Tag: purple flowers

I see flowers…

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I remember me as a little kid in the desert looking for things to do, having been sent outside to play. Alone and bored, I would notice tiny flowers. Mostly tiny yellow ones but there were also tiny purple ones and tiny white ones.img_9217

Carefully picking them with enough stem to put in a vase once I got back home, I would gather these delicate flowers until my hands were full.img_9216

I remember proudly walking in to the house with my dirty little fists full of the bounty of wild desert flowers I had collected all those long, hot hours wandering around outside alone.img_9219

Finding my Mom in the kitchen, I could hardly wait to give them to her, positive she would just rave at what a wonderful child I was.

My mom turned, looked at my offering and flatly said “Stacy those are weeds.” Then turned back to her dishes.

I remember arguing that if she looked close enough they were flowers, forcing her to see. Being a mom, she grabbed a Dixie cup and humored me along by putting them on the window sill then sending me right back outside.

As I got a little older, one of my main chores was to weed along the fence line. My parents, now convinced I’m the family expert on the matter, figured I should have no problem locating them and removing them.

No dead heading allowed. If I had a pile of snapped off weed tops to put in the wheel barrow at the end of the work day I had hell to pay. I better have a pile of weeds that look a lot like sad undeveloped carrots with visible roots if I had any chance of getting to go out that night.

Now as an adult, I live on 2.5 acres in the amazing desert that bumps right up against the Superstition Mountain. Things have started to bloom all over due to recent rains and our never-ending sunshine. I spend hours outside alone still but enjoy it so much more now that I’m taking pictures to share with everyone.

I may not pick those tiny little colorful buds and put them in Dixie cups anymore but I will argue all day long that I don’t see weeds… I still see flowers.img_9270

perspective

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Apparently, it’s possible to piss off a hummingbird. I’m guessing little bird complex.

There are two hummingbirds I see regularly. One has red on its chest or throat. The other is more of a green. Their feathers are iridescent. Really, they are pretty birds, but as you all know I use an iPad mini so I have no shot at getting a good close up. I don’t even try.IMG_7680.JPG

I have been waiting for our bird of paradise bush to bloom in hopes of a good picture. It’s right by the living room window so I keep a pretty close eye on it. This time of year here in the desert random plants are blooming because the weather change has been so drastic.

Yesterday morning the bush seemed to be covered in new orange blooms. The little tube like flowers wilt easily and have a very short shelf life. Something hummingbirds are aware of also. As with everything in life, it’s all about timing.  I needed to get out there quickly.img_7695

I’m frozen and wearing my oversized white fluffy robe so I need to change before I go out. With an expected high only in the 70’s, the morning was cold for a desert kid like me but I’m pretty sure I don’t need to hover over this poor plant looking like the abominal snow man so I go and change.

The red hummingbird has beaten me to the bush. I hear the hum as I step closer.

As expected, due to this weather snap, it’s slim pickin’s already for me to find blooms that haven’t started showing signs of stress. Red however is having absolutely no problem locating happy orange tubes to insert it’s face into.

Not that long ago after the last good rain, our purple flowers bloomed and were immediately covered in desperate bees stocking up. I was able to stick my arms into these bushes holding an iPad without one sting.IMG_4864.JPG It was busy and bustling but as long as everyone stayed out of each other’s way lots of work was getting done. I took some amazing pictures that day.img_4877

Apparently, hummingbirds aren’t as cooperative. I can guarantee you Reds not.

Not concerned in any way for my safety, I lean in to the orange bush to get a closer look only to have a hummingbird whiz past my head then fly up to the tree and land on a branch making noises I took as hummingbird cussing.img_7686

The bush is covered in flowers but, unlike working with the bees, me and Red CANNOT share and I’m being told about it.

My head is now the tower and Red is requesting a fly by. I feel the side of my head vibrate as this miniature jet fighter screams past. Faintly I hear “…gonna take you right in to the danger zone…”

This makes me laugh. I say out loud “you’re serious right now?” and throw up my hands as if I’m saying “bring it little bird.”

No big crazy humming bird fight happens next. Red didn’t tackle me and flop me around with his surprising hummingbird strength. No, just another talking to from the branch above.img_7680

But now I feel guilty. I’m in the way of food and trust me no one wants to be in my way when I’m “starving” so I get it.

For me, minutes of snapping unnecessary pictures is nothing. But to this hardworking, fast moving hummingbird I’m some huge, incredibly slow moving creature who isn’t even eating, just staring at the food, slowing down the buffet line while the food goes bad, until, infuriated, it screams “move bitch get out tha way!”

It’s all perspective.