The lemon tree breathes light, each blossom a small lantern, and the bee moves among them like a keeper of secrets. What it takes, it gives— though not to me, not directly. Still, I stand in the fragrance feeling included in a mystery I do not own.
A honey bee drifts down, settling into the dark cone of the Mexican Hat, petals flaring red and yellow like a flamenco dress in wind.
In the Arizona White Mountains clouds move in slow herds, shadows sliding across meadows— but here, the flower holds still, a small sun drawing sweetness.
The bee works methodically, gold dust clinging to its legs, while the mountains breathe their cool late-summer air, silence beneath a shifting sky.
This summer, the Big Horn Fire caused so much damage to the National Forest in the Santa Catalina Mountains remains closed to the public. Therefore, hiking and photographing wildflowers in the Catalinas will not be in 2020, which provides a good excuse to revisit some wildflower photos over the past ten summers.
Honeybee on Sneezeweed Blossom (07/30/14, Mt. Lemmon) — Image by kenne
WATERMARK
In every desert, travelers have dried up in the sun, with shallow wells of water right below them. perhaps they left too soon, too young, too desperate to run towards something or away from something else.
Perhaps they hadn’t learned the way to read the tiny trails, the watermarks remaining from a people who have gone, whose hieroglyphs translate — in the direction is a spring of sweet water. Look for it. Or is it, listen?
My home was at Cold Mountain from the start,
Rambling among the hills, far from trouble.
Gone, and a million things leave no trace
Loose, and it flows through the galaxies
A fountain of light, into the very mind—
Not a thing, and yet it appears before me:
Now I know the pearl of the Buddha-nature
Know its use: a boundless perfect sphere.
Honey Bee On London Rocket Wildflower — Image by kenne
The London Rocket is a naturalized weed native to Europe. It is most common in riparian areas, fields, drainage ditches, and in vacant lots. Because of the timing of desert winter rains this year, this weed seems to be everywhere. “The common name ‘London rocket’ comes from its abundance after the Great Fire of London in 1666. It was also noticed on bomb sites after the Blitz.”
Honey Bee On Arizona Fleabane — Digital Art by kenne
Silverpuff Blossom and Honey Bee — Image by kenne
Honey Bee On Elegant Lupin — Image by kenne
Bee On Camphorweed — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Honey Bee On London Rocket Wildflower — Image by kenne
