Paying more attention more

The way the windows looked early this morning, humidity must have been around 6,000% to 7,000%. It seems to have dropped to only about 150% since then. My grandmother would have said the "air was so thick you could cut it with a knife." Mosquitoes and deer flies love it. Rain clouds have rolled in from the west. Rain's started again.

storm clouds on the western horizon

Photo by J. Harrington

I'm still trying to figure out if our local common milkweed didn't bloom this year or if it did bloom and I somehow missed it. I'm a little frustrated because I can't find any monarch caterpillars chomping on it. On the other hand, I've been prompted to find out more about common milkweed and learned that, in addition to the ephemeral fairy seeds we all know, it reproduces through rhizomes. If you're interested, here's one of the best resources I've found: THE STORY OF AN ORGANISM: COMMON MILKWEED, by Craig Holdrege.

common milkweed developing blossoms

Photo by J. Harrington

I'll try to remember to pay attention and see if seed pods develop. I'm learning that the more mindful and attentive I get, the more mindful and attentive I need to become, if I really want to understand what's happening around me. Probably one of the better reasons I can think of to let go of self-centeredness.

Milkweed

James Wright

While I stood here, in the open, lost in myself,
I must have looked a long time
Down the corn rows, beyond grass,
The small house,
White walls, animals lumbering toward the barn.
I look down now. It is all changed.
Whatever it was I lost, whatever I wept for
Was a wild, gentle thing, the small dark eyes
Loving me in secret.
It is here. At a touch of my hand,
The air fills with delicate creatures
From the other world.

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