Timeless

On Friday afternoon, I drove to visit my family on the Spokane Reservation and made an impulsive stop by the roadside. The weatherman predicted overcast skies and rain, but in that moment the clouds opened and the sun cast a brilliant light over the earth. The sudden flash of color and warmth offered me a welcome escape from the passing gloom of winter, and before long I lost myself amid the trees and the tender shoots of spring flowers. I also lost track of the minutes and hours as a sense of timelessness erased any feelings of urgency or obligation. I was totally immersed in the present, but then I looked up and saw the sun setting behind the trees. Had it been that long? When I got back to my car, I realized that I had wandered on that hillside for more than two hours.

That kind of timelessness is a beautiful feeling. It's like being a child again with all the wonder and innocence of exploring the world for the first time.  

Tiny flowers were beginning to emerge from the dead undergrowth. The yellow flowers obviously belong to the buttercup family, but I'm having a hard time identifying the purple flowers. In some ways they look like part of the blue-eyed grass family, but then they seem to droop and the petals are more rounded than the Idaho or Montana blue-eyed grass. Any other suggestions?

A view of the valley below the hillside.