Well, maybe Spring is just in a holding pattern here, but it seems that the rains has certainly slowed down the emergence of new wildflowers. Here at RedRock RV Park in Island Park Idaho we have had cloudy days and about .5 inch of rain since 5/30. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for the rain, because that means that the wildflowers should soon have a grand resurgence thanks to the additional moisture. It's hard to photograph in the rain and the efforts usually aren't too great.

This morning I went up the forest trail across from the RV Park to see if anything did happen to bloom. Nope, same as 2 days ago. The leaves were bright, shiny and clean from having so much moisture on them, and the rain and dew drops made for some nice images, but no new blooms. I think the wildflowers are hoping for the sunshine as much as I am. (It does make sense that blooming is halted until enough sunshine is available to continue photosynthesis so necessary for rapid growth.)


Usually, rain comes here by the thunderstorms that move at quite a clipthrough the Centennial Valley almost each afternoon. We might get a tenth or more of an inch from such a storm in a hour or so, but this system has come into the area and sat down to rest for a while. The forecast calls for more of the same for the next days. Sigh!

In the forest, without new wildflowers to see, my focus diverts to other less showy forms of forest life. The forest is full of them. Several forms of lichen grow. This one grows on the Douglas Fir trees here. It appears to be a form of Usnea, commonly called Old-Man's Beard, or Beard Lichen or just Tree Moss. Usnea grows all over the world. Like other lichens it is a symbiosis of a fungus and an alga. It seems to have antibiotic and anti-fungal capabilities as it was used by the Indians as a compress to treat battle wounds directly and ingested internally as an antibiotic. It is apparently edible and high in vitamin C.

I found a rock on the edge of the forest that was a veritable "village" of life forms. You notice first the bright green moss. Moss drys out quickly and hydrates quickly after a rain. It goes dormant during the winter, expelling all moisture from the inside to avoid cells being ruptured by the ice that would form in the cold. Here, during a rain, it is full of life. It reproduces in a complicated manner with spores.