A Few More Late Bloomers

 

 

We had a cracker of a sunny day here today. Many of the almost dead flowers seemed to perk up suddenly, for some intensity of last minute blooms, sort of like a baby boomer bloomer. The sun was so intense for a few hours and the wind was so minimal I almost felt hot in my three thermal layers. Of course once out of the sunshine the shadows feel cold, similar to certain rooms in our cottage that are dark most of the day.

After hanging some laundry and feeding the starving hordes of chickens waiting for whatever I had in my hands for them, I noticed different colorful outpourings of flowers in several pots. Today’s treats were walnuts of ambivalent quality that I stomp on to loosen the hard shells so the birds can scavenge the nuts inside. While doing that for them I saw the new mother hen take a walnut to her five offspring. I found that sacrifice very heartwarming. So I picked up another walnut of dubious character and took it to the hen after loosening up the inside delicacy that they love to eat. Doing this I walked past even more pots of flowers that were a mass of blooms compared to most of my other more established floral specimens. Even our roses are pretty tuckered out, so it was sensational to see a few choice deep yellow marigolds, carmine rosy pink snapdragons, golden yellow something or other daisies and one small nameless purple bloom that was sticking out of patio chair. There is still life here even though most plants are getting ready to go to sleep and die back to the ground, or just pass away to oblivion being annuals.

But when there are so few flowers to admire, the ones that are open and thriving are so deeply appreciated. This is their last push to finish their cycle and they’ve made it just under the wire. This week is about 5 degrees cooler most days than last week, not to mention the nights. We huddle around the heaters on full tilt or near the glowing embers of the fire, often under blankets...well, at least I am, not he-man. I’m such a California girl at heart even though I’ve lived here well over two decades, almost three. What did I know about cold weather? Less than nothing. I hate being cold. All of my houses in the States had central heating. Fat chance of that here. But we do have a heat pump that works very well although it only warms the lounge. Other rooms are good places to hang cold meats, or to run into and hide under the covers with the electric blanket cranked way up.

So perhaps you get the picture. It was a heavenly sunny day filled with surprising flowers that were open and very colorful. I gotta catch days like this when I can, for their time will be up soon, just like those cheery blossoms.