Spring Beauties! #Wordless Wednesday #The flowers are Spring Beauties a/k/a Fairy Spud or Miner’s Lettuce

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Linda Schaub

Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.

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About Linda Schaub

This is my first blog and I enjoy writing each post immensely. I started a walking regimen in 2011 and in 2013 I decided to create a blog as a means of memorializing the people, places and things seen on my daily walks. I have always enjoyed people watching, so my blog is peppered with folks I meet or reflections of characters I have known through the years. Often something piques my interest, or evokes a pleasant memory from my memory bank, so this becomes a “slice o’ life” blog post. I respect and appreciate nature and my interactions with Mother Nature’s gifts is also a common theme. Sometimes the most-ordinary items become fodder for points to ponder over and touch upon. I retired in March 2024 after a career in the legal field. I was a legal secretary for almost 45 years, primarily working in downtown Detroit, then working from my home. I graduated from Wayne State University with a degree in Mass Communications (print journalism) in 1978, though I’ve never worked in that field. I would like to think this blog is the writer in me finally emerging!! Walking and writing have met, shaken hands and the creative juices are flowing in Walkin’, Writin’, Wit & Whimsy. I hope you think so too. - Linda Schaub
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41 Responses to Spring Beauties! #Wordless Wednesday #The flowers are Spring Beauties a/k/a Fairy Spud or Miner’s Lettuce

  1. Pepper's avatar Pepper says:
    May 27, 2026 at 6:42 am

    Cuteness! The tiny flowers are so pretty. 😊

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  3. dawnkinster's avatar dawnkinster says:
    May 27, 2026 at 6:51 am

    Spring is my favorite season and May is my favorite month. I don’t think I’d enjoy it so much if we lived in a place without a real winter. I also like squirrels though don’t tell my husband who thinks I leave too much birdseed out and it attracts squirrels. Of course I do.

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    • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
      May 27, 2026 at 6:33 pm

      I agree Dawn – you can’t appreciate Spring until you’ve dealt with wintry weather and a drab landscape for five or six months. I have always had a soft spot for squirrels too, even though they think can outsmart you at the bird feeder!

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  4. brilliantviewpoint's avatar brilliantviewpoint says:
    May 27, 2026 at 7:12 am

    Great photo. He’s a chunky squirrel!

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    • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
      May 27, 2026 at 6:36 pm

      Thanks Monica – yes, at this park, there are a lot of people feeding the squirrels and sometimes people just drive around the park perimeter road and just toss peanuts out the window and the squirrels know that so they hang out by the road. When you get out of your car, they always run up to you! 🙂

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  5. Kate Crimmins's avatar Kate Crimmins says:
    May 27, 2026 at 8:16 am

    He needs a peanut!

    Liked by 1 person

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  6. J P's avatar J P says:
    May 27, 2026 at 8:43 am

    I think the squirrel is saying “Yes. The flowers are nice. Now where are my peanuts?”

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  7. bushboy's avatar bushboy says:
    May 27, 2026 at 9:37 am

    “Well peanut lady, where’s the stash?” “C’mon, hand it over, I’ve got kids to feed”

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    • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
      May 27, 2026 at 6:42 pm

      Brian, at some point she probably got tired of camera clicks, (even though she posed twice), then said “no peanuts lady, then I’m outta here!” There are tons of squirrels at Elizabeth Park and people toss out peanuts from their car as they drive by, so the squirrels do a lot of shameless begging here.

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  8. Debbie D.'s avatar Debbie D. says:
    May 27, 2026 at 1:50 pm

    That squirrel looks well-fed! 😆 We see those flowers everywhere, but I didn’t know what they are called. Thanks for the info!

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    • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
      May 27, 2026 at 6:45 pm

      Yes, she does look well fed Debbie! At Elizabeth Park they have lots of squirrels and they often hang out by the perimeter road on this island park as people drive by and toss peanuts out the window all year around. They are very well fed. Shameless begging, but they’re smart too! The Spring Beauties don’t last long and usually only grow around tree trunks.

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  9. Joni's avatar Joni says:
    May 27, 2026 at 4:05 pm

    I didn’t know what they were called either. My lily of the valley is out and smells great!

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    • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
      May 27, 2026 at 6:48 pm

      I never knew what they were called either Joni, until the elderly man names Arnie pointed them out to me one day. He was a great source of information – he grew up next to a forest and knew lots of interesting things. They don’t last long and only grow around tree trunks. When we first moved here, the woman next door had Lily of the Valley along the side of her house and the houses are close together. They smelled wonderfully, especially after the rain.

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      • Joni's avatar Joni says:
        May 29, 2026 at 10:00 pm

        the Lily of the Valley don’t last long either! A week at most. I tried taking some photos of them today but they were starting to brown already and the smell was off. Watching Montreal lose (badly) in 3rd period against Carolina – so that’s it for hockey this year for Canadian teams.

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      • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
        May 29, 2026 at 10:47 pm

        Yes, it is an intense smell. There was a cologne that smelled like Lily of the Valley years ago – it was popular in the 70s. That’s too bad, no Canadian hockey team win this year. That’s early to be out for all the teams. I have a high school friend who lives in North Carolina and she/her husband have season tickets to all the games and have for years, so she’s probably crowing about the win.

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      • Joni's avatar Joni says:
        May 30, 2026 at 6:46 pm

        Carolina plays Vegas next week for the Stanley Cup – this was just the semi-finals….the actual SC. final is usually in June. Still it’s good they got that far as they are one of the younger (age wise) teams. But Caroline out-played them. The cologne was Muget du Bois, and I loved it, but it was d/c a long time ago, but I did see a bottle in a thrift shop last year but the smell was off.

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      • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
        May 30, 2026 at 8:06 pm

        That’s right, I forgot that the finals usually end in mid-June. Maybe next year they will get a chance again. Yes, that’s right, that’s the name of it. I can even picture how the bottle looked. It smelled wonderful and lasted a long time. I’ll bet it is still around somewhere. The Vermont Old Country Store used to carry a lot of products that were obsolete everywhere else. We bought several items from them through the years.

        Liked by 1 person

  10. Terri Webster Schrandt's avatar Terri Webster Schrandt says:
    May 27, 2026 at 8:00 pm

    These flowers are so pretty Linda, and your squirrel buddy posed so nicely against them! How cute!

    Liked by 1 person

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  11. Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog's avatar Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog says:
    May 29, 2026 at 3:14 am

    These flowers grow here in the woods by the river. They are extremely pretty!

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  12. Stevens's avatar Stevens says:
    May 29, 2026 at 4:16 pm

    Mi Linda……………………………………….I’m not sure what that little critter is thinking but he;s got his eye on you………………………………….

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  13. Rebecca's avatar Rebecca says:
    May 30, 2026 at 9:45 pm

    The black squirrel is adorable. We don’t have any like them around here. It was nice of him to pick a beautiful patch of flowers to pose beside. 🙂

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  14. trumstravels's avatar trumstravels says:
    May 31, 2026 at 9:35 am

    Ah! What a sweet squirrel 😀 and those flowers are so pretty and tiny !

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  15. Dave's avatar Dave says:
    May 31, 2026 at 11:00 am

    “Fairy Spud” has a romantic sound to it, but I’d replace the squirrel with several small Tinker-Bell-ish beings, flitting about in the grass. Having said that, the squirrel would surely prefer “Miner’s Grass” because then it seems to suggest “FOOD!”

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    • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
      May 31, 2026 at 9:01 pm

      Yes “Fairy Spud” does have a Tinker Bell kind of feel to it – I agree Dave. 🙂 The Spring Beauties are such delicate little flowers and only appear at the base of the trunks of trees for a short time. I think this squirrel was angling for food because everyone feeds the squirrels at this park, sometimes tossing peanuts out the car window at them, so they often hang out near the perimeter road. I liked that this squirrel hopped right on over to the tree trunk as if to say “I am ready for my photo Linda – do you prefer a profile shot or me looking right at you?”

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