Still life with Marigolds

Mixed media on canvas.

Flower of the Day challenge

A fellow blogger, Cee, offers us a challenge to take a photo of flowers every day. 

Here are mine for the day. I think they are daisies.

SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2016 WEEK 14

If you could hire someone to help you, would it be with cleaning, cooking, or yard work?

I have before hired guys to help in the garden as I am just not capable anymore. Nowadays though, I am not too capable with the housework either. So if I could hire a live in guy to do both gardening and housework it would be awesome. I enjoy cooking though, so it would be a trade-off. He cleans and gardens and I fill him with good food.

What makes you laugh the most?

Intelligent wit. The type you find on British comedies or aussie humour  like comedians Adam Hill or Graham Norton.

My latest dad joke: Why don’t Whales have balls? Because they can’t dance.

What was your favorite food when you were a child?

When I went to visit my grandfather, he would make a big pot of Sago pudding, just for me and him. Much to the disgust of my mother, we would not even use bowls but eat it straight from the pot. It was a special time that he and I shared. None of my other brothers liked it, just me, and he never failed to have some waiting when he knew we were going to arrive.

List at least five favorite flowers or plants.

Lagerstroemia Indica. Commonly called Crepe Myrtle

Wysteria grandiflora: your common Wisteria

Buddleia davidii: I think its sometimes called Butterfly bush

Tibouchina Alstonville: sometimes called Lasiandra

Brunsfelsia latifolia: yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Now I realise that all of these plants have purple flowers. How odd as I don’t necessarily like purple elsewhere.

Others I would include are Jacaranda (also purple), fuchsia, freesia, and frangipani. Some fuchsias and freesias are purple but frangipani is white, or yellow, or sometimes pink. I prefer the white.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I am grateful for my time spent at The Big Issue, last week, and this week I am looking forward to finishing a couple of essays I am working on.

 

Flora of North Sydney

Sawmillers reserve has a wonderful array of native plant-life. 

This lovely yellow inflorescence looks like an orchid, however, the size makes me doubt. The flowers and leaves are arranged as one would expect an orchid to be, but the inflorescence is easily the size of two adult hands. Stunning.

With my legs, this is as close to bushwalking that I get these days. Toward the end of the track, there was in fact an unsealed section, which, for a moment had me wanting to throw on a khaki safari suit, and take the water flask from my hip… not really though. It was nice to be amond the gums.

The photo does not do the berry, or the little blue flower justice, I’m afraid. The berry itself was a bright but deep blue, possibly Elaeocarpus reticulatus, while the flower, looking like a wild Lobelia, was a lighter blue, but not as washed out as my poor photography skills would have you believe.

Some flowers in my garden

River Views

Where I painted the Ghost Gum yesterday was on the banks of an often forgotten river in Sydney called Cooks River. Here are some photos from a wonderful park on Permanent Avenue where you can access the river. I hope you enjoy them.

Flash Fiction

On Tuesday afternoons, I can be found in a creative writing class. We have a small class of writers with varying degrees of experience. Most in the class are marginalized people, so while some of us have brilliant minds, they have been affected by issues in our past which include mental unwellness, addictions, abuse and homelessness.

Out teacher is a very gifted patient mature lady, who has ways of extracting the brilliance from our fractured brains.

Yesterday, being Spring in Sydney at present, we were each given a flower currently in bloom to examine, describe and to write about.My flower was the Nasturtium. While I wont share what I wrote about the description of the flower, I will share the two flash fictions I wrote incorporating the flower into the story.

Row C, Aisle 8, Plot 6.

The new address of my dearly departed wife. Last week was the celebration of her life. Roses adorned the coffin. The kids came, shedding adequate tears. Grandchildren, sad, but bored to be there. They have no idea what a special woman their Nana was.

The grass is already starting to creep over the red, recently turned soil of her resting place. I tidy. I pick up some litter. How can people be so disrespectful to throw rubbish on a grave. I wipe a tear.

I pluck free some of the wilted flowers from the bouquet I placed here only yesterday. Tomorrow I will do the same.

Today, I pull from my pocket some seeds from the plants in our garden. Some Allysums, Impatiens and of course the bright orange Nasturtiums.

I scatter the Allysum, daisies and forget – me – nots and plant the nasturtium seeds 2 cm apart as Nora instructed me in out garden.

In a few weeks her grave will be as colourful as the quilt that she made for the bed we shared for over 43 years.

Until then, daily, I will come and change the water in the vases of flowers I bring; using the old water to moisten the new garden.

Nora will NOT be forgotten.

————————————————————————————————————————–

I could hear her crying before I could see her. It wasn’t a big sob but she was truly sad. Seeing the depression in the long grass of the vacant lot next to her school, I found my little girl face down in the grass.

“Come on princess,” I say “Why so sad, especially on THIS day?”

“Daddy, nobody remembered  my birthday at school today!”

“Your birthday? Is it your birthday?” I tease

“Oh daddy, you didn’t forget too did you?” Now she is wailing making me regret my jest.

“Come on Princess, how could I ever forget the day that Sunshine first entered my life. I made you something special today”.

I pulled from behind my back a chain of nasturtiums that I had made into a crown.

I picked my little girl up from the ground, placing her on here feet. I straightened her ponytails and fringe so she didn’t look so disheveled. I took my handkerchief and used my bottled water to moisten it to wipe her face free of tears.

I took her schoolbag in one hand and offered the other to her to hold on our journey home. Home to her surprise fairy 7th birthday party.

Flowers

Just because I have taken so many lovely pics of flowers recently and I wanted to share some, even though there is not a challenge with that theme anywhere.
Dave

Flowers found in Sydney

See, even the roses are gay friendly

Navy Remembrance Service 8 October 2013