a natural skill for most humans that I do not have to spend much mental energy on – my biking skill is certainly not at this level, particularly on challenging surfaces. Finally, there are trails inaccessible to biking, but all open trails are walkable, so I get to explore more secret realms through hiking.
Every year, my husband and I would take at least one trip with plenty of hiking opportunities. This year, the trip brought us to Apostle Islands, and we enjoyed some nice hikes there.
On the day we visited the big bay state park on Madeline Island, we chose a trail “loop” by connecting three separate trails. We were rewarded with different views of Lake Superior, and finally a trail cutting through the woodland.
As we progressed, I could not help noticing some cute little blue flowers in the grass that I have never seen before this trip. Five petals that looked like cherry blossoms, but in a sapphire color with a shiny bright yellow center, these flowers stood out in the shade, swinging gently in the breeze – simply adorable.
Even more so, was the view we were to behold in the next moment. After a turn, my eyes were caught by hundreds of, or thousands of these blue stars, spreading out into the woods. They bent and shook rhythmically, just like the fascinating waves in the lake.
For a minute or two I was struck by this beauty, as it almost looked like a movie scene, or an oil painting. Then, recollecting ourselves, we were both determined to find out the identity of these lovely buds.
“Maybe we could plant some in our yard.” suggested my husband. “They seem to do well under the trees (our yard, for the most part, is fairly shaded).”
Once we arrived in our hotel, a quick search yielded our wanted – and unwanted – result. The flower is called forget-me-not, a perennial plant with a romantic reputation. Sadly, it is considered invasive in this area, suggesting that they were probably unintentionally “imported” by visitors. The Department of Natural Resources rated them as “restricted”, making it very unwise to introduce these spectacular yet hard-to-control blooms into our garden.
Still, I will always remember the ocean of blue extending from the sunny sky, the clear lake, to the deep of an uninhabited forest as one of the most marvelous memories of this trip. Native or not, they have definitely established themselves a home, and as their names indicate, no one will easily forget them 🙂