Wednesday's Wisdom: Observing the Little Things

A few days ago (June 9th 2017), I posted a clip of Connie Chung interviewing Marlon Brando (in 1989) on my personal FB Page. During the interview, Ms. Chung asked Marlon Brando what he had been doing since he "left" the acting profession.

His answer? "I've spent hours and hours watching ants going up and down my sink, picking up the crumbs, finding where they come in from - they come in to get away from the cold weather..."

I can't say I've spent hours and hours watching ants in my home, but, I have observed them interacting with strawflowers (AKA Helichrysum bracteatum )which grow in my rooftop garden.

An example of this can be seen in the first photograph atop this blog entry. This particular image is included in both the digital,

and softcover,

version of Words In Our Beak Volume One.

The book makes a great Fathers Day gift, and that holiday, will occur in just a few days from now (Sunday, June 18th)!

In any event, while Brando has confessed to spending hours and hours watching ants, I admit that I've spent hour and hours watching a fledging (who is a European starling) making discoveries in my garden (as seen in pictures directly below).

European starlings are merely introduced in Words In Our Beak Volume One, however, much detail re them will be discussed in a subsequent volume. Stay tuned.

ADDENDUM FALL 2018: 

The non-hardcover version (or versions)  of Volume One within the Words In Our Beak book series that are mentioned in this entry may only remain available for a limited time, but hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can now be found wherever books are sold. Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

MY BOOK SERIES

Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

A Helichrysum bracteatum's (Strawflower's) Sensibility

STRAWFLOWER

The image posted above is of me, a lone strawflower, with a pesky ant making itself at home on one of my petals now that he has no flowers from Youngquist's Paeonia suffruiticosa (Tree Peony) to bother. You may recall Youngquist blogged about these pesky ants in a previous blog entry which you may refer to by clicking here.

Now, dear reader (as I've heard Youngquist call you), if you have been following this blog you know that, on occasion, the things that grow in Youngquist's urban terrace garden take it upon themselves to weigh in by posting on this blog including her Paeonia suffruiticosa (Tree Peony), Tulips, and her Physocarpus opulifolius (Coppertina Tree).

With the knowledge that the things that grow in Youngquist's terrace garden have been posting on this blog, my comrades (my fellow strawflowers who live in a clay pot — which means we need to be watered often —  with me as you can see from the image posted below) took turns, and we drew straws (if you will excuse the pun) to see which one of us would get to write today's blog entry, and I picked the winning straw! (And its not because I look like E.T. in this picture either!)

STRAWFLOWERS

We strawflower are members of the daisy family (but please don't hold that against us), and our Latin name is Helichrysum bracteatum. The flowers that we produce have a papery, straw-like texture, which is why you humans refer to us as strawflowers.

"The ants go marching one by one . . . to get out of the rain . . . "

According to this song, "The ants go marching one by one . . . to get out of the rain  . . . ", and I must say, as an urban gardener, the fact that "the little ones stop to get out of the rain . . . ", is not a detail lost on  me. I have captured a picture (Gotcha, Ms. Ant) of a singular ant resting upon my Paeonia suffruiticosa (Tree Peony).