Things Happen Quickly--Sometimes

Friday last week I noticed that our pyracantha bush, still loaded with berries, had begun sprinkling clusters of flowers here and there to catch the eye--and some pollinators. If I remember correctly, it was a little late in the year for the berries to still be present, but it made a lovely contrasting picture: green leaves, red berry clusters, white flowers. Normally, when the bush begins to flower, the berries are gone. Birds typically snack heavily on them. I remember a lot of robins in particular doing so over the years--seems like in February/March. After snacking they would act all goofey like they were drunk or something, and fly into the windows.

This year's robins seem to be much smaller in number for some reason. Back to last Friday. I took a few pictures to capture the beauty of berries and blossoms together. Here are a few.

Okay. I'm hacked off right now. I've tried to upload pictures for this posting several times and I keep getting an error message. Also, I've tried to find the various pictures I've taken of this particular pyracantha bush to share with you. Last spring I took a picture with the bush totally covered in blossoms. 3 different shots of it. NONE are to be found in my files. NOT good. I have a couple of other pics of the whole thing covered in berries--a direct result--as you might guess of the large batch of flowers previously covering the bush. Well, the error message fouled that opportunity to share that for the moment. Maybe later things will work right. Maybe.

The STORY I was trying to relate was this: On Friday, April 11, 2008, many berries adorned the bush. We left that afternoon for the weekend. One time when I walked out the front door to put things in the vehicle, I noticed rustling in the pyracantha bush just prior to seeing a pair of Nuthatches fly out and land in the oak tree closer to the front of the yard. I thought little of it, except for, "I haven't seen any Nuthatches lately. That's cool."

Monday, to my amazement, I looked at the lovely P. bush and discovered it was denuded of all the berries! I mean ALL of them! Over the weekend, apparently. Since I wasn't here I can't verify if there were a horde of crazed robins, Nuthatches or a gaggle of geese, but SOMETHING chowed down on my pyracantha bush and left it berry-less. I have a picture in my files to show you just how it now looks, but the fiends that reign in terror on computer novices like me seem to be intervening in my sharing any more photos on this post. I'll try at least one more time and see what happens . . . or not. Wish me luck.

Nope. The Fiends--who or whatever they are--hate me and won't let me do it. Not now. Maybe not ever. So, I suppose you'll just have to take my word for it. Or not. You may never be able to see the forensic evidence for yourselves. My apologies. And fury. Sorry.