Cactus flower Boom Bridge

On my way back from a rather productive walk along the Bell Cedar Swamp preserve trail, I just happened to look down at a section of roadside garden close to the house and what I spotted trumped the entire collection of images I'd captured earlier. I'd focused, of course, on the preserve's array of birds, wildflowers, and odonates, and I'd been harassed by just the most modestly increased group of deer flies, those awful insects that will soon make it exceedingly unpleasant to be in the woods. Still, the exploration remains doable, just a bit more annoying than earlier, when mosquitoes and deer ticks were all I had to contend with. On the road back home, I stopped at a field to check the milkweed blossoms for signs of butterfly visitors, so I was primed for flowers. This cactus bloom was probably un-missable under any circumstances, but this afternoon, it really leaped out at me. Maybe it's the brilliant color; maybe it's the resemblance of the pistils and stamens to the fireworks that will soon light up the sky. The fireflies are, sadly, rather meager this year. The cactus flowers are filling in this natural pyrotechnic gap.