Lost amongst the spambots

Bloodroot--rare and transient tiny blooms.

My plan for taking a Mental Health Break last Friday worked well: I tromped in the mud looking at wildflowers and sat out in the sun reading a good book, and then I extended my time in the sun over the weekend by going to a baseball game, doing some much-needed weed-whacking, and hearing a pretty good sermon Sunday morning.

But while I was busy restoring my soul, some evil bot stole my Facebook identity and started spamming my friends. I finally signed back on Sunday afternoon feeling rested and refreshed, only to find my inbox bristling with concerned messages from people saying things like "When did we stop being friends?" and "Why are you doing this?"

A few fell for Mystery Me's friend request, probably because he/she/it stole my adorable profile photo, but others knew right away that the spam messages weren't coming from me: the spammer's profile page featured no bird & flower photos, and the messages were studded with grammatical errors. I quickly reported the violation and Facebook took down the fake profile within minutes.

Now I wish I could get in touch with Mystery Me, and not just to chew out him/her/it for nabbing my favorite profile photo. I'm more interested in another side of the story: Mystery Me tried to engage my friends in discussion of a $100,000 grant opportunity, which is way outside my league. But since I recently got turned down for a summer research grant, maybe Mystery Me could give me some good advice on funding my future research projects!

On second thought, Forget it. I'm likely to get more profit out of tromping amongst wildflowers. 

Dutchmen's breeches

Rue anemone (left) and bloodroot (right)

Trilliums! (My favorite.)

Buckeyes bursting into new growth.

Dutchmen's breeches