Magenta is losing it’s mountain meadow monopoly. Already, bog rosemary and the other pink hued mountain flowers go to seed. That’s why the shooting stars are a surprised find. I spotted them earlier on rich beach-side meadows where they formed large islands of magenta in a sea of grass seldom disturbed except by foraging bears. I once brought home from such meadow, an intact shooting star plant in a clump of meadow dug loose by a hungry bear.

Along this mountain trail, the shooting stars have spread themselves out so they dot rather than dominate their sections of the meadow. Long but thin stalks allow the flowers to dip and rise on the wind, always pointing down, their inverted petals form bowls that catch today’s soft rain.