If these are indeed the (premature) dog days of Open Salon I wanted to put up something a little more uplifting than my last story.
Yesterday was Solstice, the height of the growing season when Mother Nature gives us that great angle of light and that intense blast of heat. Last night we went down to the beach for the annual drumming ceremony which I wrote about last year. The sun set a second earlier tonight and we are already tipping the balance of light and dark.
Today I just wanted to retreat into air conditioned comfort and write but the planets were not aligned for that. Instead I'm up late breaking my new habit of getting an early night to share a few thoughts with you.
We had a dinner invite at an older friend's house tonight. He is a kind soul; a Quaker. Before leaving, he suggested we sit in his backyard to watch the Evening Primose unfold before our eyes. I'd never seen it occur before. It was pretty spectacular to watch the flowers open in real time although it seemed like time lapsed photography. The bloom expires within a day. Again a reminder of small miracles around us and how fleeting life is.
When I came home these thoughts brought me to my Rose of Sharon bush. I know it's truly summer when it begins to bloom.
It was planted seven years ago this week, shortly after my mother died, in memory of her. Woman that she was, she rallied round despite her illness for a Sunday gathering to celebrate her birthday. The next morning I got the surprise phone call to come to her side for the last time.
It's a spiritual moment when these buds unfold, especially this year. I've missed my mother intensely for a reason I cannot explain; I ask myself why now of all times? Perhaps it's because I distinctly remember her being the age I am now. When I was 10 she was 50 and she loomed a large presence in my life. What I'd give to sit and talk with her about so many things that I've finally come to understand.
Mum, this bud's for you.
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anais Nin
Other flowers have held my attention lately as well. This rose was so fragrant the day I took the photo I just stood and breathed in the scent.
Irises are my favourite flower of all. Though I hated to tug these purple beauties from the earth, I did so to save them from the rain we had last month. So fleeting is their short life, I knew the pelting rain would leave them soggy like fallen soldiers in the garden so I brought them inside.
(The photos are sadly out of focus here but you get a sense of their size and magnificence.)
Moving from flowers to birds, I've made friends with a swan and signet again this year. I'm convinced they know my voice. They glide over so elegantly while I chat them up.
So, if this is indeed the swan song of Open Salon, I wanted to leave something lovely here in this space.
If it's not the end, excuse all my sweetness and we can resort to our regularly scheduled spam programming. (That's my dry humour for you).
Have a great summer.
Cheers.
Words and Photos: © Scarlett Sumac
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Comments
Rated For Buds (Puff, Puff, Pass)
I'm going to rate this for all the wonderful, metaphorical, segwayical, writerly thingies you did.
Like the pics too!
P.S. Are you on Facebook? If so, do you know if that Open Salon page that Linda started is still up?
Rated.
Flowers can open during the time it takes me to draw them. It's like chasing a life. While I will miss OS, it's okay. Say thank you and turn to face the next adventure.
P.S. What you said about your mother. Ditto.
Beautiful post.
and a little time of sweetness here at OS, if we-all (or most of us) can manage, because our little scene could disappear any second.
(Plan to comment later involving what might have been per usual...)
Really enjoy your blog, SS.
Thank you for this beautiful place to stop for a while...~r
Steady hand with the camera on the primrose movie. Fantastic. Never seen that miracle before personally.
And want to say sorry about your recent pain over your mom, but think maybe it's better than not having it. Means she's still with you, in a sort of way. Maybe. As if I know. You honor her memory though and that's a good thing.
Love your buds too. Really nice SS
I remember You always.
I just wrote ref Racoon.
`
Your Jack is lucky duck.
Buds. No Bud Light? No.
No smoke Bud. Beauty.
`
Buds unfurl into ether.
No chew the red salami.
No sit in any red ketchup.
`
I best run errands today.
We need greenhouse stuff.
Motors burn up like cones.
huh
I read in Greece cone Pop!
It's can reach 110 degrees!
That's too hot for thieves!
`
Later . . .
Looks like a funny Place.
Take care. Beware. Ah!
Light scares Dark Away.
Thanks for Bud `Beauty.
littliewillie etcetera. ruff.
Comments no be deleted.
People have expressions.
I ask dog ref theft? Rough.
Sow crime. Reap wraths.
Nature/Good and Cares.
--r--
I know you are a British subject up there, in Canada, so you must
enjoy a good Churchill quote that is apropos :
"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, ... we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air,
we shall defend our Island,
whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds..."
................
A thing we have in common: moms 40 yrs older than us.
Mom was 77, i was 37
the last day of summer 2006, when she slipped off
without a fuss at 3 am.
She loved morning glories, best, and they too bloom
for but a day. She loved all manner of flowers.
I went on what is known in family lore
as the Summer of Manic Gardening
in 2004, and among other lovely
perennials i planted
in Eleanor's garden,
which i decided needed a bit of new stuff that year
(she too feeble to weed, anymore, with that ancient trowel)
was a rose of sharon.
It became rather a colorful cacophony, by the time i was done
and then...next year it came back..and year after that?
it became someone else's...for Mother was gone...
i miss my garden.
"you mean MY garden, don't you, young man?" i can hear mom say.
"yes, well, technically, " i might say.
"oh, it is always mother's garden, james"
she kinda liked what i did with it . i hope......
Thanks, Safe _Bet's Amy: I have myself a rarely tended to account. I'm not sure about the other.
Scylla: You are a solid presence here.
green: Over the years, it's gone in phases, this spring and summer there has been a huge hole which course no one but her could fill but as you know nature abhors a vacuum. I'll see what/who comes my way. I'd love to see some of your flower drawings.
John: It's true, ... no why necessary. Thank You. I never heard that one before.
Con: The pair around here seem pretty tight. So do the Mom and baby. They're sooooo beautiful.
JP HART: I should be getting ready to go myself but I'm taking the time this morning. Thanks for being here.
rita: I'm not surprised, I was thinking of you a few times while writing this. The mother energy must be flowing this way ... it's hard to reduce a long well-lived life into cardboard boxes. Treat her extra gently (I know you are).
Myriad: Yes, I guess the title has that connotation. A little ironic (?) hook thrown in there to throw people off. Maybe we'll see you up that way in July ...
Chick Maan: They open at dusk. Sit and watch them open. No mind altering artificial stimulation needed ...
Joan: Love that quote too. I wrote this in the OS box provided; the writing is only so-so, the flowers are exquisite. Thanks for sharing in this, my friend.
Yes, tr ig: We've talked about this and the song remains the same. Re: My Mum, I agree, it's better than not having it. It's raw and it's life, better to feel it. Btw, it wasn't my hand on the camera. I got the video from youtube; all the others are mine though. You, there, with the fantastic Solstice flower!
Abra: Plan B for me will be wordpress, though it doesn't have the interaction of OS. It's too bad this place wasn't nurtured all along both from within and without. Geez, I sound like George Harrison this morning. I see you've put something up. I'm coming over as soon as I'm done typing ...
Art: Holy Lupines and Porcupines! Yes, light scares away dark. We're going East end of next month. I can smell the salt air already!
how beyond lovely ...
you ...
and all of this ...
James: Aww, you called me Queen Scarlett which rhymes with Queen Charlotte. We have a set of islands (formerly) called Queen Charlotte on the West Coast. They were really the Haida Gwaii named for the natives but you know those imperialistic Brits with their gold carriages, laying claim, and such. I love that you planted that Manic Garden beautifying the world for your own Queen Eleanor. I can hear her in your snippet of conversation at the end of your comment breathing life ... (not so) technically speaking.
Anyway, lovely post, SS. Irises were my mother's favourite flower. The year she died, we had white ones in the garden for the first time ever. Still do. As for the rose of Sharon, we have half a dozen scattered about the property. They are amazing.
as some say, it sure needs a queen, and
not one of those teeny tiny ones
you brits enjoy.
a robust woman.
a woman of the flowers, the earth, and words.
we need our queens to talk.
talk and tell us all the stuff we are missing, on our hectic missions.
heat apocalypse abating here in the elite north east of
the greatest country on earth.
blah. the usa. about to mormonize y'all!
ugh. i want to defect. but...the question is..where to?
is that moon colony up & thriving yet?
Drema
The swans were perfect
HUGGGGGGGGGG
These are very nice. Iris are one of my favorites and I have been outside the last couple of days trying to capture photos of our day lilys which have a quick and fleeting beauty.
We can hope the site remains for people to share these things.
so we can speak of dying flowers.
i am reminded of that rolling stones tune.
dead flowers...
"ake me down little Susie, take me down
I know you think you're the Queen of the Underground
And you can send me dead flowers every morning
Send me dead flower by the mail
Send me dead flowers to my wedding
And I won't forget to put roses on your grave "
our grave. when os.
goes.
under..?
R
Thank you, Scarlett. Your grace is extraordinary.
R♥
Cheers to many more times together here and/or anywhere else we all find to write together : )
"Mum, this bud's for you. ''
Beautiful words, you just made me a new wish...
Rated.
Thanks for the share.
It's been three weeks since I blogged and having dealt with the frustration of trying to get on this site a number of times, I gave up. Much to my chagrin, a few times, when I knew there were good things to read.
I want to say I by no means have any idea if OS is folding and certainly I am never, ever, interested in unnecessary drama. From personal observation this place has been hurting for a long, long time with no apparent remedy at hand. Who knows maybe some Branson-type entrepreneur will see some good here but I wouldn't put that in my pipe and smoke it either.
Wanted to leave something positive and flowers and swans, well, they're my idea of purdy.
Hope everyone basks in the energy of summer and if it gets really hot, may a nice cool breeze blow your way.
Thanks for the lovely flowers and swans. Love and joy to you.
We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when . . . . . . (Hopefully a little less disastrously than when Kubrick used that song!)
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