Uncategorized

The Cat on the Hill

| Flower Roberts

The birds told me it was around. They did not like its quiet presence. It was hunched up at the top of the bank where there seems to be a little path for small animals. It was watching and waiting. At first I thought it was a big, dirty rock of white quartz.

The next day it was back near the same spot, sunning and preening. I was out pacing in the cold. I thought about how relaxed it seemed, not ferocious and wild. Maybe it is a wandering visitor instead of a feral intruder. How does one tell?

This morning I started out my front door to look for it. It slithered away from the warm wall of the carport and disappeared into the woods up the hill. I hope it is not here to eat my chipmunk friends.

No, I will not be feeding nor adopting the cat on the hill. I have my rules about wild things. I have other rules for feral things.

I will only be watching the cat on the hill.

FLOW

Looking For Lucky Buddha

| Flower Roberts

I had a new idea for my bottle tree.

The bottles would all be green for the holidays, like a glass Christmas tree.

The bottles would be little Buddhas, upside down.

It would be lighted to brighten the night.

I came up short on the number of Lucky Buddha bottles. The tree was incomplete.

We searched for six-packs of Lucky Buddha in every store we visited.

I guess they were stuck on a ship in the Pacific, in one of those shipping containers.

I have been searching for other lost things since Christmas…lost ornaments and a special Wendell-August dish with snowflake designs.

As I searched, I discovered a heavy bag of glass bottles. Yes, they were Lucky Buddhas.

Lucky Buddha Tree

The tree is finally completed for 2022. We need all the luck we can get.

HAPPY 2022. Be gone 2021.

FLOW

Flower Flotation

| Flower Roberts

It is hard to put a value on my winter flowers. They are not expensive nor exotic. They are, however, treasures to me. I have to work to make it through winter. I must be part plant.

Poinsettia gift from three years ago. No dark treatments needed.

I need the sun. I am an outside dog. I must be under the sky, not under a roof. This winter has been kind so far, but cold will come. Then I will be inside trying to stay alive until spring.

Schlumbergera still blooming since early November.

My flowers keep me afloat. They brighten my rooms with their blooms. My colorful, little life rafts hold me up. The Schlumbergeras and amaryllis/hippeastrum save me until spring. For this I am grateful.

Amaryllis Santiago from Easy to Grow Bulbs

FLOW

White Christmas Blooms

| Flower Roberts

Flowers in December are so appreciated.

I have enjoyed a sunny afternoon under a quarter moon.

Wandering beneath the Mistle Toe.

Relishing the first bloom on ‘White by the Gate.’

Bending down to see the faces of the Paper White Narcissus thrown out years ago.

We may not have much snow in the south, but I love blooms in December.

FLOW

Peace from a Tree

| Flower Roberts

My answers usually come from nature. People puzzle me. Nature nurtures me.

Last week the angst level was high with no peace in sight. I was afraid. My path was uncertain.

While the sane folks were cleaning out the lonely house, the crazy person took to the woods.

My camera leads me places I do not go ordinarily. That’s its magic.

I was wandering around with no purpose really. Taking photos of various finds.

The sane people came to check on me. We were together when we discovered the tree.

We three had not been in the woods together at the farm for decades.

There we were; the son, the daughter and me, standing around a big, old beech tree.

Looking at the initials of our four children. JA, AA, LB and AB.

They had been carved long ago by their grandfather. The one who left us.

My peace came from that tree. The angst drained out with my tears.

I have made peace with what was, what is and what will be.

All because of a tree and our Pawpaw thinking of our children as he wandered around in his woods years ago.

FLOW

Apples to AppleJack

| Flower Roberts

Mr. Flower and I decided to take a trip up the mountains to buy apples this afternoon.

We traveled on one of Mr. Flower’s favorite curvy roads, Brushy Mountain Road.

We spotted a new sign along the way. It was for an apple distillery, Holman Distillery.

We pulled off the road and down a gravel drive to find a large barn-like building.

The establishment was run by a UNC graduate with a chemistry degree.

It would have been inexcusable to just leave after my taking a few photos.

We were obliged by Tarheel decorum to stay for a tasting.

It would have been rude to take up the man’s time without buying anything.

I should have taken notes on how he made his delicious grenadine. The secret was orange peels.

We did eventually make it up the mountain to get apples.

I love to find folks who follow their dreams, don’t you?

https://www.holmandistillery.com/

FLOW

By the Light of the Moon

| Flower Roberts

I was fortunate to return to the little town of Belmont for the last night of ‘Moonlight on Main.’

The entire park had been transformed by white and blue lights with the moon glowing in the background.

There was a stage set up for performances of various songs under the heading ‘Music of the Night.’

Folks were busy enjoying the twinkling park and glowing moon.

Families started to gather on the hill above the stage in anticipation of the performance.

It was a magical scene, lit by the light of the moon.

FLOW in the GLOW