My walks in the evening take me back to the wash. There many scrub trees grow. These are mostly a kind of acacia we call 'Cats Claw'. On the Cats Claw there are these huge bunches of mistletoe , large clusters of reddish berries. They look very inviting and I once tasted one and then spit it out. The taste wasn't bad. Later I was roundly scolded by my yahoo group "Forage Ahead' . Many people die every year from mistletoe poisoning. Ask before you eat. I developed no symtoms, thankfully. The berries are a main source of food for birds. The mistletoe is a parasite that eventually kills the tree but it seems to be part of the eco system that has a benefit. The acacia has a feathery yellow bloom in the Spring. Bees and moths love these blossoms. There is a moth that looks like minature hummingbirds that gathers around the blossums. I was in such awe the first time I observed these moths. I couldn't figure out if they were a hummingbird or moth but later learned they were a large moth. Their way of darting is very much the way hummingbirds fly. What a beautiful sight.

The acacia is a spreading low growing tree. Some of them develop almost tent like structures. I have one tree that I have trimmed out some of the outer branches and it is like a little house where I actually have a chair I can sit in. The child in me loves this. It is located in a nice sandy area where I hope to set up a camp with a bonfire, sometime soon.

Mistletoe Berry clusters