Month: January 2017

Pass the Baton

| Flower Roberts

I have been looking at my life and goals differently lately.

Instead of seeing  myself in a race with a my own personal finish-line,

I now consider myself part of a relay team…of women.

img_8781

I have been reading history books, you see.

img_8777

I wanted to know how women in the past have attained success while surrounded by sexism.

I have being traveling back a century or two.

This seems to be about where the political tide would like to take us.

So I am consulting with the likes of Beatrix Potter, Marie Curie, Clara Barton , Annie Oakley and Rosalind Franklin.

What have I learned from our fore-mothers?

They stayed their course.  They kept on their special path.  They went with their flow. They followed their dreams.

They kept at it.   They kept learning and earning, reading and writing, sowing and growing, nursing and nourishing, hoping and helping, praying and praising, painting and sculpting, marching and singing, farming and planting.

They were not defined by nor confined by the men in their lives.

This political tide is nothing new young women.

Females have been knocked down and pushed back for centuries.

You must keep heading toward your chosen shore; despite the tide cycle, current or undertow.

Stay afloat and swim forward when you can.   Don’t let this get you down or make you drown.

So ladies, don’t drop your causes.    Cling to them with zeal.

Use your passion (not poison) to make this world a better (not bitter) place.

img_0001
My friend the paramedic/nurse riding her Harley through the Badlands.

Grandmothers, mothers, aunts, queens, witches, neighbor-ladies, and girlfriends;

Stretch out your arm to pass that baton by encouraging, teaching, and supporting and sharing.

Just keep carrying and passing the baton.

Granddaughters, sisters, nieces, princesses, bitches and baby girls

reach out and grab the baton with courage, faith, strength and grit.

img_0003_new
My same friend as a sparkling twirler in our high school band.

Carry it on and then pass it off to your female teammates.

Twirl it if you like.  Paint it, radiate it, bandage it up, write on it, shoot it,  x-ray it,

even burn in at both ends, if you must.

But keep on passing it.

You can’t each reach your full potential, unless we all get to reach for ours.

This is not a race against time, it is a relay through time.

There were many women before you, there will be many more that follow.

Pass the baton.

img_8780

FLOW

 

My Friend the Fairy

| Flower Roberts

My friend is a fairy, but she doesn’t know it.

img_0013
The fairy and her Cardoons in June.

She collects fairy dolls

img_8649

and fairy statues

img_8705

and fairy art.

img_8654

She reads books about fairies.

img_8662
She has a fairy garden in the woods beside her farm.

img_8714
There are fairy houses,

img_8712

fairy towns,

img_8690

fairy tea sets,

img_8736

and fairy shoes.

img_8687
She points out where the fairies have been.
Under this fern, up this tree, upon this vine.

img_8731

She says she believes in them, which I think was funny… coming from a fairy.

All her friends have an awareness of her fairiness.

Her cat knows purrfectly well that she’s a fairy.

img_8650
Her dogs are charmed, I’m sure.

img_8659

img_8644

She raises chickens in a carousel castle.

rabbitscheraw-portland-blog-291

I bet they lay golden eggs.

rabbitscheraw-portland-blog-012

Her flowers and herbs grow like Madgic.

rabbitscheraw-portland-blog-010

She is surrounded by magic everywhere, but doesn’t realize that it all comes from her.

How can she not know that she has wings?

img_0014

FLOWER, friend of a fairy.

An Afternoon Among Fairies

| Flower Roberts

I spent a lovely afternoon with one of my favorite people on Earth today.

My next post will be about her.  This one is about her fairies.

img_8649

Although it is January, we spent much of our visit outside.

img_8705

She has a fairy garden in her woods, you see.

img_8709

It is both beautiful and magical.

img_8728

My friend is like sunshine.  Her fairies/faeries and garden are enchanting.

img_8714

I hope you enjoy seeing her tiny friends.

img_8683

This one is my favorite, due to the bunny.

img_8734

FLOWER and Fairies.

My Hope is Green

| Flower Roberts

I had to take myself outside today.

I was feeling too much like a human. (No offense.)

I have been reading about politics and watching the television.

I don’t understand people. (No offense.)

I don’t believe I am human.   I think a mistake was made.

img_8621
Cardoon

I had to get outside on this dark, wet day to find some hope.

I found it.

img_8607
Tulip

I came back in with muddy shoes, pants, hands and camera.(Sorry Honey.)

My hope comes from the ground,

img_8635
Sedum

Not from my family, friends, books or the television.(I love you but…No offense.)

My hope is green.

img_8627
Snowdrops

I had to see that things were still growing and pushing up out of the earth.

Even in cold. Even in darkness.

If a little plant can do it, so can I.

img_8636
Delosperma

FLOWER

 

A Dish In a Bowl of Fish

| Flower Roberts

I have to bring my Shubunkins in for the winter.

They live in a small pond that I made years ago as “Maiden Stone Garden Art” concrete artist.

368

It is too small to leave water in it during a freeze.   Plants nor fish would survive.

img_9673

The three Shubunkins come into the foyer to greet guests with noises and splashing.

It has been difficult to keep this bowl looking good and keep the water clean .

img_8512

After much experimentation, I have found a way to keep the water clearer.

First, I use a turkey baster to gobble up the debris from the bottom.

img_8514

This removes concentrated detritus without stirring up the water.

I purchased a foam filter and placed it in a dish, weighted down by rocks.

img_8513

Now, I can lift out the dish full of waste while mixing less into the remaining water.

img_8516

Always clean and dry used equipment. Also label it. No one wants to eat a turkey basted with your fish bowl sucker-upper.

img_8518

Fish waste is like manna to microbes.

Now, I can actually see my little friends.

img_8526

FLOWER and her fish.

Seeds in Sand

| Flower Roberts

I am ashamed to admit that I usually don’t mix my small seeds with sand.

It can be seen on my hand how this mix would better space the seeds.

Poppy seeds are also tiny and tend to blow while sown.

img_8598

This leads to over-crowding and the need to thin seedlings.

img_0076

Sometimes I wait too late to thin, which disrupts the roots of the plants left.

Last week I mixed my poppy seeds with sand before sowing them.

img_8597

I liked that I could see where I had sown the seeds.

img_8599

Hopefully, this year’s poppies will be less crowded than last year’s crop.

If I have given you my red, double “Bill Troutman” poppy seeds; you need to sow them soon.   They are early risers.

img_0121

FLOWER

The Real McCoy

| Flower Roberts

In America, we use this saying “the real McCoy” to mean the real thing. This means that whatever is being described is the genuine article; not an imitation or fake.

img_8535

This saying has several possible origins including an oil-drip can, rum during prohibition or the famous feuding families, the Hatfields and McCoys.

I am using it here with McCoy pottery, which was made in Ohio from roughly 1929 to 1967.  The company started alone, consolidated as ACPC, split apart and then regrouped again.

The marks McCoy and USA on the bottom mean it was made after about 1933.

img_8532

These two pieces are from my dear maternal grandmother and maternal great grandmother who were both from Ohio.

img_8536

The Turtle Sprinkler sat on a table in a corner window with my great  grandmother’s African Violets.

img_8531

img_8530

The planter held some of my grandmother’s favorite plants.  I wanted to photograph this before planting one of her plants back into it.

img_8534

McCoy is a highly collected form of pottery, but don’t rush to e-bay just yet.

The Turtle sells for about $45 and the planter for only $20.

These two are worth way more to me in memories than money.

FLOWER

Cleaned and Quarantined

| Flower Roberts

I was excited to spot some orange on the kalanchoe buds.

Upon closer inspection, the color came from bugs not blooms.

img_8489

Aphids had stowed away and were happily sucking sap from the young stems.

I pulled out my mean weapons from my arsenal to do battle.   Q-tips, along with a dish of alcohol.

img_8495

The aphid army was soon obliterated and floating in the dish-of-death.

img_8496

Do not pity these parasites. They are itty bitty, yet ugly and vicious.

20170109_112501.jpg

The plant is now recovering nicely in the plant hospital, along side the sick Lemon Button Fern.

img_8497

FLOWER the Warrior