there is salmon in the oven
new music in my ears
winter sports on tv
a manual for my new camera
waiting to be studied
while through window shades
i see snow is falling, falling
gently lit by pale light
through opaque gray skies
sighing i type peacefully
at mummo's kitchen table
Saturday, January 26
Friday, January 18
Tahina spectabilis
A curious and fascinating discovery on the island of Madagascar was brought to my awareness through a blurb in the daily pape. Why such random things capture my interest I cannot say, especially since I am generally out of the horticultural loop; perhaps I just like the random detail it embedded into my Friday. But also, what drew my attention about this new genus of palm tree that was accidentally discovered by a French cashew farmer, is the fact that it flowers only once after decades of growth and then dies. "The nutrient reserves of the palm become completely depleted as soon as it fruits and the entire tree collapses and dies a macabre death," reports the Royal Botanic Gardens' description of this giant palm tree that can grow up to 18 meters and sprouts fan-shaped leaves up to 5 meters in diameter.
Botanists cannot explain how this species of palm within the tribe Chuniophoeniceae ended up in Madagascar, especially since the other known genera of the tribe grow in the regions of Nannorrhops in Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Kerriodoxa in southern Thailand and Chuniophoenix in Vietnam, southern China and Hainan. There you have it. I was attracted to the international mystery behind the means of plant migration. Tahina's unknown mystery spurred my imagination to sketch a mental picturebook story akin to the one I wrote and illustrated in grade school entitled, "Why Penguins can't Fly," a language class assignment inspired as a follow-up for the story "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in your Ear." As for "Why Tahina grows in Madagascar," well, the story has to be tied to the escapades of a curious red-ruffed lemur named Sifuy!
The lifecycle of this palm also worked like a magnet to attract another literary memory from my brain's files. The association came from Colleen McCullough's book The Thorn Birds, a title alluding to mythical creatures that search for a thorn tree from the day of their birth. Once they find one, they impale themselves on a thorn, singing the most beautiful song ever heard as they die. It is the piercing processes of life and death side by side that produce these associations. A thorn bird kills itself to fulfill its purpose of singing an exquisite and unique melody that can only happen when it dies. It is its inescapable destiny. The palm tree's similar fate is to live a long and full life, but to flower only once, producing rare fruit and seeds from a tall crowning display of tiny white flowers. Destined to die in order to give life. I've heard that story before...
__________________
Read about Tahina sp. at the Royal Botanic Gardens link
Botanists cannot explain how this species of palm within the tribe Chuniophoeniceae ended up in Madagascar, especially since the other known genera of the tribe grow in the regions of Nannorrhops in Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Kerriodoxa in southern Thailand and Chuniophoenix in Vietnam, southern China and Hainan. There you have it. I was attracted to the international mystery behind the means of plant migration. Tahina's unknown mystery spurred my imagination to sketch a mental picturebook story akin to the one I wrote and illustrated in grade school entitled, "Why Penguins can't Fly," a language class assignment inspired as a follow-up for the story "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in your Ear." As for "Why Tahina grows in Madagascar," well, the story has to be tied to the escapades of a curious red-ruffed lemur named Sifuy!
The lifecycle of this palm also worked like a magnet to attract another literary memory from my brain's files. The association came from Colleen McCullough's book The Thorn Birds, a title alluding to mythical creatures that search for a thorn tree from the day of their birth. Once they find one, they impale themselves on a thorn, singing the most beautiful song ever heard as they die. It is the piercing processes of life and death side by side that produce these associations. A thorn bird kills itself to fulfill its purpose of singing an exquisite and unique melody that can only happen when it dies. It is its inescapable destiny. The palm tree's similar fate is to live a long and full life, but to flower only once, producing rare fruit and seeds from a tall crowning display of tiny white flowers. Destined to die in order to give life. I've heard that story before...
__________________
Read about Tahina sp. at the Royal Botanic Gardens link
Sunday, January 13
black & white
it arrives
in black & white
juxtaposed like zebra stripes
light & dark
like night & day
it's pain & joy even loss & gain
beside, behind
before and between
black & white making shapes
of us
of life
of our dreams
in black & white
juxtaposed like zebra stripes
light & dark
like night & day
it's pain & joy even loss & gain
beside, behind
before and between
black & white making shapes
of us
of life
of our dreams
Wednesday, January 9
looking forward
I'm a year older now. A quarter of a century is not very old in the great scheme of things, but I am unmistakably an adult. And if we were talking a century ago, I'd even be labeled an "old maid." However, nowadays I don't think that is accurate. But at 25, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Wise, for sure. Compassionate. Trustworthy. Unafraid. Healthy. So much more...
But what does this year hold? It is the great and (thankfully) yet unanswered question! At some point, a master's thesis needs to materialize. I think that is the main academic goal. As for travels, a trip to the US is in the making for my sister's graduation! I hope to visit a few US friends at the same time. Visits to Poland and Japan are on the wish list as well (I can dream, can't I). Personal and spiritual growth are also aspects that I hope will accompany the accumulation of age. Changes in my living situation will crop up in April and maybe a new job at some point. Whew! I place it all in God's capable and guiding hands, as I set to living one day at a time.
I will pass on some verses I received on my birthday, which speak to the many things I'm processing in my mind and life:
But what does this year hold? It is the great and (thankfully) yet unanswered question! At some point, a master's thesis needs to materialize. I think that is the main academic goal. As for travels, a trip to the US is in the making for my sister's graduation! I hope to visit a few US friends at the same time. Visits to Poland and Japan are on the wish list as well (I can dream, can't I). Personal and spiritual growth are also aspects that I hope will accompany the accumulation of age. Changes in my living situation will crop up in April and maybe a new job at some point. Whew! I place it all in God's capable and guiding hands, as I set to living one day at a time.
I will pass on some verses I received on my birthday, which speak to the many things I'm processing in my mind and life:
Psalm 37:3-6 (KJV)
3Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
6And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
May it be so.Thursday, January 3
Summing up...
Uh oh....shoot. I was trying to edit the text color and lost this entire entry...sorry. It was too long to just retype.
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