Flight

As most anyone, I am fascinated by flight: an airplane lifting off of the ground then soaring thousands of miles about the clouds, following the curve of Earth, fast. We reach our destination in 1 hour 45 minutes when it would take 17 hours to drive. Arriving rested and ready to play for a week.

Then there are the birds and the bees and the butterflies that propel themselves seeming effortlessly through the air with only the force of their own muscles and stamina. 

Flight of any sort requires lift. An airplane, a bird, a bee, a butterfly must be able to lift itself as well as propel itself through the air. Take a moment to read the article in Science Daily that dispels the myth that bumble bees shouldn't be able to fly at all, as we have thought for decades. Instead, they rely on their brute force to get off the ground to go from plant to plant. One of the articles that I read referred to them as the cargo tankers of the insect world. Wikipedia also has an interesting bumble bee discussion, too.

These were the biggest bumble bees that I have ever seen, too. They'd load up then head south for the nest.

I stepped outside the other morning headed on a certain errand--to get the mail, maybe--when I saw a pair of swallow tailed butterflies dancing in the Manarda. I had been waiting for them to show up all summer. Forgetting my errand, I returned to the house to get the Canon with the telephoto so that I capture their images. I wanted to get them in flight.




                #354
   By Emily Dickinson

   From Cocoon forth a Butterly
   As Lady from her Door
   Emerged--a Summer Afternoon--
   Repairing Everywhere--

   Without Design--the I could trace
   Except to stay abroad
   On Miscellaneous Enterprise
   The Clovers--understood--

   Her pretty Parasol been seen
   Contracting in a Field
   Where men and Hay--
   The struggling hard
   With an opposing Cloud--

   Where Parties--Phantom as Herself--
   To Nowhere--seemed to go
   In purposeless Circumference--
   As 'were a Tropic Show--

   And notwithstanding Bee--that worked=--
   And Flower--that zealous blew--
   This Audience of Idleness
   Disdained them, from the Sky--

   Till Sundown crept--a stead Tide--
   And Men that made the Hay--
   And afternoon-- and Butterfly--
   Extinguished--in the Sea--

   (poemhunter.com)

 July: The Month of the Lily

 

Transplanted from the UGLY PLACE last summer, this day lily bloomed for the first time in its new spot in the garden that wraps around the back of the patio. The dark red was a welcome color in a garden sea of pink.



Agapnathus, her garden companion, makes a nice contrast with her trumpet shaped blooms in a lavender-periwinkle color.

On the north side of the house living with the other tiger lilies lives this tiger lily. I don't have name for her. Any idea? She is pinkish on with a dash of brown. One my faves. I only have two stems growing, so I hoping that she will reseed herself.

She probably belongs to the lilium family.

Then we have these gorgeous plants. I shared photos of the Anderson Wheat Farmers last week harvesting wheat. This is what Mrs. Anderson grows in her garden, these gorgeous tree lilies that are at least 6 feet tall.

 They certainly are a must have in my garden. Now I just need to figure out where they would do well. She ordered the bulbs from Gurney's Catalog. Check out this link for their description: Tree Lily

Playing in the Water

I am so grateful for an automatic underground irrigation system here that the Head Gardener has worked so hard to get automated. Without it, gardening here would be nearly impossible. Our hot, dry climate spells certain death for many plants that are not natives to Zone 5. I think I almost see smiles on these little faces. Can you?

I saved the best for the last. If you have visited Ann's Dollhouse Dreams, my dollhouse blog, you would have had advanced notice. I am pretty excited to be able to return to the university to teach one more time. I received an email a couple of weeks ago from the English department executive assistant asking me if I wanted to teach a few classes. My first question was what is a "few?" I did decide to teach two sections of English 122, college composition, a course where we teach essay writing to incoming freshmen. I loved my job, but I was tired and worn out and the I just was not enjoying myself, so I retired, but oh my did I ever miss it. I will teach Tuesdays and Thursday beginning August 25 until December 15th. I promise to keep blogging. 

This week has a bit going on. Tomorrow I drive to Denver to bid farewell to a cousin who passed last November in Washington. She grew up in the Denver area, so friends and family are having a memorial for her and her husband who passed shortly after, too. I will probably see family that I have not seen in years. And Lucy has her birthday; she will 7. The heat is on, too. The garden is beginning to show the wear and tear of heat, wind, and hail. It looks like it is ready to rest. We are starting to wear down too with all of the weeding and still cannot keep up. What about your garden? Is it showing signs of slowing down? Are you slowing down?

I hope you have a splendid week. Thanks so much for stopping by.