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Thursday, September 23, 2021

Hurry, Fall! And Millions of Golden Yellow Blooms

This year, we are having a week of FALL WEATHER, when it is usually still very hot. Amazing!




Come along with me and see a spectacular sight in our area. It is a display of millions of yellow daisy-like blooms, on the property of a wealthy individual who has a house perched atop an area of low peaks. He sows and irrigates these flowers with miles of drip irrigation pipe. I almost want to say they are Maximillian Sunflowers, but the leaves are different.

expanse of sunflowers in the desert in fall


From across the valley, an area of yellow/chartreuse is visible. That's his property! And that's how I discovered his display when we moved here in 2019. I thought, "What's making that color?" Chartreuse is probably my very favorite color. I am somewhat of a "prepper" and in my grab 'n' go bags, I make sure I have a couple of Prismacolor colored pencils in chartreuse. I don't want to be caught in a disaster without a chartreuse colored pencil.

As we drove up, they got yellower and yellower.

I like how the road signs and hydrant match the flowers!



There was a greenish light on the flowers underneath the palm fronds

Actually, I do have drawing paper and several puzzles and word game booklets in each bag, along with a deck of cards. I'm kind of divided on the deck of cards. Have you read "The Hiding Place"? It is a true story of WWII. Middle-aged Dutch resistance member Corrie ten Boom is put in a concentration camp for helping Jews. Someone gives her a deck fashioned from pieces of paper, perhaps toilet paper. Her father had always been against card-playing of any type, but she was fascinated and played Solitare to while away the days in, fittingly enough, solitary confinement. Eventually, she stopped, feeling that she was letting the cards function as some kind of good luck power instead of concentrating on God's power.


If you haven't read the book, it's fascinating. I had an old copy of her original telling of her story, "A Prisoner and Yet," that she wrote herself without the help of professional writers, and it was quite different than the eventual bestseller they crafted. It was plainer, more down-to-earth, unpolished, lighter on "miracles," and the events didn't dovetail nicely as they do in the better-known version of her story. It was, in fact, very different. It is hard to find any mention that this was her FIRST book, published in 1947, perhaps because it is so different from "The Hiding Place." Lots of wisdom in her books.

But I digress from our flowers! 

I could not manage to catch a butterfly with its wings open as it drank. This one has its wings folded.

I have never seen as many butterflies in Las Cruces as I have this year. Even far away from the swath of daisies, the butterflies are everywhere, mainly yellow ones, quite small. WHY does everyone LOVE butterflies but HATE poor caterpillars? 


Millions of butterflies flew over millions of blooms! Where the irrigation pipes had leaked and the ground was still wet, thousands of butterflies gathered along the length, constantly flying up and reforming little groups. I don't know if they were siphoning up water, or minerals. I poured out a thermos of cold water, in case it was water they were wanting.


These blooms have already become a part of autumn for me here. I love the markers of fall, wherever I have lived. I am sad to "lose" some with each move, but there is always something new to embrace, too. 




When I lived in Maryland, there was the turning of the leaves. In Ohio, pots of mums -- the huge pots -- were on every stoop and porch. On Whidbey Island, there were the sea storms of great force, human-sized "porch scarecrows" at most homes, and maples deep in the fir forests that had leaves the size of turkey platters in yellow, then orange, then red. In Tucson, the green corn tamales started to appear for sale. The signs along the Gulf Coast were more just a mental feeling and the items that started appearing in the stores.

What about where you live? Is there something special that happens each autumn? 

Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly

19 comments :

  1. What a glorious display of yellow daisies!!
    I remember reading The Hiding Place but it was a long time ago. I don't know which of the versions I read.
    Strange how your weather seems to be changing. I hope you keep right on having Fall-ish temperatures.
    I'm not sure what this area has different as far as Fall is concerned. We do have apple orchards and lots of pumpkin fields but those are everywhere. I enjoy them any way, whether they're common or not.

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    1. The pumpkin fields sound very nice! We do not have them in the southern part of New Mexico. But many of the Native American tribes grow pumpkins commercially in the northern part of the state! They ship them all over.

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  2. Those flowers? All extraordinary!! Breathtaking.
    That book sound extremely interesting.

    Thanks so much for taking us along...sorry I tend to be a back-seat driver tho. (Kidding)

    Here it's migratory birds in Texas for me in Autumn.

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    1. That's why I so wanted to move to your area. I was in love with Rockport. The birds you can see!

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    2. Rockport is a favorite for me too!!!

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  3. That is just lovely such bright color! You have lived every where. Well I am in New England where fall was invented lol.
    Our leaves are starting to turn red, yellow, Orange and lots of colors in between. It is my most favorite season. The days start cool and light jacket or sweatshirt is needed by noon we are much to warm for that. We see flocks of geese honking and going over about every other day now.
    pumpkins and scarecrows are everywhere. Corn stalks are tied to mailboxes and porches for decorations. We have someone every year tie corn stalks to our mailbox. We have never found out who it is but I love that it is a secret mission of kindness. I have lots of hydrangea that dry a beautiful pink and I try to do the same just put them on their door step, ring the bell and run.
    nice post
    Cathy

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    1. Cathy, your area sounds just heavenly. God and good people make it so! And you first among them! The dried hydrangea sound so beautiful, and what a sweet mystery person to tie on the corn stalks! I agree, when I think of fall, I really have the New England fall as the guide of what perfection in autumn looks like!

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  4. I live in NE Ohio, with the pots of mums, cornstalks, scarecrows, pot luck suppers (though perhaps not, these last two years!).

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  5. What a wondrous display of blooms!! Just incredible! It makes me wonder what the house and rest of the property looks like. I love the coordinating hydrant and signs as well...but the lawyer in me immediately thought about the fact that the flowers make the signs careful to see (for shame, I know...being a lawyer has ruined many things for me.) Ahhh, here, we are the "typical" midwest...cornstalks, pumpkins geese honking overhead, majestically colored leaves, everything apple....and the smell of woodsmoke comes back...the sound of football games on televisions every weekend like comfort food to the soul even if you don't like football...and the cold on the tip of your nose if you are out too long when the sun starts to set. ~Robin~

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  6. What a beautiful field of yellow daisies! I've never even heard of the color chartreuse before, but I do love those pencils. What a sight to see his house on top of the low peaks along with this wonderful view of daisies. You know, I really enjoy watching the old movies from that time in history. I learn much with every episode I watch on Netflix. People were so brave to hide the Jewish people in their homes and such. Your cloud photos are so pretty, and the clouds look just like they always do after a good rain.

    Have a restful weekend, Holly, and it's always a pleasure visiting your delightful blog.

    ~Sheri

    ps.....daisies remind me of my Mom. ; )

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  7. In rural Iowa, fall isn't so much about changing tree leaves. It means field after field (for miles) of corn and beans changing to gold and brown. Then combines, tractors & wagons, and other farm equipment in the fields and on the roads. And the foot ball....

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    1. It sounds wonderful! Americana, the farming way of life, it cannot be beat.

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  8. totally awesome photos of these flowers, and what a great thing to do and to find in a desert enviroment. super duper in my book. the only thing that happens in fall here is the snowbirds fleeing cold weather bury us in traffic

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  9. these are absolutely stunning, Holly. Such a gorgeous display of those incredible yellow daisies. LOVE this, dear. So glad you shared it with us.

    My wild sunflowers bloom in mid-September. That's how I know autumn is just around the corner.

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  10. All those beautiful yellow flowers have brightened my day.

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  11. Sounds like we followed each other around a little bit, at least on the eastern side of the country...Ohio, New England, and then for us GA. and Florida and for you out west...But yes, we have the signs of fall everywhere, just different for the climate. Today we are also having some cooler weather and it is glorious. Those sunflower/daisies are just gorgeous! Thank you for sharing them with us. And the butterflies! How wonderful!!! yes, there is beauty everywhere when we open and ours to see. I loved The Hiding Place, and the movie they made of her book. Such a compelling story. Corrie Ten Boom is a wonderful woman...so full of God's wisdom. Thank you for reminding us of her courage and wisdom. Hope you are having a good week and weekend. Blessings to you my friend.

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  12. Living along a major river in which Canada is across from us, Autumn brings the foreign freighters into our waterway coming to load grain for their long trip back to their country of origin. Janice

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  13. I really love the flowers! We have something really similar that blooms here in Virginia, (same thing maybe?) and I've yet to find out what exactly they are, but they're a welcome color as everything starts to fade this time of year.

    I'll have to look up that Corrie Ten Boom book. I didn't know there was another book before "The Hiding Place."

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  14. Another wonderful post. Thank you!
    I read The Hiding Place to my boys. I think there is a movie too?

    Wisconsin shows off her autumn color with the changing of the leaves. Maples, Oak, Aspen, and more turn lovely colors.
    xx oo
    Carla

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