Uncategorized

Bunny Mommy

| Flower Roberts

If you think it’s difficult to get a Christmas photo with children in it,

you need to try it with bunnies.

img_8117

Barley took to the hat without complaint.

img_8115

He also likes to be held, so this part of the photo-shoot went easily.

img_8114

Then there was Charlotte.

img_8118

The first photos had to be redone, because I left the photo card in the computer.

The repeat performance was even more lively than the first.

img_8121

She bit her hat and then climbed me like a tree.

img_8124

No blood was shed, so I consider this a success.

These two are such fun.

They are a lot of work, but worth every bit, or should I say bite?

img_8111

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

FLOWER/Bunny Mommy

Preventing Dormancy

| Flower Roberts

Winter is here in North Carolina.  It’s hard for the plant people.

Outside is all browns and grays and cold.

To keep from going dormant myself, I have indoor gardens in pots.

img_6025

I keep myself surrounded by green.

img_6032

I coo and ooh over every new sprout or leaf.

img_6031

Here are my upstairs gardens.

img_6028

The downstairs gardens may be shared later, after a major clean-up.

For now, I keep myself alive by turning and tending these potted plants.

img_6034

They reward me by continuing to grow, while everything outside is dormant.

img_6027

FLOWER

My Brain and Pain

| Flower Roberts

I am hobbling around again.  Do not pity me. I have good insurance and a great doctor.

This is temporary.   It will be fixed.

In the meantime, I chose to learn the lessons taught by experience.

I am noticing others hobbling and limping.  I whisper a prayer for their healing.

I have been here before. I know the tole chronic pain takes on your mind.

It is like being punished for moving.  I am a mover. This is frustrating.

My right knee gave out on another trip years ago. This time it was a tour of the Biltmore House with the eighth grade. Thousands of painful steps. Up, down all around. No sitting down.

I digress. This is what happens when there is always pain.

It reminds me of a Vonnegut story from Welcome to the Monkey House, Harrison Bergeron.

In the short story everyone is made equal by handicaps. The physically strong must wear weights, the beautiful wear masks and the smart people have noises blasting in their ears to disrupt their train of thought.

This is where pain comes in. I am only taking OTC medications, so I know it is the pain that is chopping up my thoughts into fragments.

For me this will end soon with an injection or a surgery. I just pray that all those other folks with canes and crutches can get some help.

The problem is in my knee, but it doesn’t stop there.

FLOWER

 

Deep and Wide

| Flower Roberts

Your Dahlias have died.   Dig deep and wide.

img_5883

I use my shovel we call Bubba for jobs like this.  Overzealous use of Bubba several years ago caused my plantar fasciitis.

img_5942

Dahlia tubers should not freeze.  NC people, low temperatures are headed this way.

This means it is time for your second phase of digging.

All your “BEFORE FROST” plants should be stored away by now.

Now is time to bring in your desiccated and dead looking  “AFTER FROST” plants.

img_5890

This group includes dahlias and Elephant ears. I bring in some “stock plants” of my different types,  since I have too many to bring them all in.

I put a thick layer of mulch over the ones left outside.

ALWAYS keep the names of the tubers, bulbs or corms WITH the plant.

This year I punched holes in the plant markers and tied them to the tubers.

One year I wrote the names on the outside of the paper bags they were in. The bags rotted along with the names.

img_5888

Dig up tubers.   Cut back the stems.   Clean off excess soil.   I use a chopstick or skewer.

img_5940

 

Put the tuber clusters in dry peat.

img_5941

Plant again in the late spring.

img_6254

FLOWER

 

The Wind Did It

| Flower Roberts

Clouds moved in and caused darkness

img_5922

Rain fell from the clouds

Trees swayed and twitched.

Leaves tumbled down and danced around

img_5928

The water ruffled into one- way waves

img_5927

Everything was moved

The wind did it all.  I know ’cause I saw.

img_5924

FLOW

 

 

 

 

Beauty By the Pot

| Flower Roberts

I misplace things.

img_5877
Bright pink

Especially plant tags. (‘Using Chopsticks’ post)

img_5875
White white

So here are my Schlumbergeras, by the pot.

img_5874
Red red

After they finish blooming.

img_5869
White blush mix

I will refer to these photos to take the requested cuttings of the different colors.

img_5868
Fuchsia

Without surprising anyone a year later.

img_5867
Peach

No one complains, of course.

img_5866
Gold blush

Notice they are all on the same tray for size comparison. Also, I put a colored dot on the pot with a Sharpie.  This helps for a while, until the dots fade.

img_5870
Pink red

I make up names for color variations. White white has white buds and white blooms. White blush has white buds and blushing blooms, etc..

Happy Thanksgiving

FLOWER

 

 

 

 

 

Barren to Bountiful

| Flower Roberts

There is a spot where nothing grows.

The soil is hard. The shade is deep. The slope is steep.

But we can fix that.

It’s a lovely spot on the hill, over-looking the water, under the fig tree.

Mr. Flower and I are working on it.

We have loaded in soil by the wagon loads and Bunny-fertilizer by the buckets full.

Now that the leaves are falling, they are being added into the mix.

There are plants that need that spot you see.

They are in the wrong place, they are crowded, not enough this or that

They cannot grow nor bloom where they are.

They need transportation and relocation.

So they can thrive instead of just survive.

That’s what we gardeners do. We give plants a chance to be their best.

We can’t grow and bloom for them.

But we can give them a place to do it and the right resources to help.

You wait until next spring. This spot will go from barren to bountiful.

It’s a beautiful feeling, this win-win.  We all grow.

img_5746

FLOW

The Write Words

| Flower Roberts

Talking is easier than writing. You can supplement your words with gestures.

You can nuance them with volume and inflection.

Blogging is easy, too, because you can illustrate with photographs.

But real writing requires the right words.

Only the black ink on a white page.

These words must be the right words.  The naked truth.  No slant.  No spin.

These words must be a light piercing through someone’s darkness.

A mother’s darkness.

I started a book as a journal for me.  Tears and fears were hidden from view, veiled with smiles.

There were things I could not say, or would not say and should not say.  I wrote them down instead.

Then the book morphed into a memoir for my child.  She needed to know this story someday, when she was ready.

Now, it is for another mother.  Somewhere out there feeling afraid, alone, cursed and damned

She needs to know that these moments of terror will end.

A breath will be taken by them both.

They will get up like it is the first morning of the first day, again.

With every fall, there will be a rising.

I must let her know this.

She needs my black and white hugs, pats, smiles, tears, hope, faith, strength and even laughs.

I need the write words.

Mama Flower