Crows, Peonies, and Ants

There are lots of lilac bushes in my neighborhood.  There are mornings when the scent of lilac is in the air all during my walk to the coffee shop.  Reminds me of my boyhood days on S. 12^th Street.  The lilacs have pretty much come and gone by now, but the peonies are in bloom.  And peonies, too, trigger childhood memories.

There were five or six stands of peonies along the side of the house, and a rose bush by the back door, which were lovingly tended to by Grandpa Tony.  One day I was thoughtlessly flicking ants off of the peony buds.  I guess I had nothing better to do.  Grandpa saw what I was doing, and told me to stop.  He said ants help the buds open, so they can be flowers. 

I wish at the time I had asked Grandpa to tell me more about flowers, and how to take care of them.  Because after he passed away, the peonies and roses did too.

 Not immediately.  The peonies bloomed once more before they succumbed to the lawnmower.  The rose bush lasted longer since it was too big to mow down.  But it was untended.   It died of neglect, I guess.  The first summer after Grandpa’s death, the rose bush only managed to squeeze out a smattering of misshapen flowers.  The following year the bush produced a single, perfect rose, and it never bloomed again.

I like to observe the progress of the various gardens on the way to my morning caffeine fix.  This morning, in one of those gardens, I came across a stand of red and pink peonies with dozens of flowers and buds.  There were buds, and buds beginning to open, some partly open, some in full blossom, and some flowers already losing their petals.  There were ants all through the buds and blossoms, and they were doing a very good job.

Down the street from the peonies was a meeting of a murder of crows.  Two of the birds flew back and forth across the street.  They perched in different trees for a moment, then resumed their back and forth flight plan.  All the while, they seemed to be arguing about something.  On a branch in another tree sat three crows, side-by-side, commenting on the action.  I stopped to watch and listen for awhile, but I didn’t stay long enough to see how it all turned out.