Tuesday, July 29, 2014

A Little Bit of Ugly

There is something so magical about sunflowers. Everyone loves them: bees, butterflies, birds (goldfinch and hummingbirds), rabbits, groundhogs, and people. It is a wonder a few of my 30 survived at all. Each day I go outside another sunflower (Helianthus) has been brought to its knees and pretty much denuded. 





Above if you look closely are three stalks of sunflower plants that I carefully staked against a storm and which rabbits or a groundhog had for lunch leaving only the fibrous stalk.  (The rock is an artificial cover for our natural gas tank.)
 


 I am not holding my breath to see the blossom of this bud in the photo above.


 And here they left me a little baby flower... for today.  Life is so ephemeral.

This lovely species has lingered in my mind ever since I saw on TV a sunflower field at the edge of where workers were searching for bodies from that Malaysian plane that was exploded by a Russian missile.  The flowers did not know they had become a graveyard for children and they kept smiling and blooming on into oblivion. 

I am lucky to have a few bloomers with which I photo-play on this breezy afternoon where no bombs, missiles or planes are currently falling from the sky, only dry yellow leaves from the tulip tree.  Amazing how these flowers keep their optimistic smiles in this world of chaos!





 Will they be here after we are long gone I wonder?

11 comments:

  1. Tabor -- thoughtful post. I too had the same thoughts as I gazed at the field of beautiful, smiling sunflowers and the awful death scene juxtapositioned next to them. My thoughts were, as I viewed the screen, of the Chinese philosophy -- yin and yang born out of chaos yet seeking harmony but not able to achieve it due to a catastrophe. -- barbara

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  2. sunflowers are amazing....and we found one in our yard...i dunno if a bird or squirrel dropped a seed but...its pretty cool....heartbreaking all that our world is facing right now....

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  3. I imagine they will prevail. I don't grow the big ones, just have tons of the common field sunflower. right now they provide a visual screen between us and the RV park on the other side of the field. love the way you manipulated the images.

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  4. It's nice to think the seasons will go on and blooms will keep blooming.

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  5. My one lonely sunflower has not come into flower yet, but it will. The sunflower touches much life around it.

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  6. I love them too, the sunflower is special Tabor.

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  7. The sunflower is beacon for what is remarkably beautiful... in this world.

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  8. I am one of those people who LOVE Sunflowers. We drive to Biltmore every August to see their fields of sunflowers.. I have umpteen pictures of the sunflowers.... It's no wonder so many other bugs/animals love them too.... They are gorgeous.. Sorry about yours though... Guess you'll just have to find a Biltmore place to visit and enjoy 'their' Sunflowers... (Wonder how Biltmore keeps their sunflowers alive and blooming????? Hmmmmmmm.)

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  9. This winter, I'd read an old Sci-Fi book "Ringworld" which had one land section of sunflowers which would turn to face you en Masse n burn you to death with radiation in 20 minutes! It was a defense system... Looks like yours could use one!

    I know chicken wire isin't pretty, but without it I'd have nothing left from the critters rummaging!
    Today they tried to get into the tomaoe bush n knocked down a branch of heavy green fruit... Grrr- n I feed the animals away from the garden. They don't like when I sleep late n harass me...

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  10. Sunflowers are so cheery even when they surround sadness. Their heads nod in such a giving way as if they bow to life.

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  11. Just loverly stuff. Did I ever show you my sunflowers. I think I did many years ago. Yours are wonderful for the neighborhood.

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Glad to hear from you once again. I really like these visits. Come sit on this log and tell me what you are thinking.