The Wild Bunch

This photo of Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Every morning, on my way to work, I would drive past a few patches of wildflowers that immediately puts a smile on my face. I had first noticed a patch of orange flowers about 3 miles into my drive. And then on another day, a patch of purple wildflowers appeared in another location. The grand surprise, about a week ago, was when I noticed a new bed of wildflowers of reds and whites, yellows and purples, popping up all over the place! It always makes my heart sing when I drive past.

One of the wildflower beds had a sign that read "NCDOT Wildflower Program". I came home and googled it and guess what I found? The NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) began the Wildflower Program in 1985 as part of an initiative to beautify the highways. How cool is that? Wildflower beds are installed and maintained across the state by Roadside Environmental personnel and apparently many of these bed are marked with wildflower signs indicating the type of flowers. I have yet to see these signs, but then again, I'm supposed to be driving so I can't really pay too much attention.

Because, speaking of which, I drove my car off the road and hit a road sign today. Luckily, I was driving real slow around the bend, like at maybe 15mph, and I was on the back roads of our relatively quiet neighbourhood. And guess why I did that? I was trying to see a mockingbird sitting atop a telephone pole! Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the car was alright save a few scratches to the side mirror.

lesson learnt: DO NOT birdwatch while driving.

which is also why I will probably never learn which are the wildflowers I see every morning.