Tag Archives: Sunday Trees

And Owl Moved to Some Other Tree

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I’ve been trying to find a place for this hardwood carving of my husband’s for 19 years! It just didn’t go in the doggie domain. It needed its own space. A couple of months ago, I went over the dark wood with a white wash, then painted and wiped or sanded off the claws, eyes and letters. I wanted it to look weathered and friendlier than the rich dark wood had looked. Then it sat in my studio. A month later, I drilled and screwed in screws and wire on the back to hang it from. But where to hang it? The pistachio tree next to my hammock already had a Soleri bell and a little painting of a prehispanic figure in the knothole. (Thanks, Jesus Lopez Vega.) Then as I was walking up to the house, I pulled at the trunk of one of the really tall palms and the wood just gave way in my hands. I peeled off a few of the leaf shafts still clinging to the tree and voila! A space just right for the carving. Today I found a big nail and hung it, sorta tucking it in to the frond shafts. Perfect. With the color, it sorta blends into the tree, but as you get closer, you can read the message, “And Owl Moved to Some Other Tree.” R.I.P. Bob. I hope you are watching.

Click on photos to enlarge and read captions.

 

Can you see Bob’s carving?
You can probably see it now, but can you read what it says?

 

For Sunday Trees 445

Tabachine with Hummingbird: FOTD May 9, 2020

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Click on photos to enlarge. A video of the hummingbird is at the end. Unfortunately, by the time I thought to take a video, it was his last run and I didn’t really capture the butterfly.

 

Yesterday I watched a hummingbird sitting on a branch of the pistachio tree and guarding this tabachine. First a monarch butterfly and then a large black swallowtail butterfly repeatedly tried to sip nectar from blossoms on this tree and every time, the hummingbird swooped down and attacked them and drove them away. This went on hundreds of times over an hour period. I never saw the hummingbird feeding at the bush. I inspected it closely and there was no nest in either the tabachine or the pistachio. He was just being mean! After an hour, when the butterflies finally gave up, the hummingbird finally flew away as well. I have never seen a hummingbird stay still without feeding for that long. In between chasings, he sat still on that branch for at least an hour. Here are photos I took of the pistachio and the tabachine. And that nasty hummer.

Be sure to click on photos to enlarge your view. The third photo shows the distance between the tabachine in the foreground and the pistachio tree with the hammock I was observing from behind it. They weren’t really in close proximity

 

And here is the little hummer. I put out a feeder for him today. Hopefully he’ll now leave the butterflies alone.

 

 

 

For Cee’s FOTD
and, for Sunday Trees.

Recycled Dreams

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Recycled Dreams

Nature recycles as everyone sleeps,
and those dreams that you’ve dreamed are the daydreams it reaps.
Then twice thought and forgotten, our daydreams soar free.
How many dreams may lie snarled in this  tree?
We cast them afloat but  know not how they fare
once we’ve released them out into the air.

Dreams are not limited by dreamers’ choices.
Once announced and declared in stentorian voices,
birds may collect them and shape them in nests
among fibers from sweaters and threadbare old vests
once the pride of new grandpas, they now cradle eggs,
as though new dreams are made of an old daydream’s dregs.

Prompts today are stentorian, daydream, pride, afloat and I’m also incorporating Becca Givens’ Sunday Tree prompt.