EMPS: A Long Way to Go to See a Bush

My participation in the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot has been spotty lately, largely because of how busy I've been, working six day weeks with lots of overtime, and then running around all day on Sunday on behalf of friends. So when I left work a little earlier than expected today - yes, on a Saturday! - I decided to take a little field trip in search of my least favorite photo subject in the world: flowers. Carly's asking for fresh pictures of Spring Blossoms And Flowers, which aren't the easiest things to find in Tucson in late May, when the temperature often tops ninety degrees and significant rain is a month and a half away.

So instead of heading south on I-10 East (yes, you're reading that correctly), I drove the ten miles or so in the opposite direction, toward Picacho Peak. On years when there are good winter rains, which this wasn't, early spring, which is long over, sometimes sees Picacho Peak State Park covered in wildflowers. But when I got to the park gate, this is what I found:



Yes, the park was closed, and not just because it was late in the afternoon. Let's zoom in closer:



The park is "closed for the season." What season is that, exactly? Probably "State Budget Cutbacks Season," combined with the eight month season in which the snowbirds and tourists stay away from Arizona.



Clearly, nobody but me is running up to Picacho Peak these days, particularly in search of flowers. But wait, what's that white bush?



That's it, my glorious bouquet of wildflowers, which I sought out 50 miles from home, at the end of a 59 hour work week, assuming I don't work tomorrow. Which I probably will. It's no horticultural or photographic masterpiece, but the background scenery is terrific! I just researched what it is, this pale shrub with yellow flowers, but without success.

Come to think of it, we just came to the end of a season of yellow, allergy-inducing blossoms on the local mesquite and Palo Verde trees, which greatly afflicted a number of people I know. But I didn't think to photograph those.

Karen