Author: Flower Roberts

Nature Bends

| Flower Roberts

It seems that I am the most grateful when I am perched on the edge of a disaster. I saw the tipping point yesterday.

I am on the other side now. Listening to wind howl. Watching snow that cannot hit the ground. Seeing dancing trees that only yesterday at three o’clock were white with heavy ice.

A rain came at four and washed the ice off. The crashing down of the ice layer went on for hours. The trees were free again.

Ice-free trees can bend, not break.

That is the lesson here. Nature is made to bend. Forces may make the trees sway and bend, but but breakage only occurs to unyielding things.

Do you bend and yield?

Or will you stand up straight…and break?

FLOW

Watch the Evergreens

| Flower Roberts

If you are in ice right now. There is one thing to watch. The posture of the evergreens.
These trees have evolved through ice and snow. They are designed to bend downward instead of breaking.
Right now I am surrounded by evergreen trees covered in ice. They are holding up well. When the load starts to be too much, the limbs will bend down and rest on the limbs below. They will start to look like a closing umbrella.

Trimmed bottom limbs

If you trimmed off the bottom limbs, there will not be lower support and the whole system may collapse. I have a trimmed evergreen out one window and an untrimmed tree out from another.

Untrimmed lower limbs.

These two trees will tell me when/if the ice is too heavy to hold. Once the cracking starts, other types of trees are in danger also.

When this collapsing starts, the probability that you will lose power increases greatly because limbs and trees will come down.

We are also expecting wind later. Wind is not a friend to ice-covered trees. If the temps get really low, sap will freeze and trees will explode.

Mix of trees and shrubs

It is time to watch and listen to the trees.

FLOW

A Storm is Coming

| Flower Roberts

Yes, a change in weather is coming,
But that is not the storm I am anticipating.


A change is coming.
Americans need something new and TRUE.
We are tired of the drama and injustice.
A storm is moving across our nation.

To the 18 other countries
that have read me today.

Keep the faith. We are not broken.
If monks can walk barefoot for peace,
What are we willing to do?

https://www.facebook.com/share/186p6qVxTx/

Anything and everything.

FLOW

Crows Walk in Snow

| Flower Roberts

I have watched crows walking in snow many times this winter.

Three crows in snow

They walk along the ground and sometimes bend over. I wondered if they were poking around for food.

Why did the crow cross the road?

I saw one walk across the road and peck at the asphalt. Was it eating snow?

Crow tracks

Later I found these three sets of tracks on my patio.

Three sets of crow tracts crisscross patio.

All I know is, crows walk in snow.

FLOW

Now, Then and When?

| Flower Roberts

I know what now looks like.
It is snowing again.
This is expected on the mountain.

All this snow is a new thing
for Flower the flatlander.

I meant to get out yesterday.
Back then the good intentions roads were black and clear.

Now that everything is white again,
I’m not sure when I will do
what I meant to do yesterday
when I could have gone out.

Sometimes, it is best to let things lay
and just tell yourself,

“Not today.”

FLOW

My Sparkly Pink Obsession

| Flower Roberts

It has been going on for weeks now. I have been calling it the ‘Pink Sparkle Emergency.’ I have been searching for all things pink. Pink was Mama’s favorite color. I thought it was just a habit, this looking for pink in January. Her birthday is in January.

I found a pink heart dish for her gift. I got out a pink candle holder I made years ago. I will light the pink candle on her birthday. I thought the obsession would stop.

Ready for Mama’s birthday

It got worse. I needed a pink shirt and pink snowflake jewelry. Shirts came. Wrong pink. The jewelry did not sparkle enough. I shopped until my new hips hurt looking for the right sparkle and the right pink.

Finally, I have the right pink. The right pink? What does that even mean?

The right pink?

I was hoping the emergency was over. I hoped I could finally relax.

Last night I had a pink sparkle dream. There was a little pink sparkle dress. Maybe it’s from too much Wicked watching and Golden Globe viewing?

When I woke up this morning, I saw it in my mind. The perfect pink, the perfect sparkle.

Mama’s perfect pink sparkle dress

It was my mama’s evening gown. I called home and made Mr. Flower take photos. Just to be sure it was safe.

I have not been searching for the perfect sparkly pink. I have been searching for my mama.

Tomorrow is her first birthday after her leaving us. Grief does strange things.

FLOW

Accommodating Fear Again

| Flower Roberts

I write about FEAR because it has been and will continue to be a part of my life. My family and I have experienced an inordinate amount of uncertainty and emergencies. The fear is always here, but we do not cower and stop because of it. We do not give it power.

Our family members have learned to pack fear in a bag with the needed supplies and get on with our lives. If you have read our book or blog, Seizure Mama and Rose, you know exactly what I mean. Fear is the uninvited guest at each event and the elephant in every room.

I have my own new fears now that I am being brave with my two new hips. The presence of fear requires the presence of bravery. My new fear is that old-lady worry of “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” Only my version does not occur in my kitchen. I fear falling on a mountain trail by myself. Please do not bother to”muther me” by telling me not to go. Keep your fear for someone who needs it, I have plenty.

I have been using a trekking pole at Evergreen Island. The trail is flat and open. I love walking there, but I need more nature than that.

I have a new gadget to try on the trails. I will share how it performs in the coming weeks. I was lying in bed inventing this and decided to google search.for a walking stick with a seat. Someone beat me to this invention. I love that its name is ‘Ta-Da’ because that’s what I yell when I do hard things or fall down and get up.

TA-DA hanging on its handy hanger.

So this is my new weapon against fear of falling in the forest. I can use the seat to sit on when my hips hurt, also. This accomodation lets me continue to do what I love by removing the fear barrier. Sometimes it is better to accommodate fear than fight it.

Sit with handle forward. No leaning. Very sturdy.

FLOW

Lovin’ a Lichen

| Flower Roberts

I have always had a fondness for fungi. Lichens are a mix of fungi and algae that  grow on rocks and trees.

My favorite forms of these little hybrid beings are the fruticose kind. These are shrubby and sometimes pendulent.

Fruticose lichen


This beauty was on a fallen stick beside a trail I hiked this afternoon.

Flat foliose form on the right of fruticose.

I love how its growth cascades off the former branch it was growing on.

May be Usnea strigosa lichen?  You tell me.

Lovely color and form!
I am lovin’ this little lichen!

FLOW

Thinking Pink

| Flower Roberts

My mama’s birthday is next week. She would have been 94 years old. Her favorite color was pink, so I am in the habit of looking for pink gifts in January.

Pink shimmer snowflake.

I was stopped in my tracks by this lovely pink snowflake in front of a shop named The Funky Tulip. 

Charming

It is a great day for swinging in a pink swing. It is almost 60° on the mountain!

Lured to the window by sparkling pink.

I was drawn closer by the display pink decorations in the window.

Of course I had no choice but to pop inside. Pink and sparkle together gets my undivided attention.

Sweet box

I found more pink furniture and items inside.

Pink!!!

If you love pink, this is your kind of place. There were other colors too but I ignored them.

Dreamy dress. If I were thin!


I will keep thinking pink this month as I remember my mama.

Flower