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Tuesday, 11 May 2004 00:00 |
 In Ian's backyard, beside the motorhome, is a growth of Bearded Irises; tall, elegant, purple and white flowers. When we arrived here 11 days ago they were just tall stalks with the vague resemblance of buds. In the past 10 days the stems have grown taller and the buds have filled out considerably. This morning I could see that the buds were on the verge of opening but little did I know that they would burst open in such a short time. If I had set up my camera to take photographs every hour I could have captured their incredible transformation moment by moment on film.
Mother Nature is so amazing in the way we are constantly treated to an array of colour and new growth, no matter where we are or what season we are in. We have seen vivid colour mixed in with the grey-green plants of the desert in New Mexico, the stark contrast of red desert sand mixed with deep blue skies in Arizona and aqua white snow against lush evergreens in Oregon. Along the coasts of Florida, Mississippi, Northern California, Oregon and Washington we saw the different shades of sand on the beaches ranging from a deep golden brown to a stark sugar white while the ocean varied from clear, turquoise blue to a deep blue-green.
In our travels we have seen all sizes of animals from the tiniest hummingbird to the great blue heron and little Key deer to large majestic Elk. We have seen alligators, armadillos, antelope and fire ants, all with their own uniqueness. The terrain we have crossed has contrasted from the flats of Texas to the boulders and canyons of Arizona and the craggy mountains of Nevada. We have been on roads as high as 9,000 feet to as low as only 33 feet above sea level and seen dry riverbeds as well as raging currents. The trees have contrasted from tropical palms to desert Joshua trees and giant redwoods. We have learned that no matter where we are, there is such beauty in nature that we can only feel deep gratitude for being able to experience it. All of this in a just a few short months... how lucky are we? 
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