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A watercolor painting
of wildflower,Yellow Lady's Slipper
Limited Edition: 450
On a field trip to
the Bruce Peninsula one early June, many par-ticipants were intent on locating
hard-to-find ferns and rare orchids. I had come for one thing: to see
the Yellow Lady's Slipper!
Often growing in gossipy clumps, the "fairy" slippers were absolutely all one could hope for in form and colour!! Waxy
pouches were framed by spiralling narrow leaves hanging down either side.
Two wider vertical leaves ~one up, one down ~ reflected their brightness
like metal disks behind yesteryear's kerosene lamps! Before leaving the Bruce, I dug out a small
cluster of the Yellow Lady's Slipper plants which were blooming in hard-packed
gravel...dangerously close to the edge of the highway! They
would soon be run over, I reasoned. Upon reaching home, the wildflowers were
gently planted next to some limestone rocks by the patio.
The following spring, the blooms of the
Yellow Lady's Slipper exercised their golden powers. Whenever someone
passed by the bit of garden where they were blooming, invariably they
stopped, retraced their steps, and bent over. As they stood up again,
their lips moved, repeating something the wildflowers whispered. Judging
by their expression, it was about the Creator.
May the watercolor painting of a woodland
slipper be as treasured as Cinderella's slipper of glass! |
