Friday Flowers: In Unlikely Places

The pictures for this post were all taken by my husband.
He did a great job! Click images to enlarge.

At dawn this past Monday morning my husband and brothers went with a guide to the desert for a few hours of exploration. This was a different outing than The Becka and her cousins took the following day, the pictures of which are featured in the previous post. Their guide took them to the place he had lived as a child, in an adobe house seemingly situated in the middle of nowhere. Cattle were seen walking in an arid expanse of dust and rock. This area was once covered with water and the men found a large fossilized snail shell. Nearby cave walls were marked with ancient drawings of dwellings, people and animals.

Water must be near by to support life in this part of the desert. And sure enough, a muddy waterhole behind the house was surrounded by tamarind trees which provided shade from the sun.

The tamarind tree is native to Asia and was likely brought to Mexico in the 17th or 18th century by European settlers. The Mexicans prepare a drink from the boiled seeds but I prefer tamarind in a spicy, sweet sauce with samosas and other Indian foods.

Blooming cactus plants and grasses were found nearby as well. A number of butterflies sipped nectar from the small flowers. This small desert oasis has provided life for man, animals, plants and other creatures. Those of us who live where water is abundant can miss the real meaning of important metaphors about springs in the desert.

Alegrarse han el desierto y la soledad:
el yermo se gozará, y florecerá como la rosa...

And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose...

Isaiah 35:1