Gratitide 1

Thoughts after one year
of daily haiku challenge
What I've learned and loved

That nature changes
by the hour, day, week, month,
season, and second

That the plain act of
slowing down enough to see
what there is to see

in my own backyard
has forever changed the way
I walk down a path

The way I practice
the fair art of longsitting
The way I listen

That things viewed close up
have beauty, grace, and intrigue
otherwise unseen

That nature never
fails to serve up something new
for each day's notice

That you don't have to
travel far and wide to be
dazzled by new things

That waiting, watching
is daily rewarded with
exhilaration

at the wonder, the
awe, the expectedness of
the unexpected

~dkm 1/52

Bird Friends

Haiku self-challenge

Day three hundred sixty-five

Hard to choose topic

Long walk around yard

Saint Francis of Assisi

hints from behind fern

You've met your challenge

A haiku a day all year

Now try one per week

Thank you, St Francis

Mary Nevil said the same

Challenge accepted

~dkm 365/365

Gardening in the Time of Covid 2

Planted in the rain
Full bloom in just a few weeks
Simple impatiens

Perhaps Sir Cooper

who comes here often to bathe

enjoys their beauty

May the hawk's presence

be a good omen not bad

And may he move on

~dkm 364/365

June 5, 2020

July 14, 2020

Gardening in the Time of Covid 1

"Seaside petunias" (Calibrachoa)
from seedlings to grand full bloom
Awe and wonderment

~dkm 363/365

March 21

June 19

July 18

Coleus Gift

Cut from mother plant
rooted in water, returned
to earth for new growth

~dkm 362/365

Tomato Thief

Large green tomato
missing from vine, found chewed up
and left on driveway

~dkm 361/365

Sheila's Tree

Bald cypress conelets
indicate the tree's good health
nourished from the roots

~dkm 361/365

Cooper's Invasion

I'd been sitting long,
still, and silent, in the yard
when all four young hawks

flew in formation
past my ear from behind me
I felt the air stir

Two settled on branch
Two in the birdbaths, one each
Not sure they saw me

Gave new meaning to
Emily Dickinson's line,
"Zero at the bone."

A hawk in each birdbath
No songbirds at the feeders
Eaten? Or hiding?

These youngsters have been

here almost two weeks to date

Time for them to leave

~dkm 360/365

More Fibonacci

Purple coneflower
Clear fibonacci patterns
cut from my garden


~dkm 359/365

For more images
in nature and a graphic
chart to clarify,

Fibonacci Flower

Pollen paradise
for bee on flower center
Plus there's something else

Beautiful pattern
the Fibonacci sequence
of pinecones and more

A mathematical
code that occurs in nature
To make a spiral

Each number is the
sum of the preceding two
It happens like this

1 plus 2 is 3
2 plus 3 is 5. 3 plus
5 is 8. 5 plus

8 is 13. And
on and on until it stops.
I loved learning this.

~dkm 358/365

Photo credit: Sally Kauffman Green

For further explanation and images:

https://www.treehugger.com/how-golden-ratio-manifests-nature-4869736

Cereus Friendships

In friend Tate's greenhouse
his night-blooming cereus
bud will open soon.

My only prior

knowledge of this flower comes
from another friend

Pearl, who tells of a
Eudora Welty story
in which it figures.

Welty's character
throws a party for her friends
from dusk until dawn

to celebrate the

beauty and fragrance that lasts
for one night only. 

It's party-worthy

indeed, as in this photo
sent by my friend Joan.

~dkm 357/365

Photo credit: Joan Watson 

Hawk Talk

Cooper's hawk youngster
floats down to the banister
eyeing the feeders

He knows nothing of
his kind's reputation for
poaching at feeders

Yet already he
follows the protocol of
his genetic code

Fly low and nab them
at their most vulnerable:
just fledged or eating

You're a beautiful
specimen, young Cooper, sir
This I don't deny

But I'll be damned if
I let my unsuspecting songbirds
fall prey to your wiles

~dkm 356/365

Surprise Ending

Young hawks in backyard
Perching long on children's bench
Too far for photos

Still, I snapped a few
In hopes of blowing them up
For a closer look

One soon flew away
The other stayed for awhile
Then flapped to the ground

Not until enlarged
did the photograph reveal
The two sun bathers

~dkm 355/365

On the Fence

These newly fledged hawks
explain the crying we've heard
from the neighbor's yard

And the kerfuffles
of late in the trees, and the
feathers in the grass

Regal but brutal
I know of course they must hunt
but please not right here

May they all find their
new territories post haste
I wish them godspeed

~dkm 354/365

Photo credit: Philippe Rosak

Orchidaceae

In his orchid house
my friend knows the name of each

cultivar in bloom  

Do I imagine

they nod and stand taller when

he calls them by name?

~dkm 353/365

Tate Anderson's greenhouse

Bluebirds in Marietta

Visiting a friend
who opened his bluebird box
Will fledge any day

~dkm 352/365

"Interdependence" Day

The smallness of us
on Big Rock near the foot of
Kennesaw Mountain

Yesterday's long hike
Pandemic alternative
Better than fireworks

~dkm 351/365

Our hosts, Kent and Bob Leslie, atop Big Rock

R_____S_____

Young Red Shouldered hawk
relentlessly practicing
its Repeated Shriek

 ~dkm 350/365

Nest Sites Unchosen

Two sculptures of three
sport the first needles and twigs
of Mr. Wren's hopes

She was wise, methinks,
to reject these beginnings
Too unprotected

~dkm 349/365

Hummingbirds in July

I never tire of

the thrill and mystique of a 

hummingbird sighting.

At the hosta blooms,

pentas, echinacea, or

the blue Russian sage.

Today one perched on

a hosta stem for a rest.

Its tiny black feet,

like delicate wires,

curled around the tender stalk.

The stalk didn't bend.

~dkm 348/365 

Carolina Wren

High chirps descending
Each repeated buzz comes with
a flick and a duck

Seems he's presenting
his mate with good nesting sites
Hoping she'll choose one

Likewise he's chirping
around three garden sculptures
With nesting options

~dkm 347/365