A warm late summer breeze blew as a goldfinch ate seeds while balancing on a stem of a pineapple sage. Bees flew from bloom to bloom of the brightly colored Baja fairy duster gathering pollen. Dragonflies darted back and forth across a small pond, occasionally landing on a branch, their wings glowing in the afternoon sun.
A recent walk along the trails of the Fullerton Arboretum discovered a 26-acre slice of peacefulness tucked away in the northeast corner of Cal State Fullerton.
It wasn’t just the wanderings of the small creatures that caught my eye on the warm, late summer afternoon. It was the way the sun flickered through the fingers of the Alluaudia, a towering plant from Madagascar, while palm fronds glowed, casting shadows upon themselves. And the way the prickly spines lined up in perfect geometric rows on the many cacti were contrasted by the beautiful wispy branches and leaves of the Mexican Palo Verde tree as I sat on a bench in its shade, gazing at the cool blue, cloudless sky.
As my leisurely stroll came to an end, I passed by the pond one more time as a fish leaped out of the water to grab a dragonfly resting on a branch just above the surface. A nearby turtle slowly swam in the shallows, its eyes gazing just above the waterline to see if it was missing something important.
Butterflies continued to flutter aimlessly and a lizard, blending in with the surrounding leaves along the trail back to the arboretum’s entrance, seemed quite content with soaking up one more day of summer warmth.
Read the full article here
