Balance

On March 20, the Earth tilted neither toward nor away from the sun.  The Vernal Equinox is this virtually perfect day. Winter leaves, Spring waits out on the front porch with a ball under his arm and smile.

Recognizing that the planet is blanced with a 90-degree axis, these Mexican poppies stood straight up too. East of Safford, Arizona, the Gila Box Riparian Conservation Area is ablaze.  Stand back 100 yards and you'll see hillsides painted in the bright yellow of wild Mexican poppy flowers.

We camped right here with a wild flower show at our portable back porch.  Chloe plucked two poppies from the ground, all by herself, and gave one to Brooke and one to me.  "Put it behind your ear," she told us. Later we feasted on a camp-stove pasta dinner, slept soundly, woke up, drove through the Black Hills Back Country Byway and ended up at home - the one attached to a mortgage, anyway.

I drained my camera battery out there.