Interesting Things!

Someone once asked me how I found so many interesting things on my hikes around the Bayou.  It is not that the Bayou is that different than any other place, it is just that I find most things in nature fascinating!  I can wander around the hillside and always manage to see something that sparks an idea or at least wobbles the imagination a bit!  When I was just a youngster, my grandpa used to take me for hikes on this very same hillside.  It was then that this interest in nature was instilled in me.  He used to show me so many things that most folks would walk over without ever seeing.  He made sure that I was aware of even the tiniest of creatures or plants.  I remember one particular time how he and I found a pretty pink pebble in the sandy lane.  I thought it was beautiful just as it was but he showed me how brilliant the color would be if the stone was wet!  From that day on, his birdbath in the front yard was always filled with pink pebbles!  I wanted them all to stay wet and brilliant!  But it was his patient guidance that instilled this interest.  Even today, I will pick up every pink pebble I find and toss it in the birdbath!

Today, however, I did not find pink pebbles.  I found interesting dead things!  Michael and I trimmed and sprayed all of the citrus trees and then headed to the peach orchard to do a bit of maintenance there.  A lot of the trees had dead limbs that needed trimming.  He would cut the dead wood and I would haul it to the burn pile.  On one such trip, I noticed the empty seed pods of a Madonna Lily.  Aha!  I was mesmerized!  The texture of the pod was amazing!  That did it!  The wheels of the brain started whirring and I forgot all about hauling limbs to the trash pile!  I was on an expedition to find dead seed pods!  Or at least the remaining few seed fronds from other plants.  In the back of the orchard, I found Goldenrod!  The seeds were star-like in shape and would waft on the breeze if I shook the plume!  Around the corner, I found tall grasses that were skeletonized!  The seeds had already floated away to find a new bit of earth to call home!  Those were interesting..sure..but then came another beauty!  The Japanese Lanterns pods were a thing to behold!  Again, I was spellbound!  Their graceful curves and paper-like texture made them seem like pieces of art rather than castoffs of nature.  I photographed all I could find as soon they would be gone!  Spring would replace all of these with the coming of new plants.

As I was on my hands and knees photographing the seed pods, I heard a step behind me.  Looking up, I saw Michael with the most confused look on his face.  "Find something interesting?"  Haha!  He knows me all too well!  Yep!   I did!