You're the One in a Million!

Do you ever feel like you are alone? Maybe you are just the very first of your kind!

The big news of the week from the Arboretum is that the sunflowers are starting to bloom! Last summer, they planted tall sunflowers just beyond the arbor with the bench by the strolling gardens, whose view I showed you in my August 6 blip.

This year, there are sunflowers in that same spot again, but they are much smaller than last year's. I've been keeping close tabs on them, from tiny green shoots, to last week when I came across quite a few puckered, tightly-wrapped blooms, getting ready for the big show . . .

I just knew that this would be the week they would start to bloom! And so, on Tuesday morning, on my way back to work after the long holiday weekend, I stopped by the Arboretum to check on their progress.

And this is what I found! The very first few blooms are starting to open. And I saw an unusual but awesome sight, which I may have seen only one other time before: a hummingbird, the sunlight glistening off its shiny green self as it hung for a long time in front of one of the sunflower blooms. Alas, I was not close enough for that shot and my view was obstructed. And so there is no picture of that magic moment but the one I carry in my heart. (It's a crowded place, my heart, just chock full of all kinds of treasures.)

This sunflower was the only one open at this time of the morning in this particular section of the sunflower patch. The image speaks to me somehow: this single bloom amid its fellow buds; this shining, golden creature who is the first of its kind.

The song to accompany the image of this single sunflower bloom - this harbinger of so many more wonderful things to come - is a favorite from my childhood: the Oak Ridge Boys, with You're the One (in a Million). Oh, and the weather here? Mostly sunny and delightful, with an EXCELLENT chance of blue skies and sunflowers!