Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica

Swooping,
graceful, low,
flowing flight -
almost always
water nearby.

Deeply forked
tail streamers,
spotted with white.
Dark metallic-blue
upper parts with
chestnut-red forehead
and throat.

A half-cup nest
build of mud and grass
hidden under
eaves of buildings
or under bridges.

One April -
I was out of town,
and found Barn Swallows

in Peru.            

What Goes Around . . .

The old query . . .
      "what goes around a button"
dates back to my mother. She would
ask us kids that question.

We would say "a button hole."
     She would respond "yes, but also
           a goat."

Such simple things
      seem to persevere.

N e a n d e r t h a l i s h

Wow !

Am I proud to be able to trace my ancestry
all the way back to the Neanderthals!  Oh, the
marvels of modern-time technologies. Back as
a kid, my school library had a complete set of
the Encylopedia Britannica high up on a shelf.
It was so out-of-reach that the librarian had to
get them down for me. It was from them - I got
a hint of where I came from. The pastor of our
church said that we came from Adam and Eve.
(At the time, I thought it so amazing that Edam
and Ave were the very first Neanderthals.) 
How special is that?

        Mind you . . .  to think that I once actually
                looked like those folks.

But . . . those Neanderthals. Such foreheads and
those jaw lines. Rarely did we see anyone in
our neck of the woods that looked like that. 

However, there were a few folks that came close.

We wondered how come others in their families
looked like that as well. This was well before we
learned about heredity and genetics in science
class.

            We didn't poke fun at them . . . 
                              we were simply in awe.

LATE SPRING (haiku)

A brisk wind, blue sky
Cottonwood seed fluffs make friends
with scattered, white clouds.

P A T I E N C E

I have come to Southern Chile's
Ortway Bay, seeking
Magellanic Penguins.

I walk the weathered,
wooden boardwalk
toward the sea,
            just beyond carpeted grasslands.

High-tide waves
                    crash nearby.

There they are - among
bleached driftwood and the
continually battered boulders.

Nestled together -
cluster of young penguins,
attired in rock-grey and dull white.

Standing in patient silence.

They await an inborn urge to
venture into krill-rich waters -
and the risk of
being snatched up by roving,
hungry seals.

As night falls,
the young penguins
return to the security of
their birthing burrows.

Bougainvillea Trinity

Bougainvillea Trinity

                  Go ahead . . .

         show your three-partite
              bracts to the sun.

               Delight the eye.

                       Fade . . .

                   then spiral
                  earthbound.

               Solar-powered
                    pinwheel.



-The Bougainvillea is such an unusual vine.
 What you would assume to be its flowers . . .
  are actually colorful bracts. (The flowers are
  tiny and hardly to be seen.) Our Bougainvillea
  vines are in pots and we move them outside to
  grace the deck in the spring, summer, and fall.
  Then, it's back inside for the winter.

Never At A Loss

    Why is it so rare
      for a person to
     starve, while at
         the beach?

   They can always
            eat the

sand which is
       there.