So, I was out walking the other day. Needed to get out of the house, you know? Took a path I don’t usually take, down near the old creek bed. It was quiet, which was nice. Then I saw them.
Just a bunch of tiny white wild flowers scattered in the grass. Nothing fancy, really small things. But there were loads of them, like little stars dusting the green. I stopped and crouched down for a proper look.
Getting a Closer Look
Pulled out my phone, thinking, “Ah, I’ll use that plant ID app.” Seemed simple enough. Point, shoot, identify. Right? Wrong. Opened the app, tried to get a good angle. The flowers were so small, the camera kept focusing on the grass behind them. Finally got a couple of shots I thought were okay.
What did the app say? Well, first it told me it was Queen Anne’s Lace. Definitely not, these things were tiny, not big flat tops. Tried again. This time? Chickweed. Maybe? Looked kinda similar but the leaves weren’t quite right. Third try? Some kind of fancy garden escapee I’d never heard of. Utterly useless.
It reminded me, actually, of trying to set up that smart home stuff last year. Supposed to be easy, “plug and play” they said. Hours I spent. Hours. Reading manuals that made no sense, resetting routers, shouting at voice assistants that didn’t understand plain English. In the end, half of it still doesn’t work right. Same feeling with this app. Promise the world, deliver confusion.
Just Looking, The Old Way
So I gave up on the app. Put the phone back in my pocket. And I just… looked. Really looked at them.
- Noticed the shape of the petals, five of them, I think.
- Saw the tiny little yellow bit in the middle.
- Looked at how the leaves grew low down on the stem.
- Even saw a couple of really tiny insects, smaller than ants, crawling around on them.
Spent maybe ten minutes just squatting there, watching them. Didn’t need a name for them, really. They were just… white wild flowers. Doing their thing. Didn’t need an app to tell me that.
Took a few more pictures with my phone’s regular camera, trying to capture the details – the leaves, the way they grew in a patch. Figured I might look them up in an old book I have somewhere back home. Maybe that would work better. Sometimes the old ways are less frustrating. Felt better just leaving them be, anyway. Nice little things.
