Spring for me can't come too soon anywhere I find myself. The Native Plant Society knows where to go looking for the first signs of spring in the desert of the Columbia Basin in Central Washington State. To look for spring blooms, eight optimistic seekers headed for the Twin Sisters in the Wallula Gap on the Columbia River. We put on our windbreakers and hunkered down against the chilling wind. The footpath up the gully was fringed with native plants not nearly prepared for blossoms, or so I thought.

Our quest paid off farther on when we came upon large patches of yellow bells, a few lomatia, and what experts identified as technical names in appropriate Latin, putting me to shame in my ignorance. I practiced close-up photography of the tiny wonders that tossed and wiggled with glee in the brisk capricious breeze.

In a few days and magic of technology the photos would be in my album to forever recall those first blossoms of spring.