More Flowers

It’s gotten even here in the Pacific Northwest, and our summer flowers are bursting out everywhere. This mallow is perhaps the most spectacular because the blossoms are huge and the plant is covered with pink flowers:

Mallow

My favorite plant, though, is this one, (updated: Crocosmia), though I can never remember its name. Even worse, Leslie can’t either. It seems to bloom every July, though it’s behind schedule this year. If it’s beauty wasn’t enough, it also attracts hummingbirds, though I haven’t quite managed to get that shot yet.

Loren's Favorite Flower

I’ve just finished reading Zen and the Motorcycle Maintenance and will have much to say as soon as I’ve Jim finishes reading it and we have a chance to discuss some of the ideas. Now I remember why I chose not to teach it in high school and why there are whole sites dedicated to just it.

I’ve also read several more chapters in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, but have been too depressed to rush into writing an irrational rant, but one will probably be forthcoming shortly.

Meanwhile, hopefully a touch of beauty will hold you until I’m ready to deal with the other side of truth.

Tuesday’s Walk at Nisqually

Tuesday’s trip to Nisqually stood out for the intense sunshine and a remarkable lack of photographic opportunities.

Still, it’s hard to complain when a flocks of swallows buzz you on your walk for nearly a mile, constantly displaying their remarkable flying ability. Can you really complain because you can’t get a good shot of Common Terns repeatedly diving into shallow waters to catch Salmon smolt?

Nope. No complaints. Instead, I focused on what I could shoot, like this Pied-Billed Grebe chick whose head seemed nearly as large as the rest of his body

Pied-Billed Grebe Chick

and these four Wood Ducklings, who seemed to have misplaced their mama but still maintained their formation as they scurried away

Wood Ducklings

For much of the day, though, I focused on songbirds whose songs filled the air but who were seldom visible and when they were visible seemed to disappear back into the leaves before auto-focus could focus, which explains why the leaves are sharper than this male Yellow Warbler

male Yellow Warbler

which was half a sanctuary away from this female Yellow Warbler who was willing to show herself to make a meal of these caterpillars.

female Yellow Warbler

I even captured another picture of the suddenly abundant Goldfinches

Goldfinch

I’ll have to admit that once I turned to trying to get a picture of the many songbirds whose songs constantly accompany my walk I found the challenge exciting. For the next few weeks when I’m out birding I’ll be trying to get more shots of these elusive darters.

The Only Flag I Fly

Though I still consider myself a patriot — I did take ROTC and go to Vietnam to defend democracy
— I no longer fly the American flag on holidays since it has been usurped by red-neck, country western bands and sabre-rattling chauvinists.

Here’s a flag I can still salute:

Purple Iris

Liars, Damned Liars

One of my favorite lines in in Walt Disney’s Bambi, is Thumper’s line when his mother asked him what his dad told him, he replied “If you can’t say nothing nice, don’t say nothing at all.”

That, of course, explains why I ain’t said nothing about President Shrub and his minions since the last election.

Nope, I’ve just been donating to the ACLU in hopes that suing the bastards will force this administration to obey the Constitution.

And donating even more to Environmental groups so that they can sue to ensure that this administration follows laws written by previous administrations.

And constantly emailing and writing my representatives to remind them that they need to oppose nearly everything this administration proposes.

But Bush’s latest move to commute Liddy’s sentence to no sentence at all kept intruding on today’s Nisqually walk.

So I had to say something, knowing full well that nearly everyone who reads this site already feels the same way.

It’s outrageous when an administration that makes a habit of lying has the gall to overrule judges that they’ve appointed and make a mockery of the law.