I've been longing to get out the house for weeks now. The sky looked perfect, fluffy clouds everywhere. It was a beautiful sunny day here after the incessant rain last week and I decided to go out for a walk. The lock down is slowly being lifted here. I hope they don't camp us down again.
I've been longing to see the Delonix regia (royal poinciana) in bloom since April this year. It is one of my favorite trees. This is a sightI look forward to in April every year. This beautiful tree is in bloom from April - July. Its a magnificent sight to watch this tree any time of the year. When not in bloom the tree has a canopy of fern like green leaves which look stunning. This sight was enough to make my day.
As I walked further I was reminiscing of the times we went to our Grandma's home for the summer holidays as kids. There you would find these trees everywhere. My cousins and I would pick bunches of these blooms and bring them home to grandma only to find them wilting before we reached home just minutes after cutting the branches. Grandma would still receive them happily as if we gave her the most expensive bouquet.
The first image is a close up of a bunch of delonix regia flowers. They look as lovely as orchids if not more (I am partial to these). Their colors usually red or orange with beautiful patterns in white, yellow and crimson on just one petal makes them look so exotic.
The bottle brush tree (Callistemon) is done blooming I guess. However, this one was pretty tall, taller than the wild almonds near by, so I couldn't get close ups of the flowers with my phone camera. These look so pretty with their weeping branches hanging down with pretty, red flowers, looking like bottle brushes at the ends.
Don't they look pretty together the bottle brush and the wild almonds. I stood there watching the blooms dancing in the wind. The light green leaves of the wild almond looked so pretty against the light.
This image was taken in the fields where I take my dogs to pee and poop. The place is overgrown with morning glories blooming everywhere. There were hundreds of tiny grasshoppers jumping as we took each step. My dogs were getting too excited with this activity.
Here is Black dog (a stray) which accompanies me and my dogs each time we step out of our home. She is a sweet thing who has now found a loving home , but is still very faithful to follow us around in our neighborhood. She almost died two years ago of some liver disease, we took care of her then.
The purple verbena that adorned the front of a my friend's home looked so lovely and I had to photograph it.
Bougainvilleas are always in bloom here making my walks colorful in every season. These plants tend to climb on other trees or fences near by, This one here is almost fifty feet tall. Hanging on to the branches of a Delonix regia.
Another view of the bougainvillea. I love the color, a lighter shade of pink than the ones we find here commonly. I collect the fallen dried blooms from under the tree for my compost bin as well.
More purple Bougainvilleas near home in the small park which is now closed due to the lock-down. Perhaps it will open tomorrow.
Just taking a walk put me in a happier mood today. What a feast for the eyes and what magic these scenes create in my mind. I felt so happy for having gotten out of the house for less than an hour.
All images used in this post are the sole property of @sofs-su