Double Vision

Bighorn sheep on the Cove-to-Lake trail, La Quinta, CA

I couldn’t believe my eyes
This trail never disappoints
Look out! my hiking mate warns
Over there, a couple of bighorns
She raises a finger and points
Even looks like this one smiles

Nothing Lasts Forever

A bee with worn wings collects pollen on a wildflower in the desert

You emerge with brand new wings
But how will you learn to fly?
You’ll know how to use these things
And soon take to the sky

Fly you will for miles and miles, nature’s wonder
Stopping here and there on colourful flowers
To collect pollen, the sole mission of a forager
Your calling for maybe a thousand hours

Day after day, all of this flying
High and far, there is no denying
Your worn and tattered wings a sure sign
That soon you’ll reach the end of the line

Worn out wings signal the end is near for a bee.

Isabelle… Stainless

From every angle I am the same person it’s true
Intriguing from any perspective certainly
Pointless to try and hide things from you
You can see right through me

Isabelle, Palm Springs, CA

Isabelle, Palm Springs, CA

Isabelle, Palm Springs, CA

Happy Earth Day!

Sand blazing star (Mentzelia involucrate) on a Coachella Valley Preserve trail

Beautiful flowers bloom in the harshest of places
Only needing a sprinkle of water and heat
To spring right out of sand and stones.
Colours transform a dreary and drab landscape…
What could bloom from this harshest of situations
And make the world a better place?
Happy Earth Day!

Hummingbird Monday

A male Costa’s hummingbird preening on a Plumeria branch.

It’s Monday. Make it a great week!

Mockingbird

A northern mockingbird keeping watch.

Are you glad this mockingbird did sing… loudly
You won’t have to buy me a diamond ring
Or a looking glass, a billy goat, or a cart and a bull.
No matter what, you’ll always be the sweetest baby in town.

Beep Beep, Roadrunner

Looking out for Wile-E Coyote

Met this little fella at the Lake Cahuilla end of the Cove to Lake Trail in La Quinta, CA. I was only about 4 feet away and he let me snap to my heart’s content while he was checking something in a nearby bush.

Comfortable

If this bighorn could talk, I’m sure he’d say: “What you lookin’ at?”

A Million Stars

These two lines from Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby (Counting Crows) keep ringing in my head, in these days of self isolation…

"We drove out to the desert just to lie down beneath this bowl of stars [...]
Well, you can see a million miles tonight,
but you can't get very far."

Wonder

The International Space Station zooms above Mars and Jupiter (and Saturn in the palm tree) in the Milky Way in the southern sky before sunrise

I can’t help but wonder
About life beyond this coronavirus
One thing I know for sure
Below Scorpion and Sagittarius
Saturn, Jupiter and Mars will still align

Some day, soon, just another headline
Promising, joyful, mysterious
Proclaiming “We found a cure!”
Will we choose then to be oblivious or curious?
I can’t help but wonder