Two bees or not two bees?

Six-Word Saturday 1.28.23

Holding on for dear life

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.

In a perfect state of bee-ing

Six-Word Saturday 4.2.22

WQW #12: spring with e. e. cummings

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!!

Wordless Wednesday…two bees in a pod…er, poppy

Bee-ing orange

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.

Life in Colour: orange

#PastSquares: flowers

Wordless Wednesday…Wyoming pollinators

also for Cee’s CMMC – September Close Up or Macro

Bonus Arizona whites

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’m as busy as this.

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.

Diving into pink

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