Looking down...

Many years ago, I toured Yosemite National Park with a group organized through Smithsonian Magazine’s travel programs. We were an interesting lot, with a variety of ages, occupations, and interests represented.
We rode a bus there from San Francisco, stayed in the two historical hotels in the park, and roughed it in tent cabins in the valley and in the high country. Our day guide was of Native American heritage and had a degree in biology from one of the California universities, and his take on his surroundings reflected a wealth of information from both viewpoints. I learned so much from him about observing nature in action - most importantly, how to remember to look down as well as up when placed in a setting where you can be overwhelmed by the immensity of the mountains and vistas. You risk missing all of the beauty at your feet.
Along the sidewalk leading to the Bayou Bend cottage from the staff parking is a bank of monkey grass which runs along the bayou helping to prevent erosion in that area. Yesterday, I noticed a stray, lonely lily of some sort sticking substantially up out of the monkey grass with what looked to be the beginnings of a bloom on it. Today, the whole top of it is full of the palest pink feathery petals of a bloom – just lovely, but it's there where hardly anyone would notice it. Only staff walk along there.
In the summer when everything struggles with the heat, it amazes me to see these little gems spring up in the gardens. Some are vibrantly colored and others are the palest of pinks, but you really have to be looking down to see them in the sea of green. It takes a watchful eye to reap the smaller rewards in life!