Stepping outside during the weekend is a refreshing change of scenery.
A relaxing afternoon. The chirping of birds. (That unfortunately refused to stay put long enough for me to take pictures.) The wonderfully blowing breeze, slowly moving the clouds along.
A slow, short walk around the neighborhood. The back road. Close to a small pond behind the houses and passing by the growing variety of plants in the sidewalks and lawns.
And then, suddenly, a small flash of striking red. In the beautiful sea of green, a collection of small, round brownish leaves emerged. And in its center, a bunch of red petals.
After a long, long search through google, the name of this plant still remains a mystery to me. From a range of Common Peony flowers to the Dossinia plant, all of the pictures didn’t seem quite right.
Those small, brownish leaves were not in any of the pictures. Could this be a mutation? Could it be the sun dried them out? While the answer is still unclear to me, the closest looking flower to those I had found was the wild red rose.
Even though I remain unsure about this plant species, I appreciated the walk and the adventure searching for this plant as opposed to settling with the bunches of dandelions in my own front lawn.
Ciana Fe Gadut
English 110 Honors Spring 2020 
Ciana, I loved how short and sweet your writing for this piece is. I especially liked how I felt as though I was with you, walking, on your trip to find a piece of the natural world to write about. When you posed questions such as “Could this be a mutation?”, it was almost like I was asking these questions myself. My favorite part about this piece of writing is the last sentence, “Even though I remain unsure about this plant species, I appreciated the walk and the adventure searching for this plant as opposed to settling with the bunches of dandelions in my own front lawn.” It shows that you might not always succeed or get the right answers when deviating from the normal, which in your case were the dandelions in your front lawn, but taking a different path will have its benefits and rewards through the journey of exploration itself.
– Selma Cemerlic
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Hi Ciana, I hope all is well!
I would like you to know that just by reading this piece, I am 10% more relaxed. I felt as if I was being guided in meditation or an imagination exercise as I read the first couple paragraphs of your writing. Thats powerful stuff!
I think its quite a wonderful thing to be able to do, transport someone somewhere they are not.
On that note, your writing had a certain stream-of-consciousness feel to it. I felt as if I was actually there with you, as you delved into the mystery of what this anomalous red flower could be.
Lastly, I really like the conclusion of your last paragraph. It reminds of the following maxim:
“If you tried your best, that’s good enough.”
Even though you may not be certain of your answer, you gave it your all and you appreciated the adventure. That’s all you can ever do in life! Try your hardest and never more. If you do that, you can’t regret anything.
My best wishes Ciana,
A great read!
PEACE AND LOVE,
Neil Baker
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I really appreciate the unique nature of this post. The pictures splitting up your writing made me feel as though I was with you on your walk, seeing each of the things you described, as you described them. This style of writing helped to break up your post rather than having one single piece and one sole picture to represent what you were writing. I admire the way you incorporated your thoughts into the piece, showing what went through your mind when seeing such an intriguing group of flowers. Your last sentence about not being positive about the identity of the flower but still appreciating them anyway is very powerful and can be applied to many aspect of life. Thank you for a great post!
Bray Fedele
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