Simple Pleasure

My daughter Laura gave me a dozen tulip bulbs last Christmas. I planted them on my mini vegetable bed for the winter. When the buds started to come out, I moved them to the flower boxes on my deck fearing that the aggressive deer in my neighborhood would come and munch them off.  Laura texted me that her tulips were bloomed when I was in Seattle three weeks ago, but mine did not bloom till last week, very slowly.  I looked at them every day and waited patiently for the right moment to photograph.  I could have gone back to tulip farms for my photos, but photographing the flowers you  grow on your own has that special meaning.

Good timing was finally arrived two days ago. Almost all the buds were opened and they looked beautiful. I had my camera gear ready early in the morning and just waited for sun to rise higher…It might have been couple hours when I remembered to get off my chair and reach for my camera. Walking out to the patio, I noticed that something was missing… the tulip blossoms were not there, but the green stems and leaves were still standing. Guess what? Squirrels topped the blossoms out of the plants!  I have never known that squirrels eat flowers. I cannot believe that among all the pine cones on the ground, they still preyed on the flowers.

Thought our battle with squirrels is over, I guess not. Some people love squirrels and they feed squirrels, not me. I only feed birds and I like the courteous birds such as Nuthatch and Chickadees. Why? They came, picked the seeds and left. Unlike some other birds, they came and lingered on the feeders and fought off new visitors if there were any. As for squirrels, they would take over the feeder, dump all the seeds to the ground in order that they can consume them all and they assure that they leave nothing for other bird buddies.  And, they chewed on anything that they can get their hands on if they cannot get what they want. I don't care for overly aggressive creatures.

Just yesterday, I took a few random shots thinking that I will do better today.  Today I don’t even have the flowers to begin.  This spring has been quite dry in comparison with last year, but the temperature is still cool and not much happening so far.  Well, I might as well use whatever I have. I don't want my disappointment extends to my daughter who hoped that we have tulips to enjoy right outside of our house by now.

The first thing I want to share is this amazing yellow Tulip. Squirrel left it a thin skin to be attached to the stem, and it is still hanging there.  It is surviving however the chance for it to open is almost zero. But who knows.  We are living in a world full of miracles and surprises. If God is willing, anything is possible.

We can travel to tulip farms to see the big scale of the stunning beauties, focus on a few varieties in a local farm or simply enjoy what you have at home. At this point, a single stem of flower is more than what I want, and to tell my daughter how much I appreciate her intent. She might not expect what I can get out of these few flowers.

When my pre-visualized photo plan did not turn out,  I use what I have and try to turn them into something that I can enjoy. The original background for pink tulip was black and white. I have given it a fiesta-like background to celebrate today, a Friday, and one of the many everyday's that God has made.

There are these ordinary orange tulips that bloomed earliest and I'd expected them to open wider so I can peek into its stigmas as that is my favorite thing to do to photo a flower.  Unfortunately, this random shot is all what I have. mourning? giving up? waiting for next year? No, no, no, something has to come out of this.

I want squirrels to know that, as smart as they are, we human beings are surpassing their small wiz, we are smarter and unbeatable. So I packed away my down feelings and used Ortan Effect on the orange tulip shot.  There were two flowers in the picture, so I cropped the right one to make it a 1-1/4 flowers. We want odd numbers on a photo. I thought the backdrop on left is a bit distracting, but it seemed to blend in after I applied the effect.

Life is here for us to live and to enjoy.  When something does not turn out the way we wanted, try to look for a new meaning and give it a new definition. 

I did not make myself a deluxe sundae, but a few Popsicles have

lightened my day.