An Ode to August

Barrel Cactus Bloom

August you can be quite stunning.  But you also drain me of my energy. I see rain and I smile.  I see sun and I frown. Hot, sweaty, sticky T-shirts are not my thing. It's a love-hate relationship with you.

Migrating Black Terns at Benson's WTP

You bring us rarities.  You bring us color.  Lightning, thunder, raging desert rivers along with gulls, terns and lots of other interesting things. But try searching for a Painted Bunting in 100+ degrees while walking around wet grassy bug filled fields! You, dear August, test my limits.

Texas Ranger and Barrel Cactus

I begin to think of ocean waters, cool breezes, and freezing nights.

The Benson WTP

I come home from an exhausting day at work.  No energy to do anything.  Just sleep.

Mary Jo Ballator's Ash Canyon Retreat-home to the US rare Lucifer Hummmingbirds

Hiking is not even possible.  So I sit among the blooming flowers and watch the migrating hummingbirds from within my chair. 

Male Lucifer Hummingbird

The bugs bite me.  Itch itch itch.  You are way too intense for me and all I can do to escape you, August, is retreat into my air conditioned car.

I think of stain glass windows and old pine with lots of musty books. It's raining all day long.  And cold.  Behind my window, I watch the birds while enjoying a hot cup of coffee. 

Coyote pups need water and want to play with the photographer!  Not today:)

 Most speak ill of the whipping frozen winds of the north.  Not me.  I feel energized by them. I imagine myself at the Whitewater Draw on a cold January day.

Female Lucifer Hummingbird

August.  You are beautiful but you are too high maintenance for me.

As much as I hate saying good-bye to you, I am also secretly relieved that you are leaving.  Is that terrible of me to write?

Sweetwater Wetlands

Your close friend, September, will be visiting soon and I look forward to a brief visit. Nothing personal:)

Strength In Numbers

Black Neck Stilts

A sign in September that things were changing came from the birds flying through our state.  It began.

We watched the skies fill with birds as they flew, stopped, and moved on.

Some of course stayed around and were only coming out to dine:)  That's why I keep my cats indoors.

And with all of this begins the change that is before each of us.  I believe East coast winters will be cold and snowy and ours wet.  El Niño is back again.  This means that the warm winter of this year may not happen for us again.  And let's hope not.  We all need the rain or snow.

So I'm thinking cooler thoughts.  How about you?