Revive a Wilting Flower

I enjoy having flowers around the house. Buying them myself is a luxury. If money were no object i would regularly have those beauties to brighten up the home. On occasion i would receive some. And as long as i can, i try my best to maximize their "presence".

Here are some tips i got from the florists:

1. Regularly change the water and clean the vase out.
2. Snip off the ends of the stems on an angle
3. Add some detergent to the water
4. Some lemon juice and sugar can also be added to the water

But soon enough time will come to throw out the wilted ones. Life is a mist, so the bible says. The tangible things do not last forever - even if we badly want them to. 

There have been two deaths in our close circle of friends. One due to a very aggressive cancer. Another went so unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, due to cardiac arrest. Just the thought of grieving depletes energy. 

Indeed, we have in our hands precious life. Borrowed, temporary, transient, on loan. 

We can only attempt to extend it. 

The good thing is there are things which we can hold on to permanently -- only if we choose to. We have relationships, a marriage, faith. And yet even these can be lost if we do not give it the care, or the work, that it needs.

What needs resuscitating in your life today? 

Souls and Raindrops

by Sidney Lanier


Light rain-drops fall and wrinkle the sea,
Then vanish, and die utterly.
One would not know that rain-drops fell
If the round sea-wrinkles did not tell.

So souls come down and wrinkle life
And vanish in the flesh-sea strife.
One might not know that souls had place
Were't not for the wrinkles in life's face.

.

Flowers My Mother Loved

If flowers give us a glimpse of one's personality then these flowers hint at my mother's character.

Carnation

• "you're the only one"
• the sun is always shining when i'm with you"

Orchid

• love
• beauty
• refinement

Lily of the Valley

• sweetness
• return to happiness
• "you've made my life complete"

Lily

• spirituality

Magnolia

• nobility
• perseverance
• love of nature

Cameo Friends

I love this photo of a melon carved to look like a bouquet of flowers in cameo. So intricate, so painstakingly done, so exquisite...years of artisanal hours definitely put in to achieve this thing of beauty. If i were served fruit in this form i do not think i would have the appetite to eat it. I would just bring it home and marvel at it as long as it holds up. But fruit is meant to be enjoyed eaten. In a short time, the beauty of this piece will be in somebody's stomach --- just a fraction of the time it took to create it.

This brings to mind some friendships. Precious in time invested, binding in experiences shared...only to suffer their loss to space and distance...to unfortunate grievances that drove one from the other away.

Yet not all is a waste. The mark that we make on each other makes us hopefully, better.  Those friendships, however brief and fleeting, if meaningful, retains the essence for which it was there in the first place. Some good things do come to an end. Some friendships have run its course in our lives --- short-lived and just the way it is.

My Glorious Gumamela

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

Unassuming, sturdy, generous, full of life, extravagant. These are just some of the words one may use to describe this shrub which is common in tropical countries.  Usually ornamental in purpose, as well as planted as a hedge, this plant many children in the provinces know has many other uses.

When i was in grade school, we gathered its flowers and made a poultice (mixed with our saliva) out of them to be used as liquid to make bubbles. Very organic, i should say. When one of us got scraped in rough and tumble, that same poultice (without the saliva) was directly applied to the skin -- our first-aid. No adult intervention needed.

Hibiscus tea has gained popularity lately as it has been associated with longevity.

I just read that this plant (its leaves, flowers and roots) serves many medicinal purposes.

As herbal medicine gumamela is used for the treatment of:

• Bronchitis - as an expectorant
• Coughs, sore throat
• Fever - as refrigerant drink
• Treats dysentery
• Urinary tract infection, bladder infections
• High blood pressure
• Prevention of constipation
• Headaches
• Boils, swelling & abscesses, mumps

The flowers come in red, yellow, orange, white, pink, and even purple (which i have yet to see). They also come in a host of color combinations.

One day soon, i will grow different varieties of them as they thrive well -- not high maintenance for the occasional gardener like me. 

Should you be interested to know more about this plant that you may even find in your own backyard, click this: http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/22137839.

Bleeding Heart

Dicentra spectabilis

Bleeding hearts bear heart-shaped flowers, from which "drops of blood" dangle at the bottom. These dainty flowers usually turn up in the months of April and May. I thought how peculiar this is as i am once again experiencing a heart-burn like feeling. Because of a certain condition i was born with called mitral valve complex, occasionally i feel some heavy pressure in my chest. 

And...right on the heels of yesterday's very emotional events. One relative was brought to a recovery center for addiction. The immediate family was in such raw pain, one can almost see hearts that were bleeding. Sometimes one would rather choose a pain that is physical than emotional. Seeing a loved one suffer or, getting hurt deeply by them is just way more painful.


What do we make of pain? It is said that people are driven to recovery because of pain. In our bodies pain calls our attention to the parts that need to heal. 


There is redeeming value in pain we go through. The bleeding heart flower reminds me of that. 


Where does it hurt right now? Maybe it is time to give that some positive attention.

Flowing With the Gifts We Receive

Last night my husband and i came from an intervention. Intervention is the term used when an orchestrated attempt is done to get someone to seek professional help. The person in question is a nephew. It was like looking at some movie we have watched before. We predict lines. We anticipate familiar scenarios.

We have been there before. Their storyline is pretty much ours.

I just had an epiphany. However dark our experiences may be...however seemingly bad they are at the moment --- they are gifts. Nothing is wasted. When we have gotten over that hump in our personal histories and find ourselves ashore after navigating rough waters, we have gifts in our hands to share with others. True that everything has a purpose even if it doesn't make sense. The strength and wisdom we receive is precious yet loses its value when not given away.

So, if you find yourself in dire straits, and finding it hard to believe that you are being granted gifts --- just take it from those who have made it to the other end. You, too, have gifts waiting to be claimed.

When i was a young girl of 19 and pregnant out of wedlock my cousin once wrote me this note of encouragement : "There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands." She was quoting Richard Bach in the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. What she left out was the corollary: "You seek problems because you need their gifts."

My Dorothy Memory

About four decades ago when i was but a very young girl in the hinterlands of the northern part of the country, i went to school in bright red sandals with two-inch thick soles. I loved that pair. It was a gift from my mother when she came back from the city.

I used to prance around the house in them. It was almost as if i didn't like to take them off.

Every school day i would kiss my mother goodbye and walk to school which was some distance. But just before i would catch up with my schoolmates, i would take them off and hide them in the bushes.

You see, most, if not all my classmates were unshod. I didn't want them to see me as different. And i wanted to belong.

Love of Summer

Hottest day on record today, says the dailies. After a few days --- another hottest day record is declared.

We wipe our dripping brows, we soak our shirts, and the sticky feeling of dust and grease clings.

Halo-halo is in demand once more and so is scramble --- shaved ice with all sorts of color and artificial flavoring.

I love summertime.

I have an excuse to be clad in shorts and sheer cotton tops and the sultry nights give us good reason to go outdoors where the air circulates better.

Everything becomes visually appealing as nature is caught in an outburst -- of glorious sun-kissed colors.

As Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Russel Baker put it: "Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it."

Home

J.M. Barclay Original Fine Art



Our work takes us far away from home to beautiful places, mostly resorts and other such vacation destinations. Who would not want to see sights that keep us alive...or to be pampered, serviced, and have not a care on making up our rooms, and prepare meals?

But after a couple of days, the charm of a luxurious room and magic of beautiful sights seem to wane as we think about --- you guessed it --- h-o-m-e. Certainly, the old adage from the Wizard of Oz counts: "There's no place like home." We long for the familiar, the unique smells, sights, sounds. We pine for the family spirit along with all its quirks and scrapes for it is where we belong.

So much emotion is tied up to this word.

Anywhere we have felt comforted, relaxed, free to flourish is home. It may not be a structure --- home is in the presence of persons who care. I am glad i am home.

Chorus of Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros:


"Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is whenever I’m with you

Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is when I’m alone with you"