Life inside for winter time - a month of flowers

  Dawn on Winter Solstice...the furthest into my apartment that the sun would shine around 8 am. The growth of daylight hours each day past the solstice is very slow at first.

My new little friend, a Christmas Cactus graces my old sewing basket. It is now happily soaking up winter sunshine, but has lost all it's blooms, sigh.

While I meet with friends at the Dripolator Coffee Shop, the Harwood Funeral Home looks down on our simple fare reminding us of our mortality.

This orchid has at least two stems putting forth blooms for the season. So thrilled!

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Today's goddess:

Inanna, The Queen of the Night (Burney Relief) fired clay, Mesopotamia, Old Babylonian era, 1800-1750 BCE.

In the misty origins of ancient Sumer, the goddess Ishtar (originally known as Inanna) stands as a paradoxical figure of staggering complexity—a "Mother Goddess" who, interestingly, was rarely depicted as a literal mother or wife. Known as the Queen of Heaven, she personified the raw, untamed forces of both sexual desire and the violent chaos of war. To the ancients, she was the "Lady of the Morning and Evening Star" (the planet Venus), representing the dualities of life: the beauty of the sunrise and the looming mystery of the dusk. Her most famous myth, her descent into the Underworld, reveals her as a deity of profound transformation; by stripping away her royal garments and facing death itself at the hands of her sister Ereshkigal, she embodied the cyclical nature of the seasons and the fragile threshold between the world of the living and the realm of shadow

Source: The Secrets of the Ancients FB page

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Today's quote:

Love is to life what life is to death. And so we risk everything trying to touch the ineffable by touching each other. Over and over. Again and again… Patterned behavior alternates like shadow and light… We can change, evolve, and transform our own conditioning. We can choose to move like water rather than be molded like clay. Life spirals in and then spirals out on any given day. It does not have to be one way, one truth, one voice. Nor does love have to be all or nothing. 

Terry Tempest Williams

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A time when my shaky fingers posted this in error...namely on Dec. 8. But here it is, again!

Today's new header - I think I was trying portrait settings on the iPhone. It created that halo effect on the central blossom.

Joining Floral Friday Fotos (which is already open!)

Blooms and promise of blooms

 

The summit of my my amaryllis...there are now six blooms on the crazy amaryllis! I finally added a stick to help hold them all up! 

My one surviving orchid from years past has a small stalk reaching for the light. Mmm, I need to get some food for this little one.

This year's orchid is beautiful and already had lots of blooms open. I'm glad because sometimes buds drop off from the shock of moving through nursery, shipping container, store, and then my home.

A wet day in Black Mountain and I went shopping, without having a damp sit-down under the bare cherry tree. I'll be back in 3 months or so to see some blooms I hope.

And by the time you're reading this, many of my blooms have faded. I'll post a pic of the remains another time.

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And back to discussion from turning point. About choices made. I give you this poem.

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Today's art (reminding me of gratitude for living where snow isn't quite so abundant.)

February lace by Vasily Khudyakov

Today on Open Yesterday's Pages:

Zora Neale Hurston

Memories and experiencing joy

  

Today's quote:

The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.  -Salvador Dali, painter (1904-1989) I thought briefly about this quote, then felt a deep ah-ha moment. I have definitely stored up a bunch of brilliantly technicolor memories, and only left a few of the dark ones, in sepia tones, to lurk in my brain. There are certainly times I've done someone wrong - and hopefully I've made whatever restitution I could by now. But there are still those memories!  And then there are the dark times more recently in my own experience...feeling like a very depressed individual, wanting to sleep many more than 8 hours a night/day...having no appetite, fighting a recurring fever than went away in a day. Yep, I know that happened to me off and on for months.  And I know the antidepressant meds didn't really solve the problem. But coming off them (over 2 weeks time) I actually felt better. It's like they had grabbed something inside my brain/emotional center...and took it out. I still wanted to sleep at least 10 hours a night...but didn't on the days I had something in the morning scheduled. Me attending a concert when I was about to be dianosed with pneumonia. And then I got full blown pneumonia...the fever coinciding with lungs on second Xray having some things that hadn't appeared back one the one in December. And 5 days of heavy duty antibiotics gave me clear breathing and no fever. I was back able to function normally in a couple of weeks time. I had an amazing lack of my usual daily coughing as well. I still was aware of not feeling any joy. I wasn't feeling particularly anything. Then suddenly the other day, I said to myself, what if there's just a joy button, or a specially sized opening in my being/brain which lets in the feeling of joy? Maybe I don't have to come up with it from inside myself, which seemed to be the message from other people. Maybe I can just sit here, my normal vegetative state, and wait for it to come hitting that spot in my brain. I like that. And I think I've felt a bit of joy since that concept. I sure can get sillier now. Relax better. And you've noticed all my photos of blossoms this spring. Now I feel the joy of their colors against the bright blue of skies. I find great joy in having fresh air coming in my windows, right off the many leaves of the maples outside. That's a nice hit of oxygen I think!  And being with productive people who are doing amazing things. It's so nice to know them, observe them, and maybe support them as best I am able. From authors to craftspeople...so much creativity! Then my dear orchids finally started dropping their blooms. They have lasted a really long time this year. The cycles of life! And of course I'm getting my cataracts removed, so now I have another joy...seeing the true colors of things! The second eye is healing nicely. Yes, I'm very grateful too, for this newfound sense of joy. I do intend to keep that little spot that welcomes it wide open to new things.

Last day of May potpourri

 

Yep, those mountains are green all the way up. And this is the north face, so it says to me that most of the Blue Ridge Parkway will also have green trees. Maybe not all the way up Mt. Mitchell yet though!

I was going to repot this plant and make my old fish tank a "terrarium" but instead I gave the aquarium away, so now I'll just have to find a bigger pot to put these succulents in.

The last of the purple orchid...I post photos of the buds of things, so why not the ends of them as well?

The orchid plants will be out on the porch all summer, getting lots of warmth and some real sun, and I hope they'll give me more blooms to get me through another winter!

Today's quote:

Our very own lives can be magical, like the fleeting morning dew on a flower tip

A good day for my friends and myself

Are you tired of my orchid friends yet?

This sweet one has two stems of blooms...and the flowers know to not bump into each other.

Maybe my Kalancho buddies are saying hi also...they strive to catch any sunlight they can!

The other day I finally changed the water in the fish tank (there are 4 tetras in there somewhere). I decided to let them look at mountains as a backdrop, and haven't put the plastic plants back in. It was getting kind of full of algae, so I am trying to limit the amount of time I have the light on. 

Wintertime is actually when sunlight gets closest to hitting the tank, not directly, but enough to help that algae along. I am pretty tired of this little chore honestly. But I might be interested if I could get some guppies...I like them because they have babies, and I can save them from being eaten by the big fish...so that's kind of fun. These tetras are totally boring. But if I want to de-stress, there they are!

And surprise...from a plant based lunch. My sandwich has sprouts and some veggie patty that I browned a bit, and veganaise (vegan mayo), and I ended up putting the rest of the sprouts on the other side of the sandwich. Yummy! Chips aren't exactly on my diet, but that's how it goes...I do one good thing and another is not so good.

Today's quote:

 We must dissent from the fear, the hatred, and the mistrust. We must dissent from a nation that buried its head in the sand waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away. We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education, or hope. We must dissent from the poverty of vision and timeless absence of moral leadership. We must dissent, because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better. 

-Thurgood Marshall, US Supreme Court Justice (2 Jul 1908-1993)

And the youngest orchid gives out first

 This is the one I bought this winter.

I moved it from my bedroom (which gets more sun actually) because the blooms were drying up and falling off, and then I noticed the dead blooms were kind of moldy looking. Oops, I thought, I've overwatered it. A problem of course because I would give it a drink with the others, now twice weekly...and it is supposed to have water only once a week. Anyway, the very last bud opened, as all the rest dropped off.

I must tell my friends about yesterday's adventure...I locked my keys in my car. I stopped at a nearby restaurant which had been recommended several times by a friend who happens to live up the street from it. So I ordered a taco, then the woman offered me their phone to use...and fortunately I had my wallet with me, so I called the insurance company using my card in my wallet, to get road side assistance which I pay for in my insurance policy. This was at 2:00 pm. They said they'd be there around 2:45, soonest. Oh my, I thought. I ate my delicious taco, prepared just the way I asked, then walked up the hill to my friend's house. We usually text, but my phone was also locked in the car. I didn't know if she'd be home...but she was. So I was able to sit with her for a while, then was back at the restaurant by 2:40, and they closed at 3. I sat outside on a picnic bench until 3:25, when the guy finally arrived. He drove slowly, he walked slowly, and he talked slowly. He said they don't usually take an order without a call-back number. I said my phone had also been locked in my car, so I couldn't give him one. He went to work, slowly, and in about 5 minutes had undone the lock. This is the advantage of 2004 Toyotas...it's a manual lock, not one of the new kind. I don't know how people get into those cars...so maybe I'd better steer away from getting one. 

Today's quote:

The Dalai Lama says:

“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.” 

Some ongoing blooms to lift my spirits

 

I've cut back some of the dead blooms, aka dead-heading. But it takes care to locate the right stems with the scissors!

Today's quote:

The bud

stands for all things,

even for those things that don’t flower,

for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;   

though sometimes it is necessary

to reteach a thing its loveliness,

to put a hand on its brow

of the flower

and retell it in words and in touch

it is lovely

until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;  

~ Galway Kinnell 

The ongoing orchid

 

The sun hit the orchid one morning, and I couldn't resist. It's lasted a really long time.

Happy Valentines Day!

Today's quote: 

Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
 only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate;
 only love can do that. 

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world
 that we must love our enemies - or else? 
The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate,
 wars producing more wars - must be broken,
 or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. 

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love
 will have the final word in reality. This is why right,
 temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. 

I have decided to stick with love.
 Hate is too great a burden to bear. 

Love is the only force capable of transforming
 an enemy into friend. 

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.
 He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid 
of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us
 and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this,
 we are less prone to hate our enemies. 

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

More new shining faces in my windows

 

I woke up Sunday to see this amazing and strange flower looking at me.

These are my living room friends. I'm always happy when this many blooms open. So wonderful!

I'd think the first bloom would be towards the light, but here it is facing away from it!

Today's Quote:

...the person you think of as "yourself" exists only in you, and
even you don't really know who that is.  Every person you meet,
have a relationship with, or make eye contact on the street with,
creates a version of "you" in their heads.  You're not the same
person to your mom, your dad, your siblings, [that] you are to
your coworkers, your neighbors, or your friends.  There are a
thousand different versions of yourself out there, in people's minds.
A "you" exists in each version, and your "you", "yourself", isn't really
"someone" at all.

Commentary on a chapter in a book called
One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand
by Luigi Pirandello

Considering how little attention they get...

 My African Violets just keep on blooming, and making pretty fuzzy green leaves. You can notice I don't even dead-head them, just let the dead blossoms fall into the dirt.

I wish this attitude worked on dirty dishes!

I moved the laptop so I could enjoy more sunshine on this Solstice morning.

I'm glad these outdoor plants will be getting more sun for the next couple of months...though it won't be as far down in the sky, and hitting my eyes sideways for long.