Speedwell

The giant gnarled trunk of a curly bog willow in skirt of speedwell.

I took this on Thursday over in the bottom over by the Uniroyal factory, about Gage between Park and Strange, beside the tracks. It's a ballpark in the summer, but now it's so wet that it squelchs under foot. Not much grass, mostly gill-on-the-ground, creeping charley, and this flower, thyme-leafed speedwell, small as a baby's fingernail. The speedwell covers patches as big as the infield, and is thick as springs.

At the margin of the field a little creek runs through black boggy earth and huge spreeds of yellow marsh marigold. So bright it looks like sun-dapple, even though the flowers are closed on this overcast, cold day.