Tag: Flowers

In My Aunt’s Garden (Adam, Eve & A Snake)

by Ebb Then Flood

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So, in coronavirus lockdown, we had to drop off some essential groceries to my octogenarian aunt, who lives alone and is not supposed to leave her house.

Happily, it was a gorgeous afternoon, so the delivery took place in her rather marvelous garden.

In the sunshine, pleasantries were exchanged; social distancing was applied.

These flowers caught my eye as we chatted.

Two pretty flowers, and a snake-like Australian orchid of some type getting between them, recreate a very old biblical story where good things go badly wrong …

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P.S: To any Australian readers, I am not insinuating anything!

P.P.S: I’m so glad we don’t have any real snakes in New Zealand! They creep me out…

 

 

 

Magnolia Dream

by Ebb Then Flood

20200114_201852.jpg‘Magnolia Dream’

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The soft, creamy hues of the magnolia flower with its opulent scent – summer signifiers.

So grateful to have a large tree in our backyard, and I took and made this picture last night after some evening rain had fallen.

The distinctive aroma of the flower was magnified by the warm, moist air.

When the tree was planted by us 20 years ago, this image was the dream in my mind…

 

Gently, Gently

by Ebb Then Flood

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Flowers do not need to persuade you of their beauty.

They just sit there being their own damn sweet selves, and we are inspired.

We are taught to be assertive in order to persuade someone, commence or change something. Assertiveness is seen as a modern day virtue.

However, the individuals who have had the greatest effect on me were the gentle sort. Those who didn’t try to convince me of the right way to do something, or how I should be. They were good listeners as much as anything, and carried themselves by soft action.

Being gentle is hard(excuse the pun).

I have had to go through a bit of a re-wiring process this last year or two. Rough circumstances have knocked a few sharp edges off, but if the school of hard knocks is your only teacher, you just get worn down and eroded away at some point.

You can’t be gentle without first being easier and softer on yourself.

Berating yourself for every f**k up you make, or have made, does not make you better or treat others more kindly. The opposite in fact.

So, just go a bit easier on yourself, petal….you’re alright really.

 

Begin Again

by Ebb Then Flood

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Pohutukawa Flowers, December 2019

 

“Every beginning is a consequence – every beginning ends something”

– Paul Valery

So, new year, new decade.

We will celebrate the New Year, as humans are wont to do with anything new.

Some ponderings:

Sometimes we start something new, without realising it has drawn a line with the past.

And vice versa – we can be so obsessed with ending something, that we fail to grasp that we have moved into a new phase.

Also, sometimes there is an end without an apparent “new” thing. That’s alright. A time of transition, awkward as it can be, may be infinitely valuable and is in fact essential. Not that the world will necessarily understand if you find yourself in a place of apparent nothingness.

Remember, in nature there has to be a fallow time before verdant growth.

Anyway, Happy New Year, wherever you find yourself !

 

Harmony

by Ebb Then Flood

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I think we all want harmony – within things and between them ,as with this view of tropical flowers floating in water – and between people and within themselves. Peacefulness and inner beauty ,that sort of thing, you know?

But maybe it’s too much to ask. Some things cropped up today and I wonder why some people do not appear to want that at all. They seem to want to find fault, sow discord and generally wreck things that don’t need wrecking.

Inner disharmony is at root of this malaise. I know that state at times (we all do), but I try not to want it, and certainly not the destruction that follows.

Anyway, I have no real answers to that conundrum today, but in the meantime, have some beautiful blossoms as an aiming point!

 

 

 

Taking Time To Smell The Roses

by Ebb Then Flood

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My previous post The Presence Of Passion featured a single rose.

Here are a few more.

My then six year old daughter, in pinkish garb,takes in the fragrance of a neatly matching rose flower.

It was possibly the first time she had done so.

Freshness.

Discovery.

Mindfulness.

The saying “take time to smell the roses” is almost a cliche of mindfulness rhetoric.

But how often do we not do that exact thing? We know what they look and smell like. But we take them for granted, ignore them and so deprive ourselves of  sensory moments of joyful rediscovery.

There are thousands of such moments that pass us by because we are think we are too  busy ,or have simply become blase.

We have to make time for joy and newness in our lives,to discover and replenish.

For time is of the essence, just as rose petals are crushed to form the essence of perfume.

Which brings a telling song lyric to mind:

” If you don’t stop to smell the roses now

  They might end up on you “

( Husker Du , ‘These Important Years ‘)

 

 

 

 

Birds Of Paradise

by Ebb Then Flood

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Flora corner: Bird of Paradise (also called crane flower) plants seen on the weekend.

You either love or hate them, but they are striking and individualistic.

Mimicking a bird’s head with plumage or with petals like a bird in flight – take your pick – they make a statement of unique style that would be the envy of any fashionista.

Go with your own style I say – nobody totally inhabits it like you!

 

Hot Hibiscus

by Ebb Then Flood

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So, it’s Valentine’s Day today and it has been stinking hot ….I finish work and grab something cold to drink from the supermarket. Lady behind me in the queue ,a complete stranger, looks at the cans, and says “I thought you would be  buying flowers, other people seem to be”,or something to that effect. Say what? Ever the romantic, I reply that “it’s a commercial hoax” ,and go pay for my stuff. I don’t feel bad , but please have a summertime flower ,all you lovers , lovelorn and loveless, just in case no one gave you any.