Saturday, May 22, 2010

I Love Geraniums



This print hangs in my kitchen. Its my summer print. The frame holds 4 different prints and when the mood hits I bring forward the one for the season. This one usually makes its way to the glass if I have gone and gotten a few flowers for the front steps, which I did. Gives a quick change to my indoor surroundings.
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Two days ago we went to the nursery for a few plants, very few to make it simple enough to take care of them. Luscious, healthy plants bloomed in abundance, it was a site to behold. It is always a decision to be made as to what to get for my outdoor pots. As we walked through there was a cart being pulled by a woman which was filled with a few different type of flowers including about 4 each of red and white geraniums. It struck me how pretty they (the geraniums) were. I have always bought red when I did get geraniums but the white were just striking.
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Wandering around through the plants and flowers, peeking in the hothouses (I think there are about 8 of them) at more plants and flowers, so many flowers, so many plants. And then there it was, the last hothouse. It was a sea of red and white geraniums for at least the first half of the structure. It was magnificent. It was alive with color. There was no question.
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Care time is a consideration so my planting/potting is extremely small. Just enough to add a splash of color, enough to marvel at nature. With only 4 geraniums, 2 red and 2 white ... they are big plants, one fills a large pot ... two ornamental grass type plants and 4 coleus, oh I can't forget the 20 tomato plants, we went home.
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The house I lived in during high school had a white brick planter lining the sidewalk that led to our front door. Each spring/summer this planter held red geraniums. I remember seeing my mother plant these and thinking they were maybe an ok flower, nothing special. I actually didn't care too much for them, but I wasn't the plant person of the house and what does a teenage girl know about that stuff any way. A mere passing thought. Oddly though, one that lives on in a memory as I often can picture the moment I am talking about and clearly see the contrast of the white brick and the red geraniums. I'm sure that if I could plant that today I would see it as something all together different, something most beautiful. I now love geraniums.
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The spring of my 16th year found me in the hospital. Nine days I was there, having had emergency surgery on the third day of my stay. Initally, on that third morning, I was preparing to go home as the nurses had told me that after the doctor had been in I would be released. A story I will not go into now, but when the doctor arrived he took one look at me, spoke little to me and the next thing I knew I was being prepared for surgery. To this day 43 years later I have no idea what prompted the decision he made, however, his actions are the reason I am sitting here typing this today.
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Now where does this fit in with the later in life love for geraniums? I was released from the hospital on Memorial Day 1967. The hospital had a front porch which spanned the entire front of the hospital with huge white columns supporting it. Rocking chairs were scattered along it, still today you can find chairs and rocking chairs across the porch. But today there are not planters along the railing. Then there were and they were white and they held red geraniums. I remember stepping out on the porch and so very happy to be going home. And then I was just struct. The past nine days had seemed like a very, very long time, like a lifetime had passed. Stepping out into the air I was so conscious of being alive, of the fresh air, of my surroundings. I could hear the music in the distance of a marching band in a Memorial Day parade. And then the colors ... the geraniums were a red like I have never seen before or since, the grass also. I love the colors of nature, but never since have I ever seen anything so vivid as that red and green that day. It brought tears to my eyes. There really are not words to express what I saw, but in me it lives and always will.
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Over the years my fondness of geraniums has grown and as I got older they now remind me of that day when I went home. Having arrived home I walked around the back yard for a few minutes taking in that which was around me. The blue sky without a cloud, it was a picture perfect day from every angle. I was in awe. I was in awe with life itself. With certainty, I knew, God had walked with me and always would.
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I often think that heaven itself is the only place that could have colors that intense and that I was given a peek.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day



This pin was my mother's. Its now over 50 years old. Not worth anything, at least in monetary terms, but it does hold a treasure of memories. She wore it every Mother's Day for 45 years or more.

I gave it to her when I was maybe 9 or 10 years old, or possibly a bit younger. I know I was young enough as I blurted out to my mother on the way home that I had gotten a pin, unable to hold in my excitement. I didn't say what kind of pin, just a pin. Once home it would be wrapped and tucked away to be presented on Mother's Day.

I remember going shopping in a store called Fishman's with a few dollars in my pocket to shop for Mother's Day. It was like a 5 and 10 across the street from Woolworth's. I can still remember standing at the counter on the main floor of the store, the woman who worked there helping me. Does anyone remember Woolworth's? Fishman's and Woolworths, they were fun stores, homey. I miss them.

I thought this pin was the cat's meow! I guess Mom did too. She wore it for the last time 6 years ago at the age of 83. Its been with me since.

It will be passed on, certainly not because of any dollar value, but because it represents life, mine and hers.


Happy Mother's Day mom
with love