an ugly name for a beautiful plant

most mornings i go visit my mom. she’s 86 years old, and lives about three miles from me. i can take one of three different routes to her house. i choose the route that skirts along snail lake because it’s the prettiest. yesterday, at snail lake park, i noticed the very first sign of cow vetch blooming on the roadside–just a handful of purple blossoms. today there were thousands. after ten years of STILL this kind of synchronized abundance shouldn’t surprise me. but it still does. i’m sure you will see more vetch in the coming days…but, as with the locust, it’s the leaves that make me smile most.

cow vetch leaves