Heat continues to radiate from the partly parched plants and cracked clay soil.
In this time of twilight, before the cooler temperature Delta breeze arrives the calmness is truly deafening. Nothing moves. Not leaf or petal is raised ever so slightly.
I hear the hummingbird before my eyes can locate its tiny vibrating body. The sound of its rapidly pumping wings has a high-pitched metallic sound that reaches my ears several seconds after it has darted deep into another thicket of long green leaves nestling clumps of ripening peaches.
This is its summer visit.
It, or another hummingbird, frankly, it is hard to discern colors and patterns while the creature buzzes silhouetted against a blazing sky, also comes in the spring. Then against the papery thin blaze of pinkish white blossoms it feeds on what I can only assume is a thin sweet nectar.
By June and July, the fruit off my trees means my food budget gets a bit of a break, smoothies and salsas taste fresher,and bags of pureed apricots and peaches are put in the freezer to be enjoyed months later. Aside from the homeless guy who collects the glass and plastic bottles, my wallet makes it impossible for me to share the early summer bounty with others - including Spic and Span, the two squirrels.
Frequently, they brave becoming shredded meat tartare to the six or so feral cats that have long claimed my backyard as their peaceable kingdom (except where vermin are concerned) to scurry along thinning tree branches to grab a ripe globe. I chase them off and home-made noisemakers placed in trees seem to work during my absence.
With the hummingbird, though, I gladly welcome their hunger-based attack. For they are not greedy. They will pick one almost ripe piece, poke a hole in it and drink. It is this same peach or apricot they return to night after night until it falls to the ground with an overripe plop or the ants drawn to its sweetness turn it into a swarming bulb of hanging mush.
The hummingbird's hard work for so very little reflects my current situation. Even as my circumstances improve they will always find fresh fruit to enjoy in whatever trees I possess.
to listen for a frenzied
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