13: living color

Dear Friend,

What is your earliest memory of flowers? Perhaps you helped your grandpa tend his rose garden, or maybe you made daisy chains and placed them lovingly upon the head of your tabby cat, or do you remember feeding butter cups to your St. Bernard?

I do hope that you enjoyed your Mother’s Day last week. My apologies for skipping a week of posting without any warning. Frank and I have been keeping busy as we've been staying with Miss B at her home.

She’s a delightful hostess! We’ve enjoyed being here and will miss her when we leave tomorrow.

There are many flowers growing on Miss B’s property. Frank took some time one afternoon to photograph a bit of the beauty growing here.

Lots of bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, beetles and spiders, too. It is a beautiful time of year up here in the foothills of the California Sierras at around 4K’. Located in a forest of conifers, oaks, madrone and manzanita, it is still lovely, even though as you might remember, the property is surrounded on three sides by a burn scar. (See Tracks post from 2024 number 32: During emergencies about being evacuated from Miss B’s property more than once).

We love it here at Miss B's house, so in no way am I complaining, but I wanted to share that also, at this time of year, because of all the fallen trees, snow melt, rain, and perfect, moist conditions in which to lay eggs if you are a midge fly, the hatch is in full swing. The best way to describe a midge fly is to say it is a high-powered, steel jawed, biting gnat. Unfortunately, these tiny flies hang out in large numbers, seeking busy, vulnerable humans that are teetering upon tall ladders unable to defend themselves. The bite is often sharp followed by a long-lasting welt that itches and oozes. These flies are not easily deterred. Thankfully, this year’s crop of midge flies is not as large as last year's, and May is a wonderful month to work outside, so long sleeves and various sorts of bug repellent are in order for lots of time spent out of doors. Learn more about Midge Flies

Getting back to the flowers… several mornings ago, as I was waving off a group of midgies and throwing the ball for Miss B, we were trying to keep the ball out of the flowers. It's always a treat to hear the sound of bees and bird song. It dawned on me that since I spend quite a bit of time in my imagination, (due to my ridiculous habit of writing fiction), when I step away from my writing, I feel that plants bring me back to being present on this plane, a subconscious grounding of myself, but it’s not about me, it’s about the plants. I can almost hear these plants telling me that they are not only alive, “See?” they assure me, “We are grateful to be thriving in living color!”

Are you old enough to remember the beginnings of color TV, the peacock that NBC used to demonstrate the rich colors on its network? As the animated peacock splayed its colorful eleven feathered fan, you'd hear a person say, 'In living color,' as if to prove that what you are seeing is more real in color than in black and white.

Reality. Living color. No matter what the color scheme, I think that plants are, each one, incredible gifts.

To me, plants of all kinds are living examples of making the best of each day. Are they grateful? Well, that is the gist of my musings. To me it is as if plants exude a pure sense of gratitude, without questioning for a moment if there is more for them than this. They seem to be simply grateful in this very moment. I think that's a beautiful way to be. What do you think?

Thank you for being here to read Tracks by the Post. We are always happy to hear from you and hope that you’ll WRITE TO US and let us know how you are doing. What are your earliest flower memories? (And if you've had any experiences with Midge Flies - aka No See-ums - we’re glad that you are on this side of that and would like to hear your tale).

We’ve hoped to get a letter to you every week but sometimes things don’t line up to make that possible. Still, we keep you in our daily Thanksgivings and truly hope that you and yours are healthy and enjoying this colorful journey called life.

Gently Be,

Leslie and Frank