golden daylily

golden daylily

bursting forth on July Fourth

in a cloud of silk

The Fourth of July fell on a Friday this year. Because it was the first Friday of the month, our monthly Art Walk, our city's fireworks were scheduled for Saturday. This year, 2014, is the 175th anniversary of the founding of Fairfield, and the display was going to be the biggest ever. But on Saturday it rained barrels, so it befell Fairfield that the fireworks display was canceled. The rain date? Labor Day! But on Friday, people turned out in their red, white and blue stars and stripes to enjoy Art Walk, and I enjoyed watching the people. On the way home, I got to see some fireworks set off from the tiny town of Sturbridge south of where we live.
         

The day ends with a bearded man wearing a brown bowler and PEACE on his back slowly walking away through the long shadows.

tiny green grasshopper

tiny green grasshopper,

your lush lemon daylily,

gone tomorrow

When I stoop to smell the sweet fragrance of a lemon daylily, I spot the tiniest grasshopper I've ever seen, perched on one of the upward curving stamens. It poses like a model as I take its photograph, only moving its antennas, which are twice as long as its bright green body.
          On the same stalk as the fully open blossom are the remains of yesterday's bloom and the swelling buds, each one bigger than the one below it. By tomorrow morning, today's lush lily will look like its shriveled companion, as each flower has but one day to fulfill its mission in life. 
          And the little grasshopper? Does it intend to eat the blossom before it wilts? They are certainly tasty, as the ancient Chinese discovered.
          Even the dried blossoms are beautiful, twisting in orange folds and crenelations like creative origami.