But my fascination in early spring with the ‘birds’ caused me to sub-categorize further by making files within the ‘bird’ folder – files with names such as American Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, Baltimore Oriole, Song Sparrow, Cardinal. Ducks and geese were each given their own folder as, in time, files for Mallards and Ring-Necked ducks were established as well as a Canada Geese file.

My ‘flowers’ folder was ultimately renamed ‘blossoms’ as the spring bloomed. Without much knowledge or resources, file names went like this: blue pinwheel, tiny daisy maybe (the use of ‘maybe’ instead of the question mark, as the question mark is not accepted within a file name), white with orange dots, white-pink cluster, white aster maybe, etc.

Although I had gardened for several years and knew many perennials, herbs, and annuals, my knowledge of wildflowers was dismal. However, I am now proud to report that my ‘blossom’ folder has numerous files with real flower names thanks to the book, A Countryman’s Flowers, by Hal Borland with photos by Les Line. This book is on loan from my mother – a devoted reader of this blog who, I think, was becoming a little embarrassed by her daughter’s cluelessness about nature. (Also on loan to me are her Audubon books about birds and insects.)

Thanks to my resources I now have within the ‘blossom’ folder, files with names such as ‘Common Cattail’, ‘Jewelweed’, ‘Joe-Pye-Weed’, ‘Purple Loosestrife’, ‘Early Goldenrod’, and ‘Rue Anemone’.

But in my heart, when all is said and done, the blossom pictures could sit altogether in a folder called ‘Real Pretty’. Here are a few pictures, more will follow in Blossoms – Part II.