Discovery Day

Today many folks in the United States are celebrating Columbus Day, which basically means that schools, post offices and banks are closed. I wish it meant that construction on Columbus Avenue, less than a block from where I live (and have my terrace — roof extension — garden), would cease, because the jack hammer is deafening! But hammer away it is, and the noise is quite distracting to yours truly, even though the sweet house finches are trying to drown it out with their songs as they go about their activities; which mostly include eating, as seen in this image posted above.

According to Holiday Insights, "For decades and decades, American history books and school teaching, told us that Christopher Columbus discovered America. What those books and teachings did not give credit to was the fact that Native Americans were already here first and truly discovered America. It also gave little mention to the fact that Nordic explorers had travelled down the eastern cost of Canada thousands of years earlier.Today, we celebrate Columbus day for what it accurately is. Columbus did discover the existence of the New World for Europeans who until then, believed the world was flat and ended somewhere in the Atlantic. And, the focus is more upon discovery of the "New World", and less upon Columbus himself . . . (and) Columbus day is sometimes referred to as "Discoverer's Day."

So in honor, of Discoverer's Day, I will post a few occurences which I've recently discovered in my urban garden.

This past Saturday, much to my delight, I discovered that my H.F. Young Clematis had some new growth, as seen in the image below:

I was thrilled by this awesome fact, because, as you may recall, dear reader, my H.F. Clematis recently endured quite a trauma, when it was put in a "body bag" to accommodate the repairmen who were resurfacing my garden's floor. I have had this vine for a number of years, but even though I knew it was (in addition to not being superstitious) very resilient, I still had my reservations about its survival! So it was quite a blessing to discover the new growth, and it even seemed that my vine's branches were presenting this "gift" of new foliage in bouquet format, and offering it with outstretched arms, as I mentioned on TLLG's Facebook Page this past weekend.

The new foliage was not the only discovery I made re my H.F.Clematis: I also discovered that a few of its spent flowers still had something to say, as evidenced by the images posted below:

All three images of my H.F. Clematis's spent flower, show it gesturing as if he were describing the recent ordeal in my garden. However, I may be projecting my feelings on to my resilient flower, because I posted a similar image on TLLG's FB Page this morning, and someone commented it looked as if this spent flower had been a "fan dancer!" The H.F. Clematis's spent flowers are something I have admired in previous posts here on Blogger, including ones which you may refer to by clicking here and here. 

And, in fact, this life cycle of the H.F. Clematis's flower is one of the things that inspired me to use a quote from Herb Gardener's play, I'm Not Rappaport,  as a slogan for my indiegogo Campgin. The quote is, "The very old (as in spent flowers) they are miracles like the just born; close to the end is precious like close to the beginning (as in buds)." 

Mr. Gardner was referring to the elderly community, and I am in full agreement with the playwright, so I applied his observation to what grows in my garden, creating a mini video which illustrates this phenomenon when it comes to the life cycle of flowers.

Meanwhile, since this is Discovery Day, and I've said that I would share some recent discoveries in my garden with you, the following are ones that the birds which visit my garden have made. Their discoveries are posted as captions under their respective images below.

My Cardinal Discovers a "Hiding Place" in My Contorted Hazel Nut Tree

One of My Mourning Doves Discovers a Good Place to do her YOGA
(Salute to the Sun)

Two of My House Finches Discover That a Conversation During Meals Can be Rewarding! 

One of My House Finches Discovers (First Hand) Why I Must Wear Glasses
(As She Attempts to Read the Ingredients in Her Snack)

One of My Red House Finches Discovers How "Tricky" This Time of Year Can Be:
(Especially For My Kiwi Vine (New Buds in October?) 

A House Finch Discovers Her Comrade's Interpretation of "Spreading (one's) Wings!" 

My Cardinal Discovers That My Kiwi's Digs (Container) Make a Great Place to Do Her Splits!

One of My Mourning Doves Discovers My String Lights Make A Great Place to Exercise!

And I could go on and on about the discoveries my visiting birds have been making; but it would border on being like a parent who shows you a picture of every second of their child's life, or like someone who shows you ALL their vacation photos. (Not that I don't appreciate it when folks share this, but you get my drift . . .)