Friday flowers…wild blue phlox

When we reached Illinois, flowers were in full bloom which gladdened my heart. Friend time plus flowers is an excellent combination, as is good food and drink. 😉

Friday flowers…medley

Medley…a diverse assortment or mixture; in this case, a medley of desert flowers. Medley also has a musical meaning, a series of various songs or parts of songs. The flowers of the desert in their short season sing a beautiful song to those who take the time to listen.

Monday walk…Tonto National Forest

To be honest, I did more driving than walking here because I’d pull over to take pictures, then hop back in, drive to another spot, and repeat. In some areas there was fencing, so I couldn’t walk far. In others I found trail access with parking, but you have to have a pass to park and I don’t have one. I didn’t mind. The views could hardly have been bettered.

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the mind.”
― Luther Burbank

Spotting a cactus in full bloom I clambered up the steep slope in loose soil, hoping I wouldn’t slip and fall into anything spiny. If the following quote is true, the desert is full of both love and truth. 🙂

“Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

Then came lupine, beautiful flowers we see in Wyoming if we arrive early enough in the summer or even later if there’s been enough rain and it hasn’t gotten too hot. No matter the color of the flowers, the views of the mountains and the endless sky kept me happy. You’d think a cloudless blue sky would be the best, but for photos you can’t beat some artistically arranged clouds!

In some places there were poppies as well. Jo, I didn’t have any cake or dessert after the three hours or more I spent here, but I was filled with so much joy and contentment that I didn’t need anything else. 🙂

“The earth laughs in flowers” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

I clearly heard earth laughing this day!

Jo’s Monday Walk 4.17.23

Flowers in the desert

“A flower blooming in the desert proves to the world that adversity, no matter how great, can be overcome.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

Arizona’s been experiencing a super bloom, something I’ve only seen in pictures, so this morning I packed my camera, filled my travel mug with tea, and headed for Tonto National Forest, a vast area of almost 600,000 acres, to see whether the bloom was still in force . I travel this same path when going to Wyoming or Illinois, but at 4 am in the morning, I’d need the ability of an owl to see in the dark in order to appreciate its undeniable beauty. This 7:30 time was much more reasonable.

Not long after entering the park, the roadside assured me flowers were still blooming as well as setting me to wonder as many times before, how and why flowers tend to cluster along the sides of a road. Mind you, I’m not complaining, especially as here there were places where I could pull over, get out, and take photos. These are all from my iPhone as I haven’t uploaded those from my camera yet.

“The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom.” – Edward Abbey

The flowers claim immediate attention but lift your head. The desert is green, the views vast, streams of flowers leading your eyes to the mountains and the sky.

It didn’t take long for the quiet and beauty to bring peace and solace to my soul.

I realized I hadn’t been out in nature for far too long. I have a need for solitude, for time alone in nature to think, relax, just be, not be doing. At the same time, the overwhelming, glorious beauty bubbled inside, exclaiming out loud deep words such as “Oh…my…gosh” or “Unbelievable!”

“The desert is natural; when you are out there, you can get in tune with your environment, something you lose when you live in the city.” ~ Robyn Davidson

“I don’t see the desert as barren at all; I see it as full and ripe. It doesn’t need to be flattered with rain. It certainly needs rain, but it does with what it has, and creates amazing beauty.” ~ Joy Harjo

The desert was certainly full and ripe today after only about a mile. So much more to come!

Roadside wildflowers

Remember when we came back from our raft trip I showed you pictures of the poppies along the street in Globe? Remember I bemoaned the fact that while there were wildflowers everywhere along the highway I couldn’t find anywhere to safely stop for photos? I actually did finally find a place to safely veer to the side and park out of the way of the speeding traffic. Unfortunately there weren’t as many flowers as in the other places and not all the same kinds, but I did find some lovely ones.

If you came expecting Thursday Doors, I’m sorry to disappoint you but it’s been a busy week and I simply couldn’t get any door photos ready to go, plus I knew I wouldn’t have time to visit all the other door posts. Hence the wildflowers. But hey, who doesn’t like to get flowers? 🙂

Wordless Wednesday…Joshua Tree wildflowers

Dancing poppies

The combination of rain and warmth has blessed Arizona with wildflowers, some of which we saw on the drive back from our whitewater rafting trip on Saturday. (Yes, I’ll show and tell you about it.) Other blogging friends have mentioned seeing poppies but I haven’t had time to drive anywhere to see them. But while driving along, sated with the tired joy that comes of a long day paddling through whitewater and the adrenaline earned after each section, I was gobsmacked (how I love the word) to see miles of poppies! To the right was a wide swath where a young woman was picking a bouquet and then lying in the flowers to have her picture taken. I hit the brakes and pulled over.

Through the dancing poppies stole A breeze, most softly lulling to my soul. ~John Keats

Poppies are like sunlight distilled to its very golden essence. One is beautiful, hundreds are heart-sqeezingly gorgeous.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below. ~ John McCrae

Or, bide thou where the poppy blows
With windflowers fail and fair. ~William C. Bryant

The amusing thing for me is that all this beauty was right next to the street in Globe, Arizona, not exactly the beauty spot of Arizona. But for some miles, we were dazedly happy.

These too are of a burning color–not orange, not gold, but if pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of the poppies. ~John Steinbeck

At the edge of the poppies, I spotted a few of these very different charmers, although as far as I’m concerned, toadflax isn’t a name that conveys their true beauty! Their less flamboyant looks also were appreciated.

Never assume you’re somewhere beauty can’t be found. It can be anywhere.

Joshua Tree…flowers for Ukraine

Even the roadside flowers are beautiful!

Six-Word Saturday 3.25.23

March of the wildflowers