by still waters. (click/tap to enlarge)
The harsh desert,
softened,
by silent pools.
Trees offer shade,
in the fierce summer heat,
allowing buds to bloom,
and thrive.
Water,
turns Sunnyland,
into wonderland.
Cheers to you from The Annenberg Gardens in Palm Springs California~
My heart. (click/tap to enlarge.
It is a cardinal rule,
that cardinals,
who I have only seen,
on four seperate occasions,
in my life,
make excellent friends.
They drop by unannounced,
and make your day.
Cheers to you,
from Maui’s non-native Red Crested Cardinals~
And everything (click/tap to enlarge),
is detail.
Cheers to you from The Holler gardens~
Century Plants look like giant asparagus and are members of the aspargus family.
Their name is derived because they are said to bloom,
once a century,
and then die.
We have at least a hundred or more at The Holler.
When they bloom,
the stalks are well over 20 feet tall.
They are magnets for pollinators,
especially bees and hummingbirds.
The hummingbirds fight relentlessly for control over the massive stalks.
Our century plants bloom about every ten years and reproduce prodigiously via underground root systems.
Cheers to you from The Holler Centurions~
Tiny Scaly Breasted Munias are native to India and Southeast Asia (click/tap to enlarge).
I told you birds,
don’t pay attention,
to where they are ‘supposed’ to be!
They looked as surprised to see me as I was to see them, but we are getting used to each other.
There is a whole flock of them.
It turns out these birds were sold in US pet stores as Nutmeg Mannikins.
Some escaped and have been breeding in Southern California.
I had a dickens of a time identifying them because they are not native.
Cheers to you from the new Holler locals who are fitting in quite nicely with the neighbors~
This is what you see first in the far distance. Sea birds congregating over dolphin herded fish balls. Note the dolphin in the lower center of the photo. For every dolphin you see at any given moment on the surface, there are scores more underwater (click to enlarge).
As you focus in, you notice odd splashes everywhere around you, and dolphins cresting in the distance.
The Captain spins the boat,
in fast churning 360 degree circles,
as dolphins race towards you,
to play in the wake.
They swim,
directly at,
alongside,
and underneath the boat,
far surpassing the speed and skill of the captain.
Cheers to you from the stunning dolphin super pods~
This Bullocks Oriole is not sticking his tongue out at you, or me (click to enlarge).
He is eating grape jelly. Orioles are grape jelly fiends. At The Holler, strawberry, or other fruit jellies won’t do. Only ants and wasps will eat it.
We have two types of orioles at The Holler. Hooded Orioles and Bullocks Orioles.
These are all Bullocks Oriole males.
This is a Hooded Oriole male. He is more elongated, has a larger beak, and is a brighter yellow color.
A mated male and female Bullocks Oriole pair. Bullocks Orioles males have the dramatic black eyeliner at the outside corners of their eyes and are more orange in color.
All orioles are extremely argumentative! This male Bullocks Oriole holds his own in a fierce debate against a more formidable Mocking Bird.
Cheers to you from all the quarrelsome Holler Orioles~
Love to argue.
Orioles and mockingbirds are definitely the culprits,
while scrubjays and woodpeckers,
just stand back stunned,
and watch the show!
Cheers to you from The Holler’s bickering birdies~
(click to enlarge) This blog is burning,
but, unlike California deserts,
there is no rain on the horizon.
The blog continues to be overwhelmed with WP errors. There is the unfollowed followers issue and there are now 26K+ and growing daily, PHP warning in my WP site logs linked to WP installed/managed plug ins.
PHP warnings are caused by unwanted errors in code or script. They are warnings that there are problems that are likely to cause bigger problems in the future.
Additionally, Google has identified 1.26K blog pages not able to be indexed by google due to redirect errors.
I am not hopeful that this will be fixed.
So, unlike the rain in the desert,
making wildflowers, rivers and waterfalls,
this blog continues,
to burn.
Cheers to you from the wet and happy Sonoran Desert~
Note: Desert wildflowers in order are: Bristlebush, Prickly Pear Cactus, Desert Willow and Desert Marrow.
