Sunday morning, while at the dog-park, our friend Tony mentioned that I should go and look at a special flower or plant, called a Night-Blooming Cereus, that was located in one of the dry washes here in the Sands RV Resort. This form of cactus apparently blooms for only one day each year and Sunday was the day!
| The Night-blooming Cereus in a dry wash at our RV park |
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So, after taking Molly and Rylie home, I hopped on our bike and rode up towards the clubhouse and the first of the washes. When I got there and looked down the wash, it wasn’t hard to find out where this bloomin’ cactus was as there were about a half-dozen folks standing around looking at it and taking pictures. I rode our bike up to do the same thing.
| Another shot of this incredibly beautiful blooming cactus |
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This flower or plant was certainly different from any cactus I had ever seen before. It had 2 huge flowering blossoms growing from the trunk of the cactus. Apparently, the blossoms remain open only one night. After they close, they form showy red fruits, about four inches long. I’m definitely going back on Monday to check this plant out to see if this is true.
It would have been really great to see the start of this process, as when these blossoms are ready to open, they do so in dramatic fashion, literally before your eyes - you can see the movement. The spectacular blossoms (white with yellow stamens), can be a foot long.
Yesterday, March 21st, brought back some very painful memories for Paulette and me as that is the day, just last year, when we lost our beloved 14 yr. old Cockapoo Mo to an incurable kidney disease.
Our little Mo - a great, loving member of our family – he was 14
We were here at the Sands RV Resort at the time and despite the best efforts of the excellent vets at the Palm Springs Animal Hospital, including 5 days of IV therapy, in the end there was nothing we could do except what was best for Mo.
Molly, 5 just loved her big brother Mo and was never far away from him
We had Mo cremated and brought his remains home with us. This made us feel much better to still have him close, rather than buried hundreds of miles away from our home. At the time, like many of you who have lost pets, we thought we’d never recover from the loss. Even our little dog Molly was depressed about losing her big brother. It definitely cast a huge shadow over our entire 2009 winter vacation.
Mo just loved the 2 years he was a ‘snowbird’ here at the Sands
Time, however, does have a way of helping, and so, for those of you who have recently lost a pet for the first time, take heart, it does get better. As so many friends told us at the time, “eventually, the pain of your loss will recede and you will be left with only good thoughts and memories of the great life that Mo had with you, and how lucky you were to have such a great pet”.
That is so true. Today we have 2 dogs, Molly and Rylie, and often their antics make us think about Mo and it brings us a lot of happiness knowing that he had a wonderful, loving home and family for all of his life!
Have a great Monday, and thanks again for visiting!
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