At
the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains our desert is dressed in extraordinary
and splendorous color.
When
people consider the deserts of the American Southwest they may imagine dried-up
river beds and widespread parched lands; this is partly true; however, when
monsoon rains soften the landscape, the desert is reborn in a riot of amazing
wild flowers; the wind whispering alongside canyons as eagles soar above the
mesas.
The
end of winter and the onset of spring bring forth the glory of various cacti
species. And even though this past winter we had only one month with snow plus
some hard freezes, we did have several weeks without rain.
Nonetheless,
the desert is in bloom!
Not
as proliferate as in past years, but I have found delicate yellow and orange
pea flowers and tiny daisies with yellow rays and centers along stream beds or
in the shadowy floors near ravines and bluffs. Hot pink flowers make their
appearance on low-growing prickly pears and close to the giant Saguaros.
The Sonoran Desert sports distinctive Saguaros which populate the land with their
archetypal silhouettes resembling an army of standing soldiers waiting to battle.
Saguaros are the icons of Arizona, their giant and spiny columnar stems rise
upwards of 20 feet in many cases. Saguaros take a long time to reach maturity
but I have heard they may live up to 200 hundred years! I can only imagine the changes they've seen!
I
often sit by the shade of a very old saguaro on my daily hikes along the
mountains near my house; I know it’s very old because it has about five arms
and those begin growing at around age 50 they say; by the time saguaros reach their 40th
birthday, they begin producing flowers but no arms yet.
‘My’
saguaro has milky-white flowers with yellow centers; blooming started only a few
days ago. Its blossoms open during the night and close again with the
heat of midday.
From
my seated position on a nearby rock, I have an unhindered view of the high
peaks; the militia of saguaros of varying heights and number of arms standing
guard; and innumerable breath-taking wildflowers and blossoming cacti flirting
with raucous pollinating bees humming around in a frenzied fête.
This
is my meditation spot … a place where I rejoice within myself and my thoughts …
the place that allows me to decipher and resolve the queries and doubts that
collect in my consciousness and physical being.
From
that spot in the mountains I am able to heal and soothe my soul; nothing can
beat the cool mountain breeze, and the experience of coherence with the
universe; I close my eyes, I hear the wind pirouetting with butterflies in the
flowers and I forget the troubles of a pressing world. I can say that my culture schock has passed and I have bonded with this land.
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