Charm of Bougainvillia

There you are, just the perfect accent to an already breathtaking panorama. Though you only have a handful of pink bracts, i am not in want for more. Minimal yet substantial. Truly, not much is required to be happy. You bet I could stay charmed here for hours, soaking in the tranquility alone.

Nothing Ordinary

Take time not only to gaze on the conspicuous flowers but also to direct your eyes to those which need an extra dose of your observation. There are flowers in lowly plants, too. What you see as specks of color are tiny flowers that wait to be noticed, visible only to the willing. It is as the if your fairy godmother made her swish, and the pink and lavender fairy dust that descended turned into flowers.

“It's all a matter of paying attention, being awake in the present moment, and not expecting a huge payoff. The magic in this world seems to work in whispers and small kindnesses.” 
― Charles de Lint

If flowers could speak...

Grounded

Orchids are commonly anchored on trees or shrubs, blooming in a variety of colors. However, there are also those which flourish as beautifully on the ground.

I like that. A reminder that the place we find ourselves in is not an issue to our growing and thriving. Even blossoming.

Bloom where you're planted. Ground orchids are not lowly, just grounded.

Reflections Under Lovely Arbor

Passing under an arbor of this tropical vine (Thunbergia mysorensis) is a treat. Beautiful chains of yawning yellow and red flowers touch my hair, forehead,and cheek like blessings bestowed on me by the owner of the universe. Simple. So simple is life when i get in touch with everything di-vine. Literally, and yes, figuratively.

Joy is not hard to come by. Just open your sense of wonder and look around you. You will see how lovely, how generously, how thoughtfully creative everything is put together. 

My Coral Berry Year

How can you not notice this plant? Its red berries grab your attention right away. Its small white flowers are not to be dismissed though they are not of the showy kind. Those simple flowers are followed by red orbs which stay faithful for many months.  Its leaves are smooth and leathery and are somewhat edible --- in salads, they say. 

No wonder that this Coral Berry Plant or in science-speak, Ardisia crenulata, is one exotic ornamental i would like to add to my small collection of plants. Symbolically they represent simplicity, fruitfulness, sturdiness and toughness. My kind of 2014.

Operation Splurging

The news has just heralded the highest power rate hike which dampened, i must admit, my meager efforts to create a festive atmosphere at home. We decided to light up the tree on the eve itself. Yep, in twenty days. Simple is the operative word.

Toning down the festivities, not just because of the looming bills, is also extending still our oneness with the Mega Typhoon's victims. This just feels right.

If there's any splurging happening -- i leave it to mother nature to take the lead. Here's a photo of a shrub that shows off in wild abandon its eye-catching purplish offshoots. 

Thank you for such generosity!

Still Life with Flowers

Why does time run away from us so fast? It zips past our days...our lives... and leave us breathless (literally) at the end of our days. We can't stop the flowers, the joys of our existence, from wilting, even if we mix in glycerin, vinegar, aspirin, sugar or some perk-me-up temporary pleasure. Surely it will delay the sadness... the drooping... but the inevitable happens. Kids are no longer kids. Our body (every detail of it), is not the same body we had at the start of the year. Even the dynamics in our relationships we find, have altered to some degree. 

Don't you sometimes feel like arresting this marching off of time? In just about four weeks we will be writing a different four digit number -- to mark our next year. 

We can either have regrets or look back with fondness on the days past. They are all behind us save memories, like snapshots we have chosen to keep or delete. We can immortalize those good ones we have gathered from the garden we have tended, or neglected, as still life -- our way of arranging them as we wish or preserving as long as we can, the lovely blooms that captured us as much as we seized them.