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Category Archives: Beauty

I Choose To Bloom…

29 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Beauty, Choices, Contentment, Gardening, Joy, Nature, Outdoors, Peace, Seasons, Uncategorized

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Animals, Nature, Summer

It’s been a really hot week here, but we’re somewhat used to that smack dab in the middle of Summer here in the Sonoran Desert in the Southwest USA, so I’m trying to bloom where I am currently planted! But when the temps rise beyond  110 F. and hover there day after day with double-digit humidity rather than our early Summer drier conditions, it wears on even those of us more-seasoned desert dwellers! We are in the middle of our monsoon season here, which means there is a chance most afternoons of a thunderstorm developing and bringing with it the possibility for highly desirable rainfall! Even the wild creatures which cohabit my parcel of this desert seem to be attempting to cope with the monsoon seasonal weather challenges.  desert-cottontail-rabbit-desert-harmony

Each afternoon, I can look out the windows of my house to see a variety of birds and bunnies hovering under the shade of the more-lush plants which I planted closest to the house. I water those plants every morning and evening during hot spells like this to keep those plants from drooping in the afternoon sun, but also to keep a more comfortable and favorable environment for all those birds and bunnies which gather there! They find the moist, shaded soil cooler for their bodies, and often the bunnies stretch out to make as much bodily contact as possible with the soil. The quail which are native to this area also kick out some of the groundcover and soil to burrow a bit further down in and around the plants. Then the peach-faced lovebirds which made themselves at home on my street about twenty years ago find refuge in the shady bright-green branches of the shrubs I have growing there. At times, I have counted eighteen lovebirds along with several quail and bunnies all sharing about a 3′ x 7′ space. It’s magical to peek out the windows to see so many creatures taking their rest and comfort, all so readily visible from inside my house. In a way, their search for comfort provides for me a great opportunity to witness daily such beautiful animals, but also a responsibility to continue providing for them such excellent a refuge! Peach-faced Lovebirds 01-20-13 Phoenix-2-3

It’s not always easy getting up early to water and do my landscaping chores when the morning sun is already so intent on heating things up. And it’s not at all easy going out in the evening before the sun goes down to re-moisten the area with a fresh spray of water. But it is more than rewarding to witness how appreciated my efforts are by the creatures which rely upon my provisions! I make sure to keep birdbaths as well as water features clean and refreshed, my numerous plants provide shelter and food, and I even try to leave the area under my windows undisturbed so as not to frighten away the oodles of each specimen which are hanging out there from midday to evening. They bring me pleasure, so it’s the least I can do in return!  

Taking the time to notice life as it plays out before our eyes each day is our choice! And I surely have made it my practice to notice the beauty of the natural world unfolding each new day before my eyes, regardless of the heat! I’m eager for the end of Summer, as by the beginning of August the long, really hot weather starts to wear on even the most tenacious, seasoned desert gardener. But since I cannot control the weather, hasten time passing, or alter the conditions in which I now find myself living, I choose to bloom where I am planted by making something good out of it!   Signature02

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The Benefits Far Outweigh Anything Negative!

03 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Beauty, Choices, Gardening, God, Lessons, Life, Nature, Outdoors, Peace, Positivity, Seasons

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Beauty, Creatures, God's Design, Nature, Pests, Summer

I’m enjoying all the nature sightings of recent weeks and months, the benefits of these creature sightings far outweigh anything negative! There is nothing like experiencing wild animals among us when we’re in our own yards or visiting other locations! And although I have had a few inopportune moments with critters and bugs recently too, I focus on the positive impact the sightings of less pesky creatures have upon my life rather than the imperfections we can often face when human beings meet the wild! Just last month, I had a scare when I found a live scorpion in the upstairs guest room in which I was staying at my sister’s house! It was not pleasant whacking it with a shoe and praying there were no others for the few days I was visiting! But, it was a one-time sighting in a slew of visits, so I let it go and enjoyed my visit. And on that particular visit, I went whale watching on a trip in which I experienced seeing humpback and minke whales, as well as seeing a super pod of common dolphins! That and several other nature-oriented experiences made the scorpion sighting less memorable for sure!

Just yesterday, I saw a family with sixteen baby quail in my front yard! It was delightful to watch the brood scurry and scamper beside their parents. Quail are common visitors to my yard, but their families are not often that numerous! They’re so tiny when newborn, yet so proficient in their quail duties! This sighting came just hours after I had to remove the rather stinky rotting carcass of some poor dead creature laying in the backyard. Perhaps it had fallen prey to some other animal’s attack. Again, the benefit of the large quail family sighting far outweighed the nastiness of removing the stinky corpse! I’ve also recently had numerous rabbit sightings, with plentiful baby bunnies being born in the last few months. The sightings of the tinier babies more than make up for the nibbling older rabbits which insist upon gnawing my plants to stubs or to dust! Babies in my yard are always welcome, even when I realize how voracious they’ll be as adults one day soon!  

With Summer in the desert, we get an influx of several types of bugs which aren’t prevalent the rest of the year. Those include pesky mosquitoes which seem to thrive in the heat, big 2 – 3″ paloverde beetles and cicadas which buzz incessantly from their perches in trees throughout the landscape. The presence of these bugs is a nuisance often, as they creep around in places which are unexpected and the mosquitoes bite all the uncovered flesh which is more prevalent with the heat of Summer! I’ve even been bitten by mosquitoes while swimming in the pool! Short of swimming underwater only, I’m not sure I know how to evade those pests entirely! And everywhere I look in the yard, ants are busy doing whatever it is ants do! They’re usually not an issue, until I stop in their pathway in my sandals, often getting bitten for my error in judgment.

 

It’s always the case in Summer that I wish for a bit of relief when it comes to nature’s more pesky creatures. Bugs and creepy crawlers, snakes and lizards are not my favorite things. But this morning I was overjoyed to return a tiny gecko to the outdoors after finding it indoors on the carpeting by my front door! Those little things are cute, but they’re not meant to live indoors! I’ve already seen enough cuteness watching the common species of birds, the lovebirds which have naturalized, the lizards, squirrels and the bunnies running around while I watered this morning! Anything which seems negative at first with the creatures around me is always balanced out by something wondrous and fascinating to observe! Nature is a diverse, fantastical showcase of God’s miraculous handiwork and design! It’s both uplifting and at times, overwhelming and/or scary! It is just a part of living in this magical world which God has created!

America’s Indefatigable Exceptionalism!

30 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Beauty, Blessings, Celebration, Commitment, Freedom, God, Gratitude

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America, Constitutional Republic, Exceptionalism, Freedom, Independence Day

I have to admit, I’m a bit confused as to when it became popular to find America and our societal values so disagreeable? When did bashing our prior history to the point of attempting to erase it become so en vogue? In which year did the subtle erosion of American ideals and the disbelief in our national exceptionalism begin? Are they teaching this in our schools now? I grew up having America’s exceptionalism reaffirmed in common places and regular intervals, we closed our days by reaffirming on our television sets that our nation’s banner flew proudly over a united, grateful nation and that God’s blessings upon us were assured! Patriotism was not seen as a nagging character defect but rather an inherent part of a typical American’s DNA! Most of us seemed proud enough to place our hands on our hearts whenever we saw Ol’ Glory wave in all her majesty or whenever we had the chance to proclaim it through our national anthem! I just don’t comprehend this brewing anti-American sentiment which is inching forward through each generation in popularity, popping up often in groups yearning to proclaim their eager victim status, inflamed by unsettling rhetoric. None of this makes sense to me, even with a federal government which doesn’t always align exactly with my political beliefs, I’ve always seen American bi-partisan interests at work through a people united for the sake of America’s continued success. But recently, all of that is changing. A large swath of our culture seems to want to change America of late, it just wasn’t working for them. So that is what they set out to do more avidly within the last decade or maybe even well before that. Now those social justice warriors and their dissatisfied predecessors (who probably began this pursuit well before this generation) have succeeded in changing my beloved nation into something I almost no longer recognize as readily as the America of my youth! Our nation now seems intrinsically more broken as we approach this year’s Independence Day celebration. I’m concerned in ways I’ve never been before about our stability and our unity, as I never thought we’d actually have so many American citizens who seem to loathe their own nation! They look to things in our nation’s past as sins, unforgivable and insurmountable. They see our intricate system of governance as dated and passe`.  

I am of the other school of thought, that which believes, and always will, in America’s indefatigable exceptionalism! I grew up in a time when that was still presumed the case by a majority, as it was known in my home, practiced at all my schools throughout all my grades, and echoed routinely in most public entities by way of our culture’s common norms and values. This concept of American exceptionalism was seemingly settled for most of my life, its existence and origins were known to most everyone I came into contact with.  After all,  it derived not from some benevolent human pronouncement, but rather from a nation sure of its inception based on individual freedom which only God can bestow! Our founding fathers knew that human beings were only free when no tyrant or ruling party could dictate their every willful matter, especially their choice of religious practice or by impeding people’s ability to speak their minds. In modern terms, that would mean the founders knew inherently that a limited and smaller federal government was the only possible way to govern a nation truly desirous of maintaining such an imperative concept as that of individual liberty. Our American exceptionalism is derived from putting the individual and individual freedom ahead of a vast, dictatorial state body of some type capable through their size and/or power of overruling such God-given individual rights. The individual is the basis of our form of governance, that’s the most important entity in a Constitutional Republic like ours. In our brilliant founding, the government exists to serve “we, the people”, and not the opposite! The individual liberty we all inherently have through our Creator is the impetus for protective representation at the state and federal level, as well as for the integral balance of power of the three separate but equal branches of government at the federal level to protect the overall united Republic and its governing processes, quintessential to the founders’ design when drafting the documents which assured our nation’s first foundations of unity and governance! After all, most of our founding fathers and those who fueled our fledgling independence from England had witnessed state-dictated religion and actual serfdom to some oppressive ruling body such as a monarchy. They wanted no part of being ruled again!  

Now, this form of governance does not come without personal responsibility on the part of its citizenry. Our nation began with brilliant minds confirming our inherent right to live freely, to determine our own individual destiny! We must continue to participate in educating those who come after us as to what we are and how we are comprised, compelling each generation’s interest as to the vital importance of preserving and protecting our Constitutional Republic! It’s not a trite outmoded concept based on stale, outdated documents! Our Constitution and Bill of Rights are the backbone of this living unified being we call the United States of America. Without our Constitution and the Amendments which affirm our inherent freedoms, the brilliance of our founding eventually morphs into a chaotic governing body disavowing of individual liberty, which leads to a vast, impersonal state able to usurp our precious, invaluable, protected freedoms! God help us if any more of our citizenry become so enamored of this seemingly suicidal belief that America is not an exceptional nation, such that more of us throw our liberty to the winds of time and fate by welcoming an even larger, more contemptuous federal bureaucracy than what we already have to rule over us! Or that we would further hang our heads in shame for whatever we’ve done throughout our history, as though we haven’t actually earned any praise battling against the enemies of freedom all over this planet, bleeding profusely via both our flesh and treasure, sacrificing routinely, greatly, and often for liberty’s sake! We’re an imperfect people running as perfect a system of government as imperfect humans can devise and manage, with a most brilliant Constitution as our base! We must do our best to perpetuate as a Constitutional Republic. And we must never let liberty’s torch fade in the cold draft of our indifference, corrupt influences, or an intolerance for our very own well-being! America is something special, it always has been and it always will be if we insist upon educating those who follow as to why it is we dare make that claim!  

This Independence Day, let us Americans try to remember why our founders dared to draft such brilliant founding documents to protect and secure our individual liberty, why so many of us have fought, bled and often died throughout our history to protect these shores and our interests abroad, and why we have always affirmed our principled values united as willing patriots, regaling our beloved banner, eager to preserve this great nation with our spirit of gratitude and perseverance! As President Ronald Reagan once so eloquently and prophetically stated, “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth.” God bless America, and may God keep America in the palm of His hand, safe, prosperous, united and ever-grateful for such abundant blessings and such obvious exceptionalism!

A Welcoming Habitat . .

20 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Beauty, Blessings, Commitment, Creativity, Escape, Gardening, Growing, Happiness, Life, Nature, Outdoors, Seasons

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God's Creation, Habitats, Heat, Nature, Sanctuary, Summer

I’m glad I have several water features in my landscape for the sake of providing not only the soothing sound of coursing water but also to provide for nature a refuge from the intense Summer heat like we’re presently enduring here in the desert Southwest this week. Nature struggles in such intense weather just as we humans do. Today’s high was expected to be 120 Fahrenheit. Now, that’s intense! It’s evident when I look out my window to see several birds taking advantage of cooling down by sitting in the shallow birdbaths or taking a drink from a fresh, clean fountain. Water is important, as is providing safe places for all creatures to find shelter at all times of the year. In the desert, Summer is the most crucial time of year for provisional needs such as water, shade, protection, and food. Having a landscape which offers a variety of plant material as well as sources of nutrients and shelter for all the regular creatures which visit is a great way to make a daily theatrical show of nature’s best for you and your family!  

I was noticing some burrows being dug around my front shady border plantings. It’s from the quail, bunnies, and other birds which have realized how much more cool the soil is at the base of those regularly watered plants. So, I leave the burrows alone, knowing that the birds and rabbits which hunker down in them are finding some necessary relief. It doesn’t always look as nice with those burrows dug around the plants, but I let them be. And I keep all my water features full and clean during the Summer, which with birdbaths means that I am filling them each new morning due to evaporation and consumption. It might be simpler to not worry about such things in the heat of Summer, as the intense heat shortens my tolerance and time outside too. But, I realize how much the creatures which visit my yard have come to rely on the extra provisions I make available and I value having the chance to see them throughout the day! Each new day, as I water my potted plants early in the morning, I see to refilling the precious sources of water which keep the critters content!  

In the years I’ve lived here, I’ve become so used to the animals which have come to visit and to stay. There are tiny hummingbirds and predatory hawks. There are colorful peach-faced lovebirds and drabber birds which easily hide in our desert surroundings. I readily welcome the creatures, even though sometimes they provide a shock or an upset just by nature of their tenuous state as a living being. It’s all an acceptable part of living here because the beauty of having such diversity in my daily life and such a glimpse into God’s majestic hand of creation is more than worth any bother or momentary discomfort! Tomorrow morning I will again go out to water my plants, to tend to my landscape, and to provide for nature’s creatures even though I’ll have to go out early to beat the 118 F. forecast for our high temperature. Those many creatures don’t really depend on me for their provision, but they surely are offered a welcoming habitat here, especially when they may need some extra TLC! 

If you’re interested in providing natural habitats for more of nature’s critters, then I suggest you add some simple things to your yard. Just a fresh, moving water supply or one you regularly change is key, as well as food sources in the form of plant varieties and shelter in the way of plant textures and heights. These things are easy ways to offer food, water, shelter and interest for all sorts of creatures! If you do enough, you might even consider having your yard declared a wildlife sanctuary!  

 

 

Tickled Pink . .

01 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Beauty, Change, Contentment, Gardening, God, Gratitude, Growing, Happiness, Hope, Joy, Life, Nature, Surprise

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creation, Gardening, God, Nature, Plants

I bought a small 4″ aloe a couple of weeks ago, just to fill an empty pot on my back patio. This particular aloe stood out for its coloring and unique appearance. Named, Pickled Pink, it has distinctive pink edging on the fleshy leaves and a mottled appearance which suggests pickling. This aloe is small yet beautiful, but what it is currently doing is the most rewarding surprise of all! The wee Pickled Pink aloe is sending out a future bloom shoot which has now surpassed the plant’s own height at least thrice over and I am tickled pink by this Pickled Pink! Yes, that little beauty has a bloom shooting up nearly four times higher than the mother plant.

  

Now, for a gardener, there is nothing quite as exciting as a plant thriving and developing from the original version we purchased or found! It’s the developmental stages of a plant, meeting and exceeding expectations as well as hopes which give a gardener and plant collector like me unbridled joy! Since this little aloe seemed to jump out at me with such unique beauty and a catchy name, from a rack of numerous cacti and succulents, purchasing it was inevitable. But I never had any expectation for such a rapid developmental change like this! I await the bloom now, as many aloes have utterly spectacular and colorful flowers on the inflorescence they produce. Some are known and named for their blooming habits or those magnificent flower stalks produced normally in Spring, a bit earlier than this, the first days of June! So, my surprise at it producing a bloom after my purchase is surpassed only by my expectation as to how the bloom will look! 

If I could, I would probably never limit my plant collection! I am an avid collector and have yet to meet a plant I don’t like! Even weeds in the mind of a gardener are merely unwanted plants. Everything was created for a place and a purpose. Some plants provide food sources for animals and humans, others are medicinal resources for living creatures, and others provide intricate assistance to the overall well-being of the planet as a whole – producing seeds and substances or by replenishing the soil and air with specific essential chemical elements! Plants are important, just as is every other creative matter! And so, my appreciation for plants and for gardening is linked to bringing things to life, to support a natural and intricate ecosystem of my own making, with God’s guiding hand!  

I’m so looking forward to this bloom shoot coming to fruition on this tiny aloe clump of mine! It’s always exciting to see the endless ebb and flow of life in a garden, particularly a desert garden! My appreciation for this purchase is increasing exponentially with each passing day, as it’s developing and changing right before my eyes! There is never any real disappointment in a garden, even when experiencing a loss, for a garden exemplifies the best qualities of God’s amazing creation and design for this world. It is ever-changing, ever-developing and we are ever-learning in turn!   

My Version of Paradise . .

09 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Beauty, Celebration, Exploration, Gratitude, Happiness, Nature, Uncategorized

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Beauty, Exploration, Gardens, Nature, Plants

I am reeling from a few days in my version of paradise! I have to say, if there is a favorite activity on vacation, it’s visiting private or public gardens in the city or place in which I find myself. I have visited a lot of famous ones, and lesser known ones which I discovered by accident, including those on the road to Hana on Maui. There is even one called the Garden of Eden on that slightly treacherous descent, which made for a suitable and beautiful pause in my action-packed drive to Hana. No matter where I go, I look for gardens or plant centers to buy a suitable plant souvenir. And those with whom I frequently travel know this is my passion!  

So recently, as I visited my sibling in Los Angeles, I was treated to two separate trips to the Huntington in San Marino, near Pasadena. It’s one of my favorite public gardens on the planet, covering over 150 acres of themed gardens. The grounds of the once private estate have been routinely filmed in movies, commercials and used for various concerts and gatherings. You’ll recognize numerous locations from decades of filming! And I personally have taken thousands of photos of plants, animals, nature, and the artwork which is housed on the property in various buildings in the numerous visits I have made to the Huntington over several decades now!

The first visit of my recent travels fell upon the day set aside for free admission. We had no idea we had timed our visit accordingly. The crowds and the heat made for a rather brief visit that day, as both considerations made our visit more complicated. We did our best to enjoy it though, and lingered mostly in the Rose Garden, as the roses were at the height of their blooming season seemingly that very day! It was lovely to behold the hundreds of varieties, new and old, in full and glorious bloom! I took as many pictures as I could around the crowds wandering along the rows of beautiful blossoms. Unfortunately, we all ran out of steam early on in the day because of the heat and humidity which prevailed. So we left and promised a return if possible on the weekend, even though rain and the significantly cooler weather was forecast. After all, this day’s visit hadn’t cost us a thing!   

By Sunday the weather had turned enough to allow us to revisit the Huntington again. This day was about 30 degrees cooler and rain threatened from the dark clouds hovering nearby. Determined not to let the threat stop us, we walked around the much emptier garden pathways, taking in all we hadn’t been able to on the prior visit just a few days earlier. We were greeted by families of geese, protecting their young, and we reveled in the glorious lighting provided by the puffy clouds moving overhead. There was a gentleness which hadn’t been there just a few days prior, as the weather and the number of other visitors were less frenetic! I again took hundreds of photos, which is my normal behavior given so much perceivable beauty all around me!

We visited the Rose Garden anew, although the heat from a few days earlier had taken some of their strength and beauty away. They were past their prime in many regards, but still lovely. The Huntington is so rich with beauty that no matter what is blooming and when you visit there is always something glorious to behold! And so I was in heaven for having had two visits in a long weekend visit to California. The final grandeur came with a day trip to Santa Barbara in between the Huntington visit days, on which I was able to buy a souvenir plant to bring back home! It’s an absolutely beautiful Bambino Bluey Bougainvillea, bursting with bluish-lavender bracts and bright green leaves. It’s a new cultivar and will make a great addition to the varieties I already have growing in my desert garden. And so, I happily accept the weather highs and lows, the plan “B” mentality we had to adopt and the explorational flexibility which came accordingly. Every day is different in a garden, every moment varies by what is blooming and what nature has to offer at that particular moment! And I love every single minute of it all!

 

A Banner Year . .

22 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Beauty, Blessings, God, Hope, Life, Nature, Patience, Seasons, Surprise

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Expectation, Gardening, Nature, Patience

This is truly a banner year for plants blooming! I found two plants in my yard today which haven’t bloomed in a really long time or ever. The joy in seeing something finally blooming which isn’t a common bloomer is significant. It took a patient mind, heart, and soul to wait for those plants to bloom! A gardener has to be patient though, for gardening is rife with uncontrollable uncertainties and living matter, including plants, has plentiful imperfections. The lifespan of plants isn’t really in our control, though we like to think we have a significant part in the health and well-being of our plants! There are weather extremes, irregular rainfall, disease and pest problems to worry about. Each day and every season bring new challenges, especially in a harsh desert environment like this!  

One of those plants blooming this Spring after a long period sans blooms is my Jacaranda tree, which just a few years after planting, suffered from a Winter of several touches of hard frost, requiring that it had to be severely cut back. After a slow, prolonged renewal, that Jacaranda is blooming once again! When I noticed the vibrant purple blooms, I ran outside to get a few photos. It’s been something I waited a long time to see, with hopeful expectancy! And this morning, there they were, glorious purple trumpet-shaped flowers in clusters upon several branches! For me, those blooms were answered prayers! That Jacaranda tree is one of my favorites, and I truly had to endure several years of waiting to see its beauty renewed. My patience was rewarded today for sure.

Another plant which is beginning to bloom today is a variegated Duranta which had never bloomed before. The foliage is stellar, the plant has been thriving and growing like gangbusters, but there were never any blooms prior to now! I’m not sure why this variety has never bloomed before. I have other Durantas which have bloomed every year and even several times a year. But I didn’t mind, as the foliage and shape of the plant have been very pleasing over the years. I almost forgot what the plant’s flowers were supposed to look like. But seeing the buds opening up now, I realize that the flowers of this variety are as special as the unique foliage! The smaller purple flowers on Wisteria-like clumps have white ruffled edges in this cultivar! I am so joyful after years of waiting to finally see this plant fulfilling all the expectations I surely had when I purchased it. 

Earlier this Spring, I wandered around my garden and took photos of whatever was blooming! I did that again today, although a lot of different plants are now showing off instead of the plants which had been a month or so ago. This has been a truly rewarding Spring for beauty, fragrance, and variety in desert gardens so impacted by significant Winter rainfall and now, seasonal warmth. Things are bursting with life and most landscapes around the city, both man-made and natural, are filled with flowers, flowering shrubs, and trees heavy-laden with blooms! It’s absolutely beautiful! Each new day is surprisingly promising for my landscape’s evolving beauty. And I take great joy in witnessing each and every beautiful transformation unfolding, especially those which required a bit of my patience to behold!  

Like Paradise or Eden!

20 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Beauty, Escape, Happiness, Joy, Life, Nature, Peace, Seasons

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Eden, God, Nature, Paradise

Yesterday was another idyllic day in my garden, like paradise or Eden! In the morning, I awoke and opened the window coverings as I usually do to reveal all sorts of creatures doing what they were created specifically to do! There were bunnies, including two fairly brand new baby bunnies so tiny and cute! There were bright, lime green lovebirds, donned in their accent colors of red and turquoise, with their peach faces. Other birds, including quail and regular desert nesters such as wrens, robins, doves, and the small yellow finches were too numerous to count! Then there were the flitting hummingbirds, buzzing about with seeming effortless ability from bloom to bloom! All these residents and more were seen amidst the backdrop of flowers and blooming plants galore! It is truly a prolonged Spring of beauty, wonder, and abundance in a desert garden.  

In watching all this life unfold, I couldn’t help but be drawn into a silent, secret observer’s role! That role requires quiet acquiescence to the living creatures just doing what comes naturally to them. My direct interference would have silenced them all, they would have scurried off to hide had I been out there among them! But in quietly watching from the windows of various rooms, especially during the active cooler morning and evening hours when the sun isn’t so intense, I am able to witness all the wonders of their lives play out before my own eyes. And it’s magical! I’m often out there with the various creatures doing my outside chores and watering my plants, but to truly witness their antics, I must watch them from the other side of the glass, within my house.   

I wonder how many others would notice the fledgling dove’s efforts, uncertain in its own abilities, trying to take a drink while perched on the side of a water feature near my front porch? Would others also feel such joy for the young dove having conquered the physical limits of the container’s rim, finding an ease in drinking from the rocks sitting lower into the water? Maybe such joy is my natural reaction because I placed that water feature in my yard, as well as several others, specifically to draw such creatures and to accommodate their water needs during our intense dry, hot Summer. I keep the water levels high, the containers clean and filled just so the birds and other animals needing a drink will find water easily and readily within my yard as they need it. Their presence in my garden brings me such joy, that it surely is worth any bother or effort!   

Nature is wondrous and magical! The many bunnies in my yard are often pests, but the first time I lay eyes on the new season’s crop of baby bunnies, I forget the ravenous desires they will have for all my specialty plants as they grow and develop! It’s a delight to give all the players in this life’s performance their freedom and access to my garden as part of my care and responsibility for it. I plant knowing that things will be nibbled away. I rake around the freshly dug out burrows. I water with the awareness that I’m nurturing not only plants but the animals which nest and feed upon them. I feel a responsibility towards keeping up with the needs of all those creatures, even though they don’t belong to me, they aren’t mine nor are the wild creatures my pets. I’m merely assisting in their care and feeding while enjoying infinite, idyllic moments with them each new day! And it’s a welcome gift from God each new day I pull back the window coverings, which I perceive as a reward for helping to create such an Eden in my own yard!  

A Seasonal Wardrobe Change . .

04 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Beauty, Change, Gratitude, Seasons

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Beauty, Desert, God, Nature, Spring

I feel sorry for allergy sufferers during a desert Spring such as this one! There are many stuffed up noses and tear-filled eyes with all the flowers and plants in bloom. It seems as though even normal blooming has been surpassed by super blooming this year! We’ve had regular rains since last Summer all throughout the desert Southwest, usually of a significant amount every month and then we had our usual warm up to prompt seeds to sprout and plants to grow. Now we’re in our glory here in the desert! Like fresh carpets or blankets spread over entire regions, or new Spring dresses adorned to highlight the season, this desert is covered with wildflowers and shrubs blooming en masse!  

I recently drove through the desert between Southern California and Arizona. Along the Interstate, the normally drab and boring desert through which I’ve passed dozens of times on that drive was transformed by a carpet of fiery gold! Everywhere I looked, including up the sides of mountains and beyond, were yellows and orangy-gold flowers illuminating the ground! Brittlebush, poppies and other yellow blooming plants were mixed with a few purple and white wildflowers alongside the highway and beyond to cast a more vibrant costume change over the usual beige dress worn by this familiar desert. 

But I know all this color and beauty comes with a price for so many! They endure allergies daily. I consider myself quite fortunate to not have such issues, as I love being outdoors gardening. Anyone inclined to allergies would have significant trouble this year! What a burden to have to choose between viewing and being amidst the beautiful blooms out in the desert or to sit home for the sake of preserving one’s health?! I’m remembering how the desert around my city once was considered the haven for those who had allergies, doctors often recommending an extended visit or residency here for health reasons. Decades ago, it was less developed and there were fewer species and fewer quantities of those specimens to bother the average allergy sufferer or those with breathing issues. But with the post-war, mid-century population surges of the 20th century, this desert city became a thriving metropolis! Along with all that growth and development came waterways, greenbelts, and many more gardens with more varieties of plants! Now, this desert town has become a beautiful expansive oasis, but the prevalence of allergies are a tell-tale symptom of our progress! We even recently developed a mosquito issue, due to our regular rains and the prevalence of water in communities!  

Although I feel truly sorry for those inflicted by the symptoms of such fabulous blooming seasons as this one, I am thrilled to experience it for myself! It’s amazing the depth, breadth, and scope of natural beauty found in a desert after ample rain! Suddenly, even the harshest terrain can resemble something entirely different and much softer for all the moisture. Bright greens and hues which defy description have replaced the browns and tans the desert normally wears! This change of costume for our desert is a perfect way to delineate the transition from Spring into Summer! As one scene ends with one season, another begins, and the star of the show has a wardrobe change to highlight that transformation! 

I’m sure the allergy sufferers will take their relief shortly when the heat of Summer blasts the blooms into submission. It’s just around the corner now that we’re in April! Even the hardiest of blooms takes a pause for the intense heat, drought, and sun of Summer in our desert which usually is advancing by May. I will savor the moments I now have to enjoy the beauty we’re experiencing by spending time out in my garden and in nature! It’s a beautiful season, a fabulous year, and there is much in the way of God’s majestic design and craftsmanship to behold! And I’ll surely appreciate doing so sans allergies and breathing issues, and be thankful in the process!   

Spring Green . .

19 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Beauty, Blessings, Celebration, Faithfulness, Gratitude, Hope

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Desert Gardening, Faith, Hope

I am always so enthralled by the new, bright green which bursts forth in Spring! The world wakes from a seasonal slumber called Winter to reflect life’s enduring promise – it goes on! Life and all living beings seem so determined to live defiantly regardless the threat of weather, the pests and diseases which plague all living matter, and the risk involved in expending the energy just to do so! 

But oh what brilliance there is each new Spring each year when it happens! I drive down the streets and take notice of a shimmer, a glow, a vivid green color which I can only define or proclaim as Spring green. It’s unique, as those same leaves settle and age into a shade less new and brilliant soon after. It’s the color of green which indicates life’s revival for another new year and it’s profoundly beautiful, especially in a desert climate such as where I reside.  

Along with the brilliant, bright green, there are amazing shades of flowers, scented and not, bursting forth on many shrubs, trees, and in many beds of annuals and perennials. And the outlying drab desert, normally not so colorful especially by the end of Summer, is now awash with patchwork quilt squares of colorful wildflowers, after a generous Winter rainy season. There is so much color, along with the bright green, that the desert belies itself!

I am not sure everyone notices this bejeweled Spring green as much as I do each and every year. Of course, the flowers in abundance are hard to miss! It’s because of the harsh Summer realities approaching and the struggles I know are ahead for me as a gardener and plant enthusiast, that I perhaps give this annual green phenomenon more attention than other people do! In that intense new green, I see great promise, I see beauty, I see the plants’ determined strength and I see life-sustaining energy expended while it’s possible! Our Summer is like Winter for many plants in other colder climates, a time of rest. Many plant species must slow down and mostly go dormant in colder climates just to survive, and they grow more slowly or not at all just to preserve more essential energy. In our desert extremes, it is much the same! Many plants die during our Summer, from either the extremes of drought, heat or through diseases caused in great part by those stressors during the extreme months. And if they don’t die, they often struggle! A plant requires energy for its respiration and photosynthesis. If it is struggling just to find enough water or to evade intense heat each day, has dropped all it’s leaves or is diseased, all of that makes it almost impossible to sustain life in a desert Summer lasting nearly five months!  

 

Spring green represents all the hopefulness of life which wants to eagerly defy this usually dry climate, the changing seasons ahead, and the speculative nature of rainfall! Shiny new leaves are the enthusiastic bursts at the end of each Winter, which for gardeners like me, represent our desire to beautify in spite of all the hardships, limitations and challenges doing so presents! Gardeners are faith-filled, hopeful, and readily see the beauty even in the imperfections normally found in life! And desert gardeners are better able to “weather” the harsh realities of our hardest season ahead by appreciating the surreal beauty of an ardent Spring!  

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Cheryl Ries-Author & Model

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