a little bit of nature study

This is henbit. It's a common wildflower (weed), which no one wants to find in their manicured lawn. But somehow I've come to realize how much it reminds me of childhood, of spring, of rabbits and the business of bees. I remember sitting in grand, sunny patches of purple with my sisters, plucking out the tiny flowers and sucking on the sweet nectar at the bottom of the "straw." Like the dandilion, it's a child's flower, scorned once we grow old enough to manage our own lawns and fields. And I'm not saying it should be given a place of honor in a carefully sculpted garden or a carpet of well-groomed turf, I just think it would be a loss to forget how a child looks upon a flower, before they know to call it a weed.

Up close and personal with a tiny (size of a quarter) clump of moss, you can see it "blooming," although I'm not sure that's the correct word to use. At the tips are spore capsules. (You can click on it to magnify.) According to the Handbook of nature study;

"The egg cell as soon as fertilized develops into a spore capsule...protected by a silky cap. The cap comes off; the lid of the spore case falls off, the spores are shaken out and scattered by the wind...find fitting places to grow.....and repeat the story."

So maybe, like me, you never thought of moss before, but to me it's just so fascinating to look closer at every little thing God made. It's all purposeful and planned, no matter how small. Very much like you and me!