Mother Nature – Page 5 – movingforwardslowly

Give Me a High Five, Please <..>

One goal I have for 2025 is to have more fun, laugh more, and not be afraid to be silly.

Casper the Friendly Ghost was my favorite cartoon as a kid growing up. To be honest, though, I have not followed his reincarnations in the entertainment industry.

If you happened to be named Casper (any spelling), and I were to meet you, I could not help but think about the friendly ghost cartoon I watched as a child. Past memories impact my thoughts and actions even today. I think a lot of us are that way. We have been molded by our life experiences. We have to consciously work at editing ourselves if our past notions are outdated.

My hopes for 2025 are that I continually update myself with information learned from new experiences, and yet not so much that I edit out any humor. We all need to laugh more and not take ourselves so seriously.

I wish health and happiness to all the good people in our world. Let us make 2025 a good year working together for the benefit of all.

From Year to Year

Which comes first? The chicken or the egg. Does it matter?

Soon 2024 will be left behind in an archive older than time itself.
The year becomes new again in 2025.
There is a beginning and an end to every new year.
The ever-moving hand of time turns the dial of this transformation.

Those of us who live within time's framework must follow along.
What would it take to escape this framework?
Could one enter into a melting pot of the past, present, and the future existing all at once? Could one move freely from one to the other, and to the other? Would you turn into a chameleon in the process?

Keeping track of the chicken and the egg would be nearly impossible.
Does it really matter who came first?

Side note: I was inspired after reading some Ogden Nash poems, and reading about Puff, the Magic Dragon. The year of the dragon is coming to an end soon.
The new year requires some introspection before it begins.

Woodpeckers and Junipers

A downy woodpecker in a juniper tree. This image is AI generated, however, its creation was inspired by a real sighting outside my dining room window this past Sunday.

The downy woodpecker is especially close to my heart since we have an artistic carving of a downy pair which we purchased long ago at an indoor craft’s fair. We also have real live downy woodpeckers that come around our home during this time of year. I saw only the male with a full vivid red patch on the back top of its head. It was a perfect specimen of a real bird in action. It hung around longer than I expected, though I was still too busy doing other things to take its picture.

The tree outside our window is a Juniperus virginiana (aka red cedar). It is tall enough to hug our home and protect one corner of our covered deck which would otherwise be exposed to wind. Junipers are in the cypress tree family along with sequoias. We also have three of these trees along our back fence line. They stand closely together which has made them grow straighter and taller, and they are less spread out than the one surrounding the corner of our dining room and deck. We have one more of these trees which had been partially cut down at one time, and now has a tall daughter tree that grew up and out from its base. It protects another corner of our home along the backside.

Since my recent woodpecker sighting I have been reading up about all types of evergreens that are used as Christmas trees, and all the traditions surrounding its origin. During my research I ran across a Willa Cather quote that I found captures a sentiment that I have felt before.

“I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do. I feel as if this tree knows everything I ever think of when I sit here.” ~ Willa Cather

Downy woodpecker pair is made out of carved wood and then painted. We purchased this long ago at an indoor craft exhibition.

The Beaver Moon

Tomorrow night 11/15/2024 will be the peak of the last super moon of 2024. (AI generated image)

The chill in the air today gave me hope that our winter will be memorable.

The beaver prepares for winter. It builds a dam and stores up food. Here it looks to be praying by the water, asking the moon for guidance. This month’s full moon is named in its honor.

This reminds me of the new Reservoir Park in Loudoun County, which is a partnership between Loudoun Water and NOVA Parks. It is situated on the southeast side of Beaverdam Reservoir. I have not yet had a chance to visit it this year. I will have to put this on my 2025 list of things to do if I do not get a chance before then to visit it.

My hope is that the sky will be clear of clouds tomorrow night. It is raining now and expected to continue through until morning. Shine bright Beaver Moon!

Sweet Olive Whispers

Sweet olive flower artistically designed as a drop earring. I imagine it can whisper.

Osmanthus fragrans is its scientific name.

This flowering plant is native to Asia from the Himalayas through several provinces in China, Taiwan, southern Japan, and S.E. Asia as far south as Cambodia and Thailand.

In China, it is the “city flower” of several cities, and in Japan it is a “city tree” of several prefectures.

In Chinese mythology it is said that it grows on the moon. Wu Gang was a Chinese character who is known for endlessly cutting it down. It is seen as a divine punishment for him because this “self-healing” Osmanthus could and would regrow an equal amount every day.

I was inspired to look up this flowering plant when I saw this pair of earrings today. All the information here I have gleaned from Wikipedia. The picture has been edited from a picture on the Etsy website. Wikipedia did not suggest this flower can whisper. This thought came from my imagination, and when I read about the mythology, it confirmed to me it must have magical powers. Ha!

I even looked to see if I could grow this fragrant flowering plant in my garden. I think it needs a slightly warmer garden zone than where I am located. In the future when I get the chance to seriously renovate my garden, I will explore this possibility again.

Apple Season

As we enter September, the relief of cooler weather will arrive. This morning the thought of apples came into my mind. Fall is full of festivals and apples in Virginia.

I stayed up late last night finishing the book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I picked it up Friday at a thrift store along with his book, The Girl Who Played with Fire. After finishing his first book, I will have to wait to read his second. The book is a thriller, and it took my mind into a horrible darkness that can reside within some humans. The dragon theme has now been fully played out. I am ready to move on.

Twenty twenty-five is the year of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac. Perhaps this thought brought apples into my mind.

“Virginia is for Lovers” is an advertising slogan that was created in 1969. It has greatly helped tourism in my state. Virginia has an abundance of apple festivals in September into October. Here is a link if you are interested: https://www.virginia.org/things-to-do/farms-and-agriculture/pick-your-own-farms/apple-picking/

Moving into the theme of apples, festivals, and love brings my mind into much lighter territory.

The apple is also a symbol for education. Out of curiosity, I asked the AI image generator for an apple cut into fifths. Here is its first attempt. I realized I needed to be more specific. I asked for one apple cut into equal fifths. Finally, I asked for the heart of an apple. The image above is the result. This is my favorite.

Pua Lehua

“The lehua is the first tree that springs up from a recent lava flow. It’s for that reason, when we speak in Hawaiian and we speak of people who are skilled, strong, and beloved, they’re often referred to as pua lehua, or lehua flowers. They like the lehua, have a kind of resilience, a strength and a grace about them.”

written by : Kalena Silva, University of Hawaii Hilo Professor of Hawaiian History

I have been on a part-time web quest of Hawaiian botanical plants this week. It all started when I read in the news that May 1st was Lei Day. This is a Hawaiian cultural event. I had heard of lei before, though I never knew they had their own day.

When I first looked up the word "lei" in my dictionary (to see if it had a plural form) I discovered the word "lehua".
Subsequently, I learned about the Ohi'a lehua tree (scientific name: Metrosideros polymorpha.) What struck me with resonance was the fact that it is a species of flowering evergreen tree in the Myrtle family (Myrtaceae).

This reminded me of the Myrtles in my own family. Since Mother's Day is coming up in the middle of this month, I decided to revisit and honor my mother and her mother, Myrtle, and a surrogate mother of sorts, Great Aunt Bess. In honor of Lei Day, I belatedly show them wearing their lei during their visit to my mother living in Hawaii at the time. (mid- 1950's)

My mother is in the middle, and to her right is her aunt Bess, and to her left is her mother, Myrtle. All of these were strong and resilient women. All three worked hard throughout their lives. They all had grace and gave generously of themselves. Bess taught me to read, using phonics, during the summer before I entered 1st grade. She never married, and was a school teacher her whole adult life until she retired. My mother taught me many things, and thanks to these 3 women I had no college loans to pay off. My grandmother, Myrtle, made many clothes for my sister and I. She made sure we had nice looking clothes to wear when we were children. In my mind, all three of these women should be called ‘pua lehua”.

April 2024 Garden Update

The cleavers, also known as sticky willy, was running wild with an invasive power, trying to smother everything in its path in and around the raised beds.

The dirt under my fingernails is evidence of my rescue efforts early this morning.
The Hostas and dwarf Nandina are safe for now.

A large trashcan is now full of goose grass, another common name for sticky willy. It has even more common names.

Its scientific name is Galium aparine, and it is an annual herbaceous plant.

It is claimed to have many medicinal purposes, and this was interesting to read. However, I have neither the time or inclination to learn and practice herbal medicine at this time.

My time schedule is currently full. I was lucky to squeeze in the time for early morning weeding.

When I was done weeding I spent a few minutes enjoying all the blooming azaleas in my garden. 
(I have posted a few of them.)

Then it began to rain.

Not all of the cleavers is gone. There is some left for the butterflies and moths to enjoy.
I will have to watch it so that it does not overrun its neighbors.

Kleefkruid (Galium aparine) (1596 – by Rijksmuseum is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Elemental Mercury Wings

Mercury Man Sam came into my mind early this morning on his liquid silver wings.
He has a charming gaze and his eyes are full of wit, though I never could tell
Whether he was mocking me or not.
As the day progressed my mind cleared itself of the memory of mercury wings.
I have decided he held no malice. He will always be remembered for his brilliance.

In other news, the white Christmas cactus in our front window is in full bloom this morning.
Its name is a misnomer because it will bloom whenever the conditions are right.

On the other side of this bay the white orchid has ten blooming flowers. The peach orchid has two.
The peach one put on its full show in March.

This white orchid has 10 flowers today. The peach one (not pictured) has 2.

Maple Helicopters

Every time I looked out my kitchen window today, 
the air was alive with flying helicopter seeds.
What maple tree was shedding these is unknown to me.
All maples produce these helicopter seeds,
 including the silvers and reds. 
They are also known as whirligigs and twisters,
and a few other fun nicknames.
Samara is an official name for them,and 
in Hebrew it means "guardian."

I prefer to find the dry ones that have landed on open ground.
This way I can have fun launching them into the air 
for a second or third flight.
 Maple seeds evolved to have wings in order to increase their chance of procreation.
They need to fly to get out from under their parent's shade.