Daisies, The Library & A Cottontail Rabbit
This post has several topics, concerning my Shasta daisies, the library, and a cottontail rabbit, so it is quite diverse.
When I woke up this morning I was a bit confused because it was so dark. Then I turned on the lamp next to my bed and saw that it was almost 9 a.m.
I heard thunder rumble and realized Mother Nature had fooled me as to the time of day. It was not the normal time I typically get up.
So I quickly began my morning chores. And now here I am with you, writing and listening to soft classical piano.
Shasta Daisies:
I looked out the living room patio door and saw that my flowers were soaked by a steady shower of rain. The two pots of daisies caught my eye as the white petals moved up and down with the cadence of the raindrops.
Don’t you love how daisies form a bud and then slowly begin to open? They appear closed up tight, and then the bloom loosens, and the petals fall open like the arms of a ballerina as she smoothy dances across the stage.
The stems of the daisy are firm and strong. A green rosette of leaves forms first. Then the daisy blossom shoots up in the center of the rosette.
The yellow middle of the daisy is called the ovary. Shasta daisies have about 21 petals. The bud that forms reminds me of the tightly closed fist of a newborn infant.
A Simple & Delicate Perennial:
Daisies are perennial flowers and are often associated with cheerfulness and a carefree spirit.
Maybe that’s why I love them so much. Their beauty, what they seem to signify, and the way the flower draws in Mother Nature’s creatures.
Daisies attract a variety of butterflies and insects and butterflies. Once pollinated, each flower produces many seeds.
The word daisy is derived from the Anglo-Saxon “daes eage,” which means “day’s eye,” so named because the daisy blooms with the rising sun.
Trip To The Library:
My next-door neighbor, Steve, and I went to the library the other day. I hadn’t been to a library in probably 30 years.
The library is so different these days. It reminded me of an express check-out lane at the grocery store as we scanned the books and our cards. Steve showed me how it’s done these days. He’s a prolific reader.
While at the library, which is about a mile away, I checked out 4 books. And I have 7 books on hold through my online library account.
I was impressed by the efficiency libraries have now. Just like everything else, I suppose, it has been much modified and improved during the last decades.
I think the last library I visited was in New Braunfels, Texas in the early nineties.
Yesterday I read much of one book titled “Probably Ruby.”
“Probably Ruby is a dazzling novel about a bold, unapologetic woman taking control of her life and story, and marks the debut of a major new voice in Indigenous fiction.“
The writing is fascinating. I’m always interested in the flow of a writer’s words. Whether it’s dense, using a lot of metaphors and similes and allusions. Or whether the writing is smooth as glass and the pages breeze along like the stream of a tide.
The Rabbit Eating The Mystery Plant:
Yesterday evening around 7 p.m. I stood at the patio doors and looked out. It is so wonderful to see all my plants and that of my neighbors.
I saw motion and then I saw this rabbit, chomping away on my “mystery plant.”
I didn’t want to scare it away, so I moved slowly and took its photo through the glass.
Then I emailed it to Steve, who was a biologist with the wildlife forestry service before he retired.
He told me this rabbit was a cottontail rabbit, though I had Googled images of rabbits and thought it might be a swamp rabbit. He laughed and said swamp rabbits are much bigger.
The swamp rabbit is the largest member of the cottontail genus, he told me. Although it is larger in overall size than other cottontails, it has smaller and rounder ears and coarser fur with a more yellow cast.
Through searching online, I learned that the swamp rabbit can reside in Oklahoma. As the name implies, they are found near bodies of water, under the cover of thickets, stumps, or fallen trees.
Apparently, there are 7 different types of cottontail rabbits.
The rabbit was stripping the plant of leaves in short order. But I wasn’t about to bother it.
I had too much fun watching it through the glass, even though the “mystery plant” may not be around much longer.
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I love our library! We have the pption of checking out movies or tv shows (one season at a time- get shows form USA, UK (lots of the great British mystery shows) and Australia) to watch as well as regular and audio books. At our library you can check out small alliances and other odd items (like a vegetable spiralizer!) as well.
Dear Brenda please accept my apology while responding I spelled Librarian so incorrectly , My daughter would be appalled.
How wonderful you went to a Library, My daughter is a Liberian and takes pride in the programs and assistance give to the community. As an avid reader my pride in her choice in life is huge. Hope you continue to use your local library in the future.
You’ve inspired me to add some daises to my garden. I think I’ll take care of that today. We’ve got a rabbit taking up residency in the back yard. I do admit to getting annoyed when it eats my favorite plants! But, they are cute to look at, and he’s welcome here, nonetheless.
That’s just how I feel. One part of me wants to open the patio door and have it run off. The other part of me just wants to watch it. That part wins out!
Next door neighbor doesn’t have a name now? Thought it was Steve .
Yeah, it’s Steve. I was just trying that out because he didn’t want his photo taken. So thought I might as well call him next-door neighbor. I hope it’s okay with him if I call him Steve. He’s kind of jittery about it because he hasn’t been mentioned online before I guess.
So I went back and put Steve instead of Nextdoor Neighbor just now.
I am grateful for our local public library. I download their digital ebooks and audio books along with ordering or reserving hard copy books. Sometimes I’m placed on a waiting list if the book is a popular one. Sometimes the book is at different library and has to be delivered to my town. Either way I’m notified when the book is available locally for me to pick up. At bedtime I turn out the lights and set a 30 minute timer for an audio book to play. It’s like having someone read me a bedtime story!! It’s stops the racing thoughts in their tracks & I’m usually asleep within 10-15 minutes.
I guess it is like being read a bedtime story. Never thought of it that way.
I think your mystery plant is Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta).
I think someone mentioned that it might be that. Isn’t going to be anything if that rabbit has its way!
Beautiful post today. Love daisies, and rabbits, and libraries, and your writing.
When you speak of the daisies and “the petals fall open like the arms of a ballerina as she smoothly dances across the stage”, it’s wonderful.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Usually in the summer I’ll buy some gerbera daisies and they last for quite a few weeks! I love all the different colors they have!
Where I use to work they had a store nearby that sold beautiful bunches of flowers cheap! I had vases all around my houses with beautiful flowers that lasted for at least 2 wks! After working all day that was a stressful place I would come home and forget about work when I saw my flowers!
Then my daughter would come over and say I want some to put a smile on my face too. So next time I went to the store and bought her a bunch of flowers and vases to make her happy too! It made my grands happy too bc it put their Mom in a happier mood! Lol
That reminds me, I haven’t bought fresh flowers in months. Maybe a trip to Trader Joe’s is in my mind now.
I have quite a big clump of Shasta daisies, they are only about 4 inches high so I have quite a wait before I see the flowers.
Later on we will get rabbits in the garden who no doubt will eat our flowers but I don’t have the heart to frighten then away, after all they have to eat. I really get a lot of pleasure watching them. One year I planted some lettuce thinking they would eat that but no they preferred the flowers!
I’m kind of surprised that they chose flowers over lettuce!
I’m a regular library user too, have been for many years. Money’s tight these days, so I can’t imagine buying books when I can borrow as many as I want, return them, and then get more. I have an ongoing battle here with rabbits, cute, but very destructive.
I had not been around so many rabbits until I moved here. Clearly they are comfortable at this complex.
Daisies have always been one of my favorite flowers. I love the bright colored gerbera daisies, too.
We have bunnies all over the place here. We have a row of huge arborvitaes lining our back yard and the rabbits like to nest under them. I frequently see baby bunnies coming out from under those bushes and hopping around my back yard, chewing on the grass.
I’m very surprised you haven’t been to a library in over 30 years, especially since you like to read. I go to the library at least once a week; have done so since I was a little girl and my mom used to take me and my sister. I’ve always loved libraries as much as book stores. I have a long to-read library book list on a Word document on my laptop. You can also go to a site http://www.booksalefinder.com and sign up for weekly emails that let you know about library book sales in your area. We have quite a few libraries around here that have amazing twice-yearly sales. It’s where I’ve gotten most of my books, and they’re never more than $1 – $2 each.
I don’t know why I haven’t been to the library, Melanie. I had just not stretched my wings yet I guess. Hadn’t even really thought about it. Until next-door neighbor started talking about the library.
I went to the library with my granddaughter and great grandson a few months ago! That was the first time I had been to the library, like you, in years! I was surprised too at the way you checked out books these days!
Nextdoor neighbor had to show me how to do the check-out.
I have a rabbit every year live thru the winter under our deck so he has run of the yard. Our dogs see him come out of the flowers at night when they go out to do their final poddy time and it runs under our picket fence to another green patch so much faster than our dogs. The rabbit did eat my minature rose plant this year again after it came up and I can’t imagine that is good for the rabbit.
Good for you to get to the library. If we don’t support them, they won’t be around for the next generation. Always like to see others book selections.
True. I wonder if my grandkids go to the library. I will have to ask.
No matter how old you are if you’re a reader a trip to the library is always a huge treat. I’m glad you have one nearby.
Oh, daisies always make me smile – they’re such happy flowers. 🙂
I bet that silly wabbit enjoyed his treat. LOL
Have a wonderful Sunday!
I hope he/she enjoyed it if it’s going to destroy it!