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

Bringing the Garden Inside

| Flower Roberts

I can’t just leave my green babies outside to freeze!

So they come in every November.

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Every fall I chant “Honey, I need a greenhouse.”

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Mr. Flower’s response is, “Deary, you need fewer plants.”

What is a “plant mama” to do?

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Every eastern or southern facing window has plants in it.

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My workshop is a jungle.

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My foyer is full.

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I am not complaining, mind you.

Why else would there be a pink Hoya hanging among laundry?

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My world is small, but it’s very green!

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Flower

 

 

2 Old 4 Vegas

| Flower Roberts

I hate to admit this about myself, but Las Vegas was 2 much 4 me.

As we drove south from lovely Utah, I examined my hands and nails.

This will never do in the party city! Dry skin, short nails with no polish.

Then I looked in the mirror. Wind-burned face, chapped lips and wind-blown hair.

Spa emergency? In my dreams! No time for such indulgences.

The “country mouse” was about to enter the big city looking disheveled and dirty.

Would I stick out like a sore thumb? Hiking boots among the spiked heels? Wool within a sea of sequins?

Within minutes of entering Treasure Island, I no longer cared how I looked.

There was a parade going on. I was an insignificant bystander.

We merged into the fast-moving flow of folks moving forward.

No one looks where they are walking. No wonder. There is too much else to see.

All eyes are on the bright lights, the flowing fountains and flashy folks.

Even the ceilings are decorated.

I had to swing to the margins of the herd to take pictures.

We had a short list of places to visit before our Cirque du Soleil show started.

The up escalators were strategically turned off, so we had to take the stairs.

First was the fountain show and Conservatory at the Bellagio. Music and dancing water are magically choreographed.

Next we strolled through the Venetian under the perpetually sunny skies.

Dodging people, crossing streets, horns blowing, engines revving.

Mr. Flower and I were happy to board our plane and skedaddle back to North Carolina.

Flow is 2 old 2 party. My fast and flashy days are over. (If I ever had any?)

Give me my garden!

Slower Flower