Vietnam Rose

Portulaca grandiflora

Sun lover. While i was trying so hard to shield myself from the sun's searing rays (it has been incredibly hot these days), these beauties seemed to rejoice being sun-kissed. Not a petal or leaf was wilting. As they flower non-stop, they provide a sight for sore eyes.

I am reminded to appreciate life as it is. Instead of complaining endlessly about the heat, i need to just be grateful for the blessings of summer.

Another name for the plant is Moss Rose. The Vietnamese call this plant "hoa mười giờ" or "ten o'clock flower." The blossoms show up at a specific time of day, in full bloom at ten. How reliable. You can count on them to cheer you up in the sweltering heat. However when the skies are overcast they close shop. Sun lover.

Day's Eye

"Day's eye" is Old  English for the daisy flower --- also a  birth flower of  April along with the sweet  pea. I can  see  the reason  for  the name. The daisy  is  a  flower with petals like  rays arranged  around a  bright yellow  disk -- its eye -- poised to receive the sun's rays. Incidentally,  the buds only open  at dawn as  if to herald a new day. A bunch speak of new beginnings.

Speaking of new beginnings, there comes a point when we find (like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz) that we are "not in Kansas anymore." That feeling of being in new territory, something alien to us, out of our comfort zones, hurled into the unknown. It is always an opportunity to make good once again...make good this time.

Sweet Pea

The sweet pea is a climbing plant with delicate pastel-colored sweet smelling flowers. April's birth flower. 

The poet Keats who sensuously described the beauty in nature had these verses about the sweet pea:

"Sweet Peas, on tiptoe for a flight,With wings of gentle flush, o'er delicate white."

Cultivated since the 17th century, the sweet pea has become one of the most sought after perfume and cologne ingredients. The floral note evokes romanticism and blissful pleasure such as associated with summer.

These beauties are long lasting that they make for a perfect bouquet, easily lasting a week indoors with a daily water change.

Contemplative Notions

carroza detail
photo by adlaw on flickr

It is once again the week to recall, reflect, and appreciate the events that took place about 2000 years ago. The stimulus for reflection abounds. Even if one is not in scenic vacation spots, the Divine is present. One has only to be still and  look closer and deeper.

Traditionally there would be processions to commemorate the Calvary Walk. Prominent families would have the opportunity to parade and deck their carrozas, carriages that take the holy images around the neighborhood. All kinds of beautiful flowers are arrayed on those karos. What a sight to behold especially at night as these are lit.

Even without the fresh flowers, the carrozas themselves are ornamented, engraved and embossed with designs.  Some so intricate that one cannot hep but wonder at this work of art being a labor done in love, in faith, in reverence and devotion.

Congratulations, Graduate!

grad·u·a·tion 

n.

1.

a. Conferral or receipt of an academic degree or diploma marking completion of studies.

b. A ceremony at which degrees or diplomas are conferred; a commencement.

2.

a. A division or interval on a graduated scale.

b. A mark indicating the boundary of such an interval.

3. An arrangement in or a division into stages or degrees.

...so says the dictionary.

Just back from one of our school tours giving free seminars for graduating high schoolers. I could sense their excitement as much as their giddy anticipation of life after high school. What's next?

I salute all you graduates of whatever level you have successfully passed and brought to a close! I can still remember myself in my rented toga marching up the stage to Pomp and Circumstance to shake our principal's hand, lift the tail of my cap, transfer it to the other side of my head...and finally, receive my mock diploma (a piece of rolled up  bond paper held together by a satin ribbon). That moment (with all the feelings) etched clearly in memory. Formal.

Then there are informal graduations. Sans ceremony. These are the defining moments, events that mark a turn in our lives...circumstances that change us -- for the better, or leave us worse off.

Applause for those who have graduated from bad habits, compulsions, and addictions.

Applause for having the courage to embrace change.

Applause for accepting what is.

Death graduated our loved ones from this life... applause for lives well lived.

Applause for all who have learned life lessons big and small.

Congratulations!

Allamanda

YELLOW BELLS

(of Peñaranda Park*, in the ‘60s; nowhere today)

Melchor L. Aguilar 

yellow bells casting mellow spells

when abloom they cast away gloom

by the sight of them my heart swells

by scent of them my spirits boom.

arched blossoms of bright golden shade

their buds in lush, their blooms a-plush

in glade and glen they gleam, not fade

in dale and dell they dwell a-flush.

on bushes green they grin akin

to mermaids’ lips of tulips pale

on sepals lean they mean to sheen

like fairy’s hair in fairy tale.

yellow bells casting mellow spells

their magic charm in warm endear

in silence hence, the chime of bells

i hear so near in dearly cheer. 

What a lovely spirit-lifting poem  i chanced upon. Truly, the Yellow Bell or Allamanda casts away gloom. I am so grateful that we have this persistent woody shrub by our gate -- well, our immediate neighbor's side of the gate. 

Even though hardly any tending is paid to it -- it continues to thrive, as if to mock the sun. Very undemanding. Or rather, it channels the sun's glow, giving us something of itself we can behold up close without the glare and the burn.

Its sister in our backyard, on the other hand,  remains flowerless, rendered barren by the lack of exposure to the sun.

 

  

-

Narcissus a.k.a Daffodil a.k.a. Amaryllis

Daffodil, you were once a beautiful boy. You were so beautiful you were admired and desired by many. You were so beautiful, you fell in love with yourself and could not stop gazing at your reflection in the river. Were you really that beguiling that you died longing for who else but yourself?

Yes, you were indeed beautiful. I can believe that, for you turned into a flower. 

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of dancing Daffodils;
Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: --
A poet could not but be gay
In such a laughing company:
I gaz'd--and gaz'd--but little thought
What wealth the shew to me had brought:

For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

 

William Wordsworth Poems in Two Volumes: Moods of my Mind 7 (1807)