Photo Essay, Spring 2011

Well, this spring has been rather lackluster in wildflowers due to the extreme drought that continues.  However, that doesn't mean there isn't beauty to behold.  So I bring you a brief photo essay of this spring.

Penstemon parryi

Datura meteloides

Echinopsis 'LA' hybrid

Echinopsis 'LA' hybrid

Mesquite

Salvia farinacea

Desert spiny lizard

Wilson's warbler

Gilded flicker

Mourning dove

Beavertail prickly pear

Staghorn cholla

Musings: The desert waits

So it is early June and we continue to be under extreme drought conditions.  I sit on the deck reading a book called the Natural History of the Senses written by Diane Ackerman, listening to a very talkative bird.  The desert spawns small dust devils and the smell of heat vaguely reminds me of the California State Fair.  It is the mingled smells of hot wood and metal, but not so pungent since there is a distinct lack of humanity.  The trees have bloomed and started to set seed, but unlike last year, both are sparse.  Still I partake of some fresh palo verde beans at just the right stage of development.  Fresh palo verde beans are similar to fresh peas.  Both are legumes and I anticipate when I can harvest the dry beans to test cook to see if they can become something like baked beans.  It would be nice to learn how to use what naturally grows here, but I digress a bit. 

The breeze is dry and fairly steady and the one bird talks like a chatty Cathy; it is otherwise silent here.  The bunnies vie for water dripping from a hose, thrashers hop around looking for something to eat, and the trees look like they’re waiting.  They are green with meager fresh growth, but not the lush green that comes with monsoons. The desert is waiting, waiting for the next season-the one of rain and humidity.  The season of distinct temperature changes from the heat of the early day to the sudden cool that comes with the afternoon downpours.  The trees wait, the animals anticipate, and I look forward.