Daughter, grandson, and I walked over to the other grandparents’ house in the afternoon. On the way, I spotted a bush of these large, beautiful flowers which my plant app says are popppies. The wind was blowing at a good rate but I managed to get several shots, this one including a bee which didn’t seem bothered at all by the flowers whipping back and forth. It was a good first day.
This is my favorite poem about spring and even though the Arizona world is rarely mud-luscious or puddle-wonderful, it still evokes spring for me. And I’m going attempt to find e. e. cummings quotes or poems to go with all my photos for Marsha’s WQW challenge for this week.
in just spring
in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
Well, I don’t know if this balloonMan is goat-footed (or whether the balloonPerson is either), but it is a balloon even though not the sort e. e. had in mind.
(all the merry little birds are flying in the floating in the very spirits singing in are winging in the blossoming) e.e.cummings
(One of the things that drives me mad about WP is trying to get poems to format properly and the only way I know to do it puts them on the grey background. Sorry about that.)
This bird may not be flying right now, but I’m sure it’s quite merry despite the fact that its mother obviously never mentioned that standing on your food while eating it (or at any other time) is not really the thing. But spirits are singing and there’s definitely blossoming going on. 🙂
“Then it was spring; and in spring anything may happen. Absolutely anything.” ~ E. E. Cummings
Spring makes the wall finally warm enough to tempt these two to make their spring debut.
And still the mad magnificent herald Spring assembles beauty from forgetfulness with the wild trump of April:witchery of sound and odour drives the wingless thing man forth in the bright air. ~e. e. cummings
It also drove this winged bee into an ecstasy of headfirst pollen-gathering. Our girls used to sometimes say something caused an ecstasy spasm and that’s exactly what I saw here as he flitted from flower to flower. In fact, spring gives me an ecstasy spas. (Note: going headfirst into food probably qualifies as not being quite the thing either.)
when faces called flowers float out of the ground and breathing is wishing and wishing is having— but keeping is downward and doubting and never —it’s april(yes, april;my darling)it’s spring! ~e.e.cummings from "when faces called flowers"
These trumpet cacti don’t flower often and the flowers begin to wilt by the end of the first day but oh, the glory while they bloom!! We were blessed with three rounds of flowers our first year here. A sighting makes me grab my camera and rush outside immediately. Hurrah for spring!!
What’s not to like about a bee going about its bee buzziness? This is from “my” park in Illinois which must look beautifully fall-like now.
#PastSquares: flowers
I’d planned to take part in the Lens-Artists Challenge today but we just bought access to Le Tour de France, so that’s five hours or so where we’re glued to the screen. Yesterday morning was my Friday grocery shopping and cleaning day for my parents, but in the afternoon my mom fell, so I was there twice more, the second time to help with dinner and then watch most of game 7 of the remaining Stanley Cup semifinal game between Tampa Bay and the NY Islanders, which also meant I didn’t get much done at home. Tomorrow my parents will be here to celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary, so a bit of prep called for there as well. All of which means I have plenty to do or to distract me and the challenge for Lens-Artists isn’t a straightforward one today. So I’m sharing three bonus white photos for Life in Colour: white, all of which come from Arizona.
This photo of a snowy egret amuses me as it appears the bird is being lifted to heaven by and in the ray of light. In case you wondered, it didn’t get that far but flew off elsewhere. 🙂
Not an artistic photo but it is an iconic one for desert dwellers. Humorous, but take it to heart and stay on the path!
This bee is living proof that the poisonous datura isn’t poisonous for bees and also has enormous, beautiful white flowers.
I hope you’re each having an enjoyable, relaxing weekend.
I wasn’t the only one at the park on Friday. This guy was having a great time. I have been too, meeting with two more friends today. How’s your week been so far? It’s hard to beat being busy with friends.
I’m excited not only to share a favorite subject, a bee nose diving into a flower, but my first photo duo using the slider, which I only found thanks to Dan at nofacilites. He’s been giving lessons on using the block editor and as far as the slider goes, once I knew where to look, it was simple to find. Thanks so much, Dan. This particular bee and flowers were at Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona. These cacti and flowers were very small but eye-catching.
for Squares: bright and Life in Colour: pink
This week Tina has set us a daunting task: to share special moments with the Lens-Artists community. Just the thought of trying to choose only five or six special moments out of all the years of photos almost made me give up in despair. Instead, I decided instead to limit my special moments to moments since moving to Arizona just under a year ago…and believe me, that’s hard enough!
Not long after we arrived at our new rental house, the torch cactus in the backyard bloomed with beautiful flowers that have a fleeting life of only about one day. I was stunned by their beauty and thrilled that they bloomed a number of times in the ensuing weeks. What a welcome to the desert! But like much of the desert, be careful how close you get! Beauty and danger have a habit of co-existing here.
On several visits to the Riparian Preserve, I’d spoken with a birder from, judging by his accent, either Boston or that part of the world, about the harrier hawk (he pronounced it “hairyah”) that he was an expert on. This day I followed him down a back path where he not only pointed out the hawk but told me about where he thought her nest was, her usual flight patterns, and so on. Here’s one of my shots of that special moment.
This pollen-covered bee ecstatically dancing in a poisonous datura flower was definitely a moment that brought joy to my heart.
Me finally catching a cormorant catching a fish was pretty exciting as was catching him drop it and an egret snatching it away a few minutes later.
There’ve been so many more special moments since we’ve moved: in Sedona and Saguaro National Park, seeing a vermillion flycatcher at Tuscon’s Sweetwater Wetlands and seeing alpine growth at the top of Mt. Lemmon. The most special moments though don’t have any photos…being here to spend time with and help out my aging parents and, weirdest of all the special moment, the three of us getting our second Covid vaccinations as well and my husband getting his first. What a year when getting shots is probably the highlight!
This last shot may not seem special but it’s of the only squirrel I’ve seen in this area since we moved here. Small joys.
This, that and the other thing 