Do you have a gift for approaching creatures that are easily spooked? Even when the Monarch butterflies are migrating and hundreds are sipping nectar on New England asters I rarely can get close enough to any one of the to take a photo. They glide away at the crucial moment. I wonder what we look like to them. Certainly not like an aster. I found a paper about Monarch eyesight. Monarchs apparently see red and green and they also may see ultra violet.
I talk to them and it helps to have a feeling of peace within yourself - feel a connection as one. They have come to enhance my life and are giving me a symbol by which I can more fully appreciate self.
You approach is stirring. I try something similar quite often with robins and chickadees and cardinals. I like to think we're communicating fellow-feeling and maybe more. However, they tend to take flight early, impugning my harmlessness or my attempt to be tranquil.
Thank you. The video of the humming bird sipping from the palms of the family was wonderful. The birds took their time thinking about the situation. I can almost hear them.
Though I often joke that Iowa is the center of the universe, I have a particular reason not to be surprised that you have Iowa roots. Two generations ago, Iowa had a very different culture, mostly rural, focused on education for the young, and idealistic. Sadly, the small towns are dying, the small farms have given way to big ag, and our schools no longer lead the nation. The Iowans who have stayed are losing their roots, including their spiritual roots, and the Iowans who moved out of state or to the cities carry on the best of the state's traditions. Full disclosure: I am a newcomer of 18 years. During our time in Iowa, Des Moines has become a city easy to love. I feel lucky to be here.
I hear that it is lovely there...my Grandmother met her husband and moved to Colorado had 8 children then she moved on to Oregon when the youngest went to college. As every family - there is lots of history/stories..
I'm in a elegiac mood. I see Iowa losting much that is of deep value and not creating new values.
But, to lift my dark glasses for a moment, there's the garden in the traffic circle on my street that I and many neighbor started three years ago. Other neighborhoods have noticed, so has the city and so the Public Art Foundation, which may have a grant we can spend on art for the circle. You can see the garden develop from start to the present on YourGardenShow.com. Click here.
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