wildflowers

Western Australia is renowned for the beautiful wildflowers that poke their heads up come the turn of seasons. Now that spring is in bloom , so are the flowers.
Men of the Trees, the parent organization to City Farm, whom, yep, plant trees decided to give something back to the volunteers of the 5 branches and take them 2 hours north in the bush to walk around and view the blossoming.

I was invited through City Farm. I was quite honored to attend and was looking forward to seeing a bunch of flowers whose identities I had no clue. This reminded me a lot of when mom and I have gone bird-watching in Belize, Peru, Bolivia or wherever. Although mom is a big advocate of bird watching and has a strong appreciation of it (probably more of an appreciation than I do), in all honesty, we have no idea what we are looking at. I recall many episodes of us gasping because we were so excited we found a bird on our own without the assistance of our guide, only to be snubbed off by the others who quickly labeled it a "trash bird".

I was quite certain that my wildflower walk would be a similar experience- me marvelling over something that is a pesty weed and the others scoffing me off. Oh well. I suppose in all fairness if I enjoy looking at weeds than the trip would still be worth it.

I knew I was in for a treat when I arrived at Men of the Trees at 8am and of the 100 people going, 92 were over the age of 73. Now, for grandparents of mine who may read this- I in NO way have a problem hanging out with the older generation. However, I do find it humorous to spend 10 hours with 92 of them.

As the trip was obviously catered towards an older crowd, there ended up being more riding in the bus than walking, but it was still wonderful. I even was able to spot a few tiny orchids on my own, which impressed the older fellas I was walking with.

The only downside was the bus-ride home. They handed out these song books for our 2 hour ride which initially I thought "oh, how cute, it's like being at camp again!". Until the singing began. Then I regretted that I didn't bring my ipod and had to endure the falsetto voices that are like those people at temple/church who insist at singing 2 notches louder than everyone else (usually female), whose voices aren't totally pleasant to listen to, and the songs that no one really knows beyond the first two lines, EXCEPT the lady with the loud voice. She ain't no Lenny Feld on Rosh Hashana, which is lovely to listen to. She's ol gram's who won't be quiet.

Overall, it was a lovely trip. Unfortunately my replacement camera that I purchased in Mexico during my last travels is a piece of .... and takes mediocre shots. I was forced to take close up shots which I actually really like, now that I look back on them.
Don't get too excited- I can't tell you what they are. In fact, they're probably weeds, but I like em.