Flame Azaeas and a different Iris

 I hope I haven't posted these photos before. It's getting hard to keep track, especially since I'm not going around taking photos much any more.

Today's quote:

The teenage years are often like spring, where rainbows follow on the heels of rainstorms.
Madisyn Taylor

The colors and weather- come and go

More of the joy of a pink dogwood right outside when the sun shines

 Even though it was a rainy day, I had to capture the buds about to open of the Flame Azalea

I'll let you see it once it's opened of course!  Such color pops against the grey day!

A bee or hummingbird?

Last week the Flame Azalea by my parking spot looked like this...

Three days later, it looks like this.

But what stopped me in my tracks were the bees buzzing around them and the azaleas on the other side of the walkway.

Regular bees and wood bees were obvious.  But in the midst of the Flame Azalea, there was a longer one, blacker, with a strange tail which stuck out.  As he fluttered from flower to flower, I couldn't see his wings, but saw a long beak pointing into the flowers.

I asked him to stay there while I fumbled in my purse for my camera...to no avail.  He took off, and I just remembered how he was longer than a bee, had a tail like a bird, the feathers were obvious though tiny, and he was grey/black and had some yellow stripes on his back.

So I thought, a Bee Humingbird, how fortunate I was!

Bee Hummingbirds are the smallest known living birds in the world - being comparable in size to bumble bees and are lighter than a Canadian or U.S. penny. Females are slightly larger than males.

Bee Hummingbirds measure mostly between 1.97 - 2.36 inches or 5 - 6 cm in length - including beak and tail; and they weigh between 0.06 - 0.07 oz or 1.6 - 1.9 g. 

But they are in Cuba!  And it really wasn't anywhere near the size of a regular hummingbird (Ruby Throated like we have all summer)

So then I went for bees. And didn't find anything like him.

 And then I came back an hour later, and took pictures of him, (though it may be a her, I'll just continue to say him.)

By now I notice he really seems like a bug, aren't those legs sticking out under his body?

You can't miss his irridescent yellow stripes...not exactly on his tail, but on the tail end of his body.

And here is the other big bee which is also pollinating on the same plants - the wood bee.  They have to land to eat, so none of that fluttering of the others.

So far the closest thing I've found on the net is a moth called the Snowberry Clearwing.

And there's a link HERE that differentiates from Hummingbirds and Hummingbird Moths...of which there are 1200 species.  So the Snowberry Clearwing that I'm showing next, isn't exactly like the one we have, but it's closer than anything else!

 Snowberry Clearwing

 Bumblebee moth

Bumblebee moth

Hummingbird clearwing

Well, I wish mine had stood still, or I had a faster shutter speed to capture all these details.

But they sure did give me an afternoon of research. And I'm glad they aren't bee moths, which apparently lay their eggs in the bees hives in the wax. 
 
 

Gold all around

The long stemmed Flame Azaleas.

A peony is budding in front of a rose bush.

My tree sculptures in the gallery at the Swannanoa Valley Fine Arts League (Red House).

Flaming azaleas and glaze notes

Here's a nice vase for some flowers...

I love the metalic look from using nutmeg glaze first, then matte black over it.

In the dark shadows of spring woods in North Carolina, the Flame Azalea looks so startling and beautiful.  These were planted along our parking lot in my apartment complex.  They are still beautiful, but the beauty doesn't have the correct backdrop, IMHO (in my humble opinion).

Incidentally, these photos were taken a couple of weeks ago, and they have now ceased blooming.

We've had a heat wave (yes in 80s frequently) while no rain for about 2 weeks, so most of these blooms have withered already.  Now a bit of rain has come, but I am glad to have these blossoms in the computer available.

Fortunately residents can have flowers on their porches and balconies, so they are watered and cared for, and much appreciated.

 Unfortunately our dove has flown away and left her egg.  I am sorry.  It was in the 40s for two nights running, and I guess she got too cold.  Blackberry winter, the folks around here call it.  (I've saved the precious egg in the refrigerator, not knowing what to do with it, and yet not wanting to open it.)

More walking - part 2

I am currently at home, sitting at my desk, seeing Panther the cat above my laptop screen, on the towel folded on the printer sunning in the window.  When the sun peaks out.  It's been off and on raining, and due to continue for days.  Last week was dry and sunny, so I've got a few photos from then.

I also threw a few pieces of pottery...and today I've got 2 tasks in the studio.  To wedge up about 20 pounds of recycled clay, and to trim a couple of plates.

A native plant, the Flame Azalea

But for right now, I return to looking at the photos of my walk this weekend.  It wasn't long, and I can't give justice to the view up through the branches and leaves that create a cathedral above me.  Those photos just never look right, but I did spend a lot of time craning my neck and standing still.

This quiet pool looked very inviting and I imagined young people laughing and splashing when the day and they were warmer.

Quote for today:

We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that something deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.

e.e. cummings