Confessions of a Sunflower Addict

I admit it. I have become a woman obsessed with sunflowers. I have visited the sunflower gardens at the Arboretum every morning since Tuesday, when I discovered the first bloom.

On several days, I've visited the sunflower gardens more than once. I enjoy watching how the light touches their little faces differently, at different times of the day.

I love the bees that love the sunflowers. I watch carefully, hoping for butterflies and dragonflies and hummingbirds. (And yes, this week, I have seen at least one of each of these creatures winging its way over the sunflowers' heads, but alas, none of them stopped for a picture.)

On Thursday morning, the sky was dark with dead clouds from overnight as I arrived. But the sun was starting to emerge, and the gardens were coming alive.

There were sunflowers of many colors turning their faces toward the sun: bright yellow, of course; and pale yellow; and brown; and black; and yes, even red sunflowers, their colors practically shining out like a red traffic light in the morning sun . . .

The song to accompany this red bloom is a song I loved in childhood. I would have been going on four years old in October 1968, when this song was released. But I have several sisters who are quite a bit older than me, who bought records and played them (and played them, and played them . . . ) at home.

And so thanks primarily to my older sisters, I have very fond memories of some of the popular songs from the late 1960s. Here is one of them: the 1910 Fruitgum Company, with 1, 2, 3, Red Light.*

Oh, and the weather here for the next few weeks? Sunny (one hopes), with clear blue skies . . . and an excellent chance of sunflowers! :-)

*P.S. Does anyone wonder what the heck they are singing about? It's a children's game: 1, 2, 3 red light! Very similar to a children's game called "statues" in some countries. Read more about the game on Wikpedia. And additional trivia about the song is available on songfacts.