Monday, September 03, 2012

Seasonal sightings

I guess summer is over (for some people)....


But the hummingbirds are still here

So are the blossoms and the bees

And the quail have stopped by for a quick lunch

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

calliope-dervish
hibiscus, keep hidden your

secret of red
silk luminous billowing -

whats sold at
marketplaces as that

essence perennially
out of season

Shell Sherree said...

25 cent lemonade? What a bargain! Those hummingbirds are so pretty ~ you have a great knack for catching them on film, Ms M. {"Catching them on digital," doesn't quite have the same ring...}

Ms M said...

Love your poem, Anon. Your fine words are always in season xxoo

Hi Shell, Yes, the lemonade is a bargain (altho we can't vouch for the quality) :-)
It's a fun challenge to photograph the little hummers, whether on film or digital. Right now they are in migration, so we've seen a lot of them.

Anonymous said...

gosh, Ms M. I've been tracking a local fire as part of my job, and looked over to Idaho and saw the two fires you've had burning this summer have consumed almost 400,000 acres. I'm aghast. Why can't they contain it? Terrain? Lack of personnel or equipment? I'm so worried now about your beautiful countryside.

Ms M said...

Hi Karin: Yes we've had a bad fire year in Idaho. For a while we had 7 different fires burning in various parts of the state. These fires are in rugged country, wilderness areas where it's hard to get fire fighting equipment in. The fires are so ferocious they create their own weather. Treetops spontaneously burst into flame, so it's very dangerous.
They often have to do back burns to stop the spread, but those can only be done if there is little wind.

They are much closer to containment now than in August, but they project they won't achieve full containment until October unless we start getting rain.

Boise is in the desert, so we aren't in danger of forest fires, but we have had a lot of smoke roll into the valley. Hard for folks with breathing problems.

The wilderness areas will come back; but it will take a while.

I'll be interested to hear about your experiences tracking fires.

dive said...

Another wonderful pictorial post with beautiful acommpaniment from Anon.
I love the forward planning demonstrated by the lemonade vendor's signwriter. As ever, your hummingbirds are glorious, Ms.M. but it's the hibiscus that got to me. I used to have a garden filled with them in Portugal but they don't grow this far north and I really miss them.

Ms M said...

Dive: Thank you -- you are too kind :-)
We got a kick out of the lemonade sign which was left forlornly on the grass. Possibly a failed business venture.
How wonderful that you had a garden of hibiscus in Portugal! How long did you live there?

dive said...

Not long enough, Ms.M. My ex. mother-in-law was Portuguese and they own a massive spread there. I miss it far more than I miss my ex. Hey ho.

Ms M said...

Haha! Hey ho, indeed!