Schlumbergera Sampler

| Flower Roberts

My Schlumbergera collection is blooming a little late this season.

I have various colors.  I will always love the red for Christmas time.

My three favorites are white, gold and salmon.

Both the gold and white blushed pink this year.

I went out of town for Thanksgiving, so I think the temperature dropped in my home.

I have read that getting cooler than 57 degrees Fahrenheit causes an increase in pink and red pigments.

I may experiment with a gold and a white next year to see if this is true.

Many more buds are forming in my workshop. I should have blooms through the New Year.

I so appreciate flowers this time of year.  It’s another dreary, rainy day here.  Bright flowers help my mood.

Hooray Schlumbergera truncata!

Flow

 

Bunnies Back Inside

| Flower Roberts

Well that didn’t last long,  twenty-four hours tops.

When we arrived home yesterday evening, Barley and Charlotte were at the French doors looking in.

I cracked open the door and Barley wedged his fat little fur-ball self through.

Why such weak resolve Flower you ask?

I would rather WORK than WORRY.

I was awake several times during the night wondering how much the temperature had dropped.

Then I heard noises outside and wondered if it was some predator breaking into the pen.

About dawn,  when I was awakened by Mr. Bluebird pecking at the window,

He’s BACK : ‘To Kill a Bluebird’ may be a future post title

I had the thought that if Barley’s bottom was all ready wet he would get chilled and then $ickne$$ would follow…

So they are inside where it is warm and dry.

Anybody want to assist in a Bunny Brazilian over the holidays?

A FOOL and her bunnies are not parted.

FLOW

 

 

When is a Leaf not a Leaf?

| Flower Roberts

There really are many answers to this in the world of botany.

In this case I am referring to the puzzling plant, Epiphyllum oxypetalum.

This leggy plant sprawls as it grows. It is in a heavy pot for balance not for root room.

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Mine has not bloomed yet, but I am enjoying its peculiar habit of growth.

When is a leaf NOT a leaf?  When it’s a stem.

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The orchid cactus has flattened stems that look like leaves with thick veins.

When new leaves pop out from the ends of these veins,

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you realize that the leaf was a stem.

Epiphytes that live in trees have different rules than ground plants.

A stem has to serve as a leaf and a stem.

Another lesson in life from a plant.

Thanks nature.

Flow

The Rainbow Cloud

| Flower Roberts

I watched with amazement as this rainbow cloud formed and evolved.IMG_0780

Rainbow clouds are formed when light passes through a new cloud which has tiny water droplets or ice crystals of approximately equal size.

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This phenomenon is called cloud iridescence or irisation.

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The light that passes through is spread out into the different wavelengths.

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As this cloud spread out, the colors spread out.

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It was an amazing thing to witness.

Flow

Bunny Trouble

| Flower Roberts

It is not easy being a bunny mommy.  If they weren’t cute they would be of no use.

It’s Barley’s bottom again.

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Or is it his bladder?

He pees where ever he pleases.

If he is inside, that usually means on the floor, not in one of the litter boxes.

This morning I discovered it also means in the bunny bed.

This had to be washed an hung out to dry.

Don’t get me started on the vet bills and expensive electric razor for his monthly Brazilian…

I think Flower has finally decided that the bunnies must reside OUTSIDE

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in that pen that I spent months constructing to keep them safe from

raccoons and coyotes.

Who is going to protect me from my own stupidity?

That’s what I want to know.

FLOW = FOOL

Why Boughs Break

| Flower Roberts

It seems like this answer would be simple, but it is not.

It is not death that brings them down, its all the new life they create as they die.

While they are old and weakened other things move in.

Insects bore holes through the bark.

Birds peck at the holes to get the insects.

Water gets into the bark and fungi follows.

Now water hides in all those nooks and crannies.

Lichens like this environment so they start settle in and grow.

Moss spores get blown on the breeze and light on this new little habitat.

More rain, more spores, more insects, more holes.

One day there is a wind or a heavy rain.

There is not enough old dead fiber left in the bough to support all that new life,

so it breaks.

Gravity brings the bough back to earth with all the new life on board.

Death is part of a continuum.

Not the end.

Flow

The Decorated Stick

| Flower Roberts

Sometimes I think nothing is going on around here

and then I look and realize I have been missing things.

My expensive stick ( Edgeworthia / Chinese Paper Bush) that turned into a lovely shrub over the summer has become a decorated stick.

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Its leaves have dropped to reveal silky white buds hanging down like holiday baubles.

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These glow in the morning sunshine.

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Things happen in the garden year-round in the south.

You just have to pay close attention to notice.

Flower

 

Start with a Parade

| Flower Roberts

My life has punctuation points.  Beginnings, pauses and endings.

I mark time with events.

One of my punctuation points is the Blowing Rock Christmas parade.

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Every Saturday after Thanksgiving I try to get there.

I start my Christmas season with a parade, not a shopping trip.

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I like how folks come together in the streets to celebrate the season.

The firemen start the procession.

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There are costumes and characters

dancers and drummers

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bands and ballerinas

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horses in hats

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and swinging bears.

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Both naughty and nice flow past.

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Santa comes at the end waving and pointing at children while smiling.

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That’s how I know the season has started.

Standing on a sidewalk with strangers.

There together waiting and watching and waving.

The parade makes me pause.

When the procession ends.  The pause is over.

We all break ranks and get back to our busy lives

with smiles on our faces.

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Happy Holidays

Flow

First Time in the Kitchen

| Flower Roberts

I was going to keep this short, but then that would not be the whole story.

The truth is we needed help.

My sister and I wanted to take my parents, a 92-year-old friend, and his daughters to Moses Cone Estate.

My parents had not been there in years due to mobility issues. They wanted to return with their friend.

My sister contacted Ranger Chuck to help make this happen.

We planned the date. The ranger arranged help for us to push the wheel chair back up the steep hill.

My parents and their friend watched both the wonderful films about the Cone family history.

Then there was a surprise. We got to go in the kitchen.

We had been coming here for over fifty years and never set eyes on this part of the mansion.

My woodworker daddy had to see how the drawers were made.

Ranger Chuck gave a talk about the family history and the house.

They even assisted in taking photographs of our whole crew.

I guess this post wasn’t really about the kitchen.

It was about kindness. It was about going above and beyond duty.

We were making memories with family and long-time friends.

It was the first time in the kitchen, but with all of us together again…

it felt like home.

FLOW