We hiked on Oracle Ridge today. My quest – to get a new picture of the wood sorrel (oxalis alpina), a pink beauty with three heart shaped leaves whose points meet at the stem of the flower. It took a while to see any of the plants, and the ones I found were scrawny, with flowers at the top of long slender stems, as they searched for the light in the midst of heavy summer foliage. Most of the flowers I saw were very pale, almost white. For some reason the heart-shaped leaves on lots of them drooped, as if wanting to minimize their exposure to the sun. My buddy and I hiked until we arrived at one of my favorite spots on the mountain, sitting on stumps beside a beautiful Alligator Juniper tree that I have painted several times. After a while I turned and looked down, and there, in a crevice, was the sorrel I had been looking for – but this time healthy, with pink flowers, large leaves, and even a tiny bee looking, I guess, for pollen. It was very touching to find what I was looking for after I stopped looking.
