走了老鼠来了松鼠--南加旱春里的野花 (w English)

几年前当枇杷树刚刚开始结果那一年，记得某人给我看过一张照片--他附近同事家枇杷树上接的枇杷，一颗颗有鸡蛋那么大。原来一树黄灿灿的枇杷被松鼠吃得只剩最后几颗，一气之下，同事把挂在树上的仅剩的最后几颗枇杷全部包了起来，不让松鼠偷吃, 最后几颗枇杷卯足了劲，在整棵大树的供给下，才有了那几颗巨无霸枇杷。那时，我还庆幸自己社区没有松鼠。

 

如果说那一年我还庆幸自己小区附近没有松鼠，如果说去年看到松鼠出现在前院的大树上，我还心存侥幸，默默在心里希望它们不要发现我家后院，那么，当松鼠在3/22日傍晚闯进我家后院时，这一切便开始被打破了。那天赶走它以后，还写了博客夸松鼠聪明，以为它知道主人不欢迎就不来了, 却不知被狡猾的松鼠骗了。

 

我想是我太naive了，太高估了松鼠的智商，太低估了美食对动物的诱惑力了。

 

4/1在家上班。坐在窗前，戴着老花镜对着电脑屏幕。突然，就模糊地发现窗外的枇杷树干上有什么东西在爬，摘下老花镜一看，是松鼠! 我一个健步冲出门外，大声嘘嘘着，松鼠爬上了墙还准备跟我游击战，我抄起扫把，挥了过去，它机灵地从墙头跳到邻居家矮矮的屋背上，看了我两眼，然后一个跳跃，从邻家屋顶跳上我家高高的屋顶，不见了踪影。

 

今年原本不打算给J寄水果了。有了Fedex两次不愉快的经历，加上今年的枇杷小，没什么肉，J也说不用寄了。可松鼠的出现顿时改变了我的想法--我要鼠嘴里夺食，要让J尝尝一年一次的枇杷。周五早上电话会议一结束，我便自己架起梯子爬上去开始摘枇杷，摘下那些比较成熟的，然后找来盒子，去小区那片松树林捡来一些干松针(据说可以保鲜)，再加上其他几样小吃的，匆匆赶到Fedex寄走了包裹。

 

周五中午吃完饭，坐在窗前继续上班。微风吹来，枇杷树摇曳着，看着看着，突然觉得那一角树叶的摇曳有点不对劲，打开门一看，果不其然，松鼠在偷吃那边上的果子。我情急之下，一巴掌拍在门口的铁桌子上，那么大的响声，松鼠却不为所动。只有当我再次举起扫把时，它才识趣地溜走了。而就在我还沉浸在自己的火眼金睛中，没几分钟，见它又爬上更高的架子上，偷吃几口后，在我挥舞的扫把下再次怏怏离开。

 

松鼠真是聪明啊。第一次出现在我家后院它是从前面的墙爬进来，而这几次它干脆从后墙直接接近枇杷，动作悄无声息。我以为我这个大妈挥舞着扫把，口中嘘嘘，够得上"凶神恶煞"了，没想到在松鼠眼里就是小儿科，根本不当回事，或许是果子的诱惑力太大了。

 

鸟为食亡。为口吃的，动物会使出浑身解术，让人防不胜防。虽然我这个高等动物，也常常被某人讥笑，说为口吃的忙忙碌碌(又是沤肥又是套网兜，爬上爬下)，但是在人鼠战中，我显然不是松鼠的对手。这几天下来，发现松鼠能吃掉网兜中的枇杷。所以，今天准备干脆把树上能剪下来的果子都剪了，省的松鼠惦记，省的自己惦记。

 

种点东西太不容易了，可谓粒粒皆辛苦的。

 

附记: 今年这里是旱春，不见成片成片旺盛的油菜花，罂粟花，更没有旺年时的气势。但是那些顽强的野花依然绽放。

 

低头私语的fiddlenecks

 

 

不同手机拍的fiddlenecks

 

 

 

 

艳丽的Gazania flower ( 一种非洲雏菊)

 

 

荆棘丛中的南非雏菊

 

绽放在阴郁天空下的向阳花

 

 

 

 

优雅的Blue Dick

 

芊芊淑女 Mariposa Lily

 

 

 

Indian paintbrush (??)

 

 

 

美丽依旧的仙人掌花

 

 

 

The velvet petals, rich and creamy

 

生长在石头缝里的chalk liveforever

 

 

 

 

芳香的black sage

 

Coastal Sagebrush

 

金色的罂粟花  ( "These too are of a burning color--not orange, not gold, but if pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of the poppies.”--John Steinbeck East of Eden)

 

 

被松鼠吃掉的枇杷，估计这个位置它还来不及整个吃完。The sneaky and bold squirrel disguises itself well.  It must have eaten more  loquats than I know.

 

Under a leaden sky the valley looked dull but serene, with the moisture hanging in the air. As we stood at the top of the valley overlooking undulating mountaintops that were now in misty faint green, we felt like being environed in our old hometown in southern China. Except that there is a highway cutting through, on which cars were whizzing by noisily. But we are now so used to any modernization disruption.

In a rain-bountiful year, as in the spring of 2018, we came across a daisy-like flower called Gazania flower in this valley.  The encounter was so impressive that he occasionally reminisces about it and craves for another rendezvous.  On the same expected slope this time, we only saw sparingly five or six of them. Without sunshine, their petals were not fully spreading, but the color was just as showy and vivid.

On the downward trail, we attempted to identify the spiraling plants and shrubs on the roadsides by their names-- white sage, black sage, California buckwheat, coastal sagebrush, etc. From time to time, we pinched a tip of the leaves to sniff the bold and pungent smell.  Sages are known herbal edibles, and Sagebrush, according to the introduction, was used by miners in bedding to drive away fleas or used to make a wash for wounds. Nature has offered us generously, but we are sometimes blind to their existence.

This spring, with the absence of dazzling large swaths of popular flowers, it's the show time for those who survive the drought and thrivingly bloom on the meadow. As we took pictures of them, our cameras in our hands were unfailingly doing the magic, packaging a plain-looking wild flower (like fiddleneck) with a touch of elegancy. The publicly acclaimed beauty of prickly pear cactus flowers or California state flower Golden poppies are all the more appealing under the lens.

Spring is fleeting here like most beautiful things in this world. As we relished the scenes and scents on the first Saturday of April, we felt lucky that we still have the peace and the peace of mind to be around them.