Peace by the Water Lilies

I love being alone sometimes. Do you?

I love my friends and family all the time (sure do!) but I also love time alone. For some people, being with people charges them up and gets them going. People-people love people and being around others gives them energy and drive. I love people too and I like being around people but people don't charge me up. I find that being alone charges me up. This, according a friend I met last week over coffee (great coffee, by the way), is the defining quality of an introvert personality.

Just last night as I was lying in bed I, for no apparent reason, thought of water lilies. And the thing about water lilies is that they don't stay open all the time. Among the water lilies are night bloomers and day bloomers and so to see them all at one go one must wander around a water lily pond at dawn or dusk.

When I arrived at the gardens this morning the air was cool and I made a beeline for the Sundial Garden where the water lilies are kept. There were, to my dismay, to few water lilies blooming and just a bit too many people around. But the people were quietly meditating and the few flowers were beautiful. I sat at the edge of one of the ponds. It was very restful and apart from the chirping birds, quiet. It was nice.

The cool dawn slowly unravelled into a glorious morning. The pink tubular flowers of the Rondeletias all around the pond edges began to attract butterflies that greedily slurped on nectar held at their bases. I snapped a shot of this Chocolate Pansy butterfly having breakfast.

This little bee wasn't keen on the nectar that was out of reach. She was busy collecting pollen instead and she gathered her harvest in pollen baskets on her hind legs. This kept me entertained for quite a while.

The weather eventually warmed and I started to walk about. On my way out of the pond boundaries, I snapped a shot of one of my favorite tropical blue flowers. The sky blue Plumbagos and pink Rondeletias flanking the water lily ponds make a winning combination. Really cheerful.

And then this parcel caught my eye:

At first I thought it was some gross disease! Then I thought maybe a moth pupa wrapped in silk. And just as I began to realize what I was looking at, its maker flit right past my line of sight. A Tailorbird! I had just a few seconds to admire its rust-red head before it darted into its nest. That was a brilliant surprise and a great way to end my morning walk!