Tumbleweeds are a late summer to late winter, western Kansas, eastern Colorado crop. There are tumbleweeds in other parts of the southwest, western Oklahoma and Texas, all over Arizona and New Mexico. However, when I think of tumbleweeds I see them tumbling across highways and byways on my way to Colorado through western Kansas.
I really like tumbleweeds. They roll along, blowing wherever the wind takes them. They congregate along a fence line, until the wind detaches them one by one and they roll on to dryer pastures. It is a meditation to watch, romantic, even.
“A tumbleweed is a structural part of the above-ground anatomy of a number of species of plants, a diaspore that, once it is mature and dry, detaches from its root or stem, and tumbles away in the wind. In most such species the tumbleweed is in effect the entire plant apart from the root system, but in other plants a hollow fruit or an inflorescence might serve the function. Tumbleweed species occur most commonly in steppe and arid ecologies, where frequent wind and the open environment permit rolling without prohibitive obstruction.” Wikipedia
Grandma Smith brought a large tumbleweed back to Mom one November. She had been out to western Kansas for the annual Smith Family pheasant and quail hunting trek with grandpa, uncles, and male cousins over the age of 12. Mom spray painted the tumbleweed silver, put a lot of different sized blue Christmas bulbs inside it and hung it up. Our Christmas tumbleweed hung in the front of the large picture window in the front room for many years. I can see it hanging there all silver and blue representing the sparkle of the holidays.
I googled tumbleweed Christmas and found a really close version of what it looked like. Apparently, the Scott’s like Christmas tumbleweeds, too. There were also many other ways to dress up a tumbleweed. A body could order tumbleweed from a website in Arizona. I am going to go on a tumbleweed finding adventure myself this November.
I’ll be rolling along, humming the Tumbleweed Song……..
See them tumbling down
Pledging their love to the ground
Lonely but free I’ll be found
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds
Cares of the past are behind
Nowhere to go but I’ll find
Just where the trail will wind
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds
I know when night has gone
That a new world’s born at dawn
I’ll keep rolling along
Deep in my heart there’s a song
Here on the range I belong
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds
I know when night has gone
That a new world’s born at dawn
I’ll keep rolling along
Deep in my heart is a song
Here on the range I belong
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds
Sons of the Pioneers
http://www.metrolyrics.com/tumbling-tumbleweeds-lyrics-sons-of-the-pioneers.html
https://www.pinterest.com/miller6616/tumbleweed/
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/4c/5f/79/4c5f797f3fc6dd7820053168a7e74671.jpg
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/321655598361248851/
http://joeorman.shutterace.com/Bizarre/Bizarre_Tumbleweed.html
http://www.tumbleweedsforsale.com/
http://www.curiouscountrycreations.com/tumbleweeds-for-sale-c-66.html
©2016 Susan Kendall. All rights reserved
