Thanks, Kathryn! I should have said that the video is one of mine, so that's me explaining the relationship between yucca plants and their pollinators, pronuba moths. :)
Yuccas used to be in the Agave family, but more recent taxonomic analysis placed in them in the Asparagus family. I'm not a taxonomist, so I don't know the whys and wherefores of that move, but I do try to stay as current as I can!
Pack rats give the absolute best Mohawks! I think they both eat the leaves, and use the awl-like tips in the defenses they pile around the entrances to their nests, along with cholla and Opuntia spines and other delights. :)
Once again I am grateful to you, Susan, for introducing me to the intricacies of a plant I have seen and admired but didn't know. So many reasons for never ever saying yuck about a yucca!!
Hah hah! That's a good one, Liz. :) BTW, the photographer whose book I ghost-wrote last year loves puns, and he passed along this one from a Navajo guide on one of his photography workshops: A lady in the van asked the guide what the spiky plant beside the road was, and the guide said, "Navajo laughing plant. Yucca, yucca yucca!"
Plants rule the world! I have been studying plants for three decades and love to learn about their biographies: their relationships with other species and their niche in the world. Thank you for sharing!
I enjoy your gratitude letter each week. I practice a regular daily and sometimes hourly gratitude prayer. I don't even think about it, it just bubbles up. Something I've developed in the last 10 years. That said, I always appreciate a reminder and especially a reminder to appreciate the simple and sometimes small things in our lives. Especially realizing they are not small and as you explained with the yucca, some things have been around for human use and benefit for millennia!
Last week one gratitude prayer was for the morning birds in my yard. There were so many and I also appreciated the app I used on my ipad to identify them. That's when I appreciate mobile technology! This morning it is the ability to use self clean on my oven! And this week it was also for the lovely people who finished my home restoration project with the new gutters. A roof, house washing and trim painting, and finally the gutters have given my home a wonderful tidiness and is protecting this asset that is important to my overall wellbeing, not just financial.
And I appreciate what you have taught me about writing, as this week I was able to write about fear and hope and the roller coaster it can create in our lives and has created in mine. This writing was part of a healing process and I am so grateful I have this tool as a way to heal. It helps bring awareness of emotions that can stay buried. Writing brings things up for clarity, healing, and letting go. So much to be grateful for every single day! Thank you for the place to express my gratitude in 'public'. Much love to you dear Susan and all you bring to us in this lovely newsletter.
That's a wonderful song of gratitude, Susan, starting with the birds in your yard and ending with writing. And along the way, mobile technology, oven technology (yay for self-clean!) and your house improvements. May you enjoy all for a long time. Blessings and a warm hug to you.
True that! As long as it's gratitude that comes in a heartfelt way, not a rote way. Sometimes we say we feel grateful, but we don't really let it permeate. It's got to come from deep inside to be that good medicine.
I've been caught in a migraine cycle the last six weeks, and I am SO grateful I don't have a headache today. It's a beautiful day here in Tucson, and I was able to got to my book club this morning, and the Catalinas were absolutely breathtaking!
I'm adding my gratitude to yours, Karen, that you have a migraine-free day. May this be the first of many. Breathe deeply and enjoy the beautiful day, and the Catalinas in spring! (My great-granddad moved to Tucson in 1903 to study the Sonoran Desert, and my parents lived in the Fort Lowell neighborhood for 20+ years, with a lovely view of the Catalinas over the Rillito. I have many fond memories of Tucson.)
So wonderful to have this reminder of resilience! I love learning more about the marvelous way the world works!
Thanks, Kathryn! I should have said that the video is one of mine, so that's me explaining the relationship between yucca plants and their pollinators, pronuba moths. :)
enjoyed the video enormously!
Thanks! I should have said that was me, and it's part of a series I will resume and share here once my local native plants start to pop in spring. :)
I look forward to seeing more in the series. The yucca flower was gorgeous and I didn't realize it was in the asparagus family.
Yuccas used to be in the Agave family, but more recent taxonomic analysis placed in them in the Asparagus family. I'm not a taxonomist, so I don't know the whys and wherefores of that move, but I do try to stay as current as I can!
I've never seen pack rats do that to yucca. Cool.
Pack rats give the absolute best Mohawks! I think they both eat the leaves, and use the awl-like tips in the defenses they pile around the entrances to their nests, along with cholla and Opuntia spines and other delights. :)
Once again I am grateful to you, Susan, for introducing me to the intricacies of a plant I have seen and admired but didn't know. So many reasons for never ever saying yuck about a yucca!!
Hah hah! That's a good one, Liz. :) BTW, the photographer whose book I ghost-wrote last year loves puns, and he passed along this one from a Navajo guide on one of his photography workshops: A lady in the van asked the guide what the spiky plant beside the road was, and the guide said, "Navajo laughing plant. Yucca, yucca yucca!"
Plants rule the world! I have been studying plants for three decades and love to learn about their biographies: their relationships with other species and their niche in the world. Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome, Sue! I always love teaching our plant-blind world about the green backdrop so many of us dismiss as "things." :)
I enjoy your gratitude letter each week. I practice a regular daily and sometimes hourly gratitude prayer. I don't even think about it, it just bubbles up. Something I've developed in the last 10 years. That said, I always appreciate a reminder and especially a reminder to appreciate the simple and sometimes small things in our lives. Especially realizing they are not small and as you explained with the yucca, some things have been around for human use and benefit for millennia!
Last week one gratitude prayer was for the morning birds in my yard. There were so many and I also appreciated the app I used on my ipad to identify them. That's when I appreciate mobile technology! This morning it is the ability to use self clean on my oven! And this week it was also for the lovely people who finished my home restoration project with the new gutters. A roof, house washing and trim painting, and finally the gutters have given my home a wonderful tidiness and is protecting this asset that is important to my overall wellbeing, not just financial.
And I appreciate what you have taught me about writing, as this week I was able to write about fear and hope and the roller coaster it can create in our lives and has created in mine. This writing was part of a healing process and I am so grateful I have this tool as a way to heal. It helps bring awareness of emotions that can stay buried. Writing brings things up for clarity, healing, and letting go. So much to be grateful for every single day! Thank you for the place to express my gratitude in 'public'. Much love to you dear Susan and all you bring to us in this lovely newsletter.
That's a wonderful song of gratitude, Susan, starting with the birds in your yard and ending with writing. And along the way, mobile technology, oven technology (yay for self-clean!) and your house improvements. May you enjoy all for a long time. Blessings and a warm hug to you.
Grateful for the refreshing rain currently falling.
How lovely! Here in dust-dry northern NM, we would love to share that rain. Enjoy it!
Gratitude is medicine for the soul.
True that! As long as it's gratitude that comes in a heartfelt way, not a rote way. Sometimes we say we feel grateful, but we don't really let it permeate. It's got to come from deep inside to be that good medicine.
Yes yes yes I agree!!
I've been caught in a migraine cycle the last six weeks, and I am SO grateful I don't have a headache today. It's a beautiful day here in Tucson, and I was able to got to my book club this morning, and the Catalinas were absolutely breathtaking!
I'm adding my gratitude to yours, Karen, that you have a migraine-free day. May this be the first of many. Breathe deeply and enjoy the beautiful day, and the Catalinas in spring! (My great-granddad moved to Tucson in 1903 to study the Sonoran Desert, and my parents lived in the Fort Lowell neighborhood for 20+ years, with a lovely view of the Catalinas over the Rillito. I have many fond memories of Tucson.)