Remembering Mother on Her Birthday

Remembering my mother. . .on this day of what would have been her 80th birthday. How she loved nature, and especially wild flowers. She's has been gone for ten years now, but her legacy lives on. She taught about life through everyday things. It was natural for her to teach life lessons to young and old alike through nature studies. Today I am reminded of wildflowers as I think of her.

This Calypso Lady Slipper Orchid was found right near the cabin yesterday in what I've named Lady Slipper Hollow.

Keep Your Face to the Sunshine

The road up the mountain to our cabin is narrow, bumpy, and one-lane. It winds up steep grades and through dark woods. In some places the road opens up along the top of a grassy ridge that slopes deeply to a creek below. Sometimes I can't bear to look over the edge!  It takes while to get to the top and there is a lot of jostling along the way. Half-way up the mountain, two-wheel drive cars have to stop. It's too rough for them to carry on.

After many trips up and down the mountain, I have started to learn of special treats along the way. Last trip down we stopped by a puddle by the road that is fed by a spring until mid-summer. There are always tadpoles there this time of year, and we were not disappointed. Tiny little swimmers were skittering around with much glee!

In another spot, the road winds through some deep, dark woods. It's a good place to keep an eye out for bears! But animals are quick and difficult to spot, probably because our diesel motor warns them we are near. But the flowers don't wilt or fade as we draw close. The road opens up to a rocky hillside and in the early spring I make sure to say "please stop" if I see the pretty purple flowers of the shooting stars in bloom.

Shooting stars seem to love rocky soil! And sunshine! They cluster together in vibrant chorus of purple and green. I love their abundance! One has to keep careful watch, because they arrive and then the blossoms disappear in a few days time. One has to time the trip up the mountain "just right".

Shooting stars are not abundant "just anywhere" on the mountain. There are only a few spots that I have found them growing. I'm pretty excited that this spring I've found two small plants growing in the rocky soil on the sunny side of the cabin as well. I hope they multiply over time and provide us with a pretty purple haze each spring.

Lessons can be learned from the wildflowers of the woods. The shooting stars remind me that no matter how rocky or difficult the path, as long as one keeps their face to the sunshine, everything will turn out alright.

Shooting stars were one of my mother's favorite flowers. She stitched this pretty little wall-hanging on felt. It's one of my little treasures. Every time I see it, I'm reminded of the delight that she expressed during my growing up years. Whenever we would find shooting stars on our flower trips to the mountains she would express much joy! She was a botanist and although I didn't fully appreciate her love of flowers while I was a kid, it's grown on me and I appreciate the lessons she taught from nature. Especially from the flowers.

If you'd like to see some of the other May flowers from the mountain, click here.

Sewing Like Mom

Do you sew like your mother? Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. Yesterday, as I was cutting out aprons I was pondering this question. It's funny how simple tasks can take you back in time. My mother has been gone for twelve years, but her legacy lives on through her daughters. I must have been about eleven years old when my mother taught me to sew. By twelve years old I was sewing almost all of my own clothes. Store bought clothes were pretty rare in our family while I was growing up. My mother taught me to sew as her mother had taught her --- and as her mother taught her. It is a family thread that continues down through generations. Sometimes the mother, grandmother , and great-grandmother methods of garment construction are not 'proper' nor 'by the book', but they were methods that worked for them. And they still work for me today. Yesterday I was able to cut out aprons, one on top of the other without removing the pattern or pins from the first one. And I was able to get double the contrast pieces cut out of what the pattern said I needed for one! What a feeling of accomplishment! Although over time home economics coursework ensued, I find that there are times that I still revert back to themethods my mother taught me. They work well, those homespun methods of shortcuts and construction techniques. Thank you, mom!

Happy Mother's Day

The Blessing of the Day

I hope your Mother's Day was special! Families throughout the world celebrate Mother' Day, but each seems to have their own roots, dates, and traditions. In the United States, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in the month of May. It is a day set aside to recognize mothers, motherhood, and all maternal bonds. It is an opportunity and moment that everyone can share, simply because everyone has a mother. We can honor a memory, give tokens of love and appreciation, and enjoy the benefits of being a mother if we have been blessed by the opportunity. Roots to this day reach back to remembrance and honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day officially on May 9, 1914 and it was tradition that American citizens would display an American flag on that day to honor the mother's of those who had lost sons. Obviously, the meaning of Mother's Day and what it represents has morphed into something different as the years have progressed. It now is a day that all mother's are remembered, appreciated, and honored. Many families have their own unique traditions special to this day.

I've enjoyed browsing through blog posts by others, as there has been much sharing of happenings and doings. It's so special to hear about ways that families honor their mothers. Breakfast in bed seems to be popular, as does a special Mother's Day brunch or tea. I've heard of spa days (where the kids give a pedicure and dad paints mom's toenails!) and of many mothers who are receiving hanging baskets of flowers or flats of annuals to plant in their garden. Although the official Mother's Day flower was a carnation, I think it has blossomed to be simply flowers, now ninety-nine years later! I think most mother's would agree, that it is the thought that counts and simply being together as a family is the very best gift of all!

Our Mother's Day has been one of remembering our mom's (and grandmother's) and how they enriched our lives with love and guidance. Their memory is important to us and it is they who have made us into who we are today. It has also been a time to appreciate the blessings of today. Time spent together as a family, simply talking, doing something, and eating special foods. It's been fun to have the boys home and to enjoy a traditional, yummy brunch together! Just "being" is something I especially "savor" on a day like today!

I hope your day has been blessed as well!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day

Today's the day to remember our mother's --- or to appreciate the joy that our own children bring into our lives. I've enjoyed listening to my boys chatter all afternoon about interesting subjects. It brings such contentment to my heart to just hear the happiness in their voices as they converse together.

I took a break to walk around my yard for a few minutes. I couldn't resist the flowers in the garden. The first of my roses are in bloom for this season. I think they mix so nicely with snapdragons, geum, and buttercups. 

The roses are Jackson & Perkins. They are the Rio Samba and the Tahitian Sunset. Once clipped and combined in a vase, they are difficult to tell apart from one another.

Each flower has a face that is so expressive! They seem so cheerful and happy!

Here's wishing you a Mother's Day

That's filled with every pleasure,

And a future that's as happy

As the memories you treasure!

Pansy Faces

Royale Garden Bone China
Staffs, England

My mother’s favorite flower was the pansy. It was her lifelong favorite, with no deviation or change of thought. Although she loved all flowers and had a degree in botany, the humble pansy was always her favorite. As a child, I remember her showing me how each pansy had a face. And each face was unique and expressive in its own way. It seems especially meaningful to me now that she is gone that the pansy means “thought” or “remembrance”. The word itself can be traced back to the French word, pensée. The pansy is a flower with several nicknames. Each name was given because of a specific quality applied to this flower. My favorites are “Jump Up and Kiss Me” and “Heart’s Ease”. Or how about this one --- Three Faces Under a Hood”? Sometimes the pansy is called “Viola Tricolor”. Other names referenced are “Cull Me to You”, “Tickle My Fancy”, "Live in Idleness”, “Kiss Her in the Pantry”, “Johnny Jump Up”, “Monkey Faces”, “Peeping Tom”, and “Three Faces in a Hood”. So many names for one simple, little flower!

In “Language of Flowers” by Kate Greenaway, pansies are said to represent “thoughts”. In Victorian times, a maiden found a pansy that was left by an admirer, it meant that “I am thinking of our forbidden love”. It was much more romantic to let her know by giving her the flower rather than putting it in writing or saying out loud. But, the custom did not go both ways! If a lady gave a pansy to a man she admired, it was considered bad luck! Times surely have changed!

Dorothea Dix, an American nurse and activist who lived in the Civil War era seemed to admire the pansy too. She said that “perhaps no flower...claims to be so universal a favorite, as the viola tricolor; none currently has been honored with so rich a variety of names, at once expressive of grace, delicacy and tenderness.”

Another famous American was Clyde Tombaugh. He was an astronomer who made discoveries in our solar system. But clearly he didn't always look up. It appears that he also took time to appreciate little things close to the ground, like pansies. He is famous for asking "how does a pansy, for example, select the ingredients from soil to get the right colors for the flower? Now there's a great miracle. I think there's a supreme power behind all of this. I see it in nature".

The pansy is an edible plant. Both the blossoms and the leaves are safe to eat. References in the past show that the leaves were used by the Celts to make tea (actually a tisane, which they used as a love potion) and Culpeper, a 17th century English writer, refers to a syrup made from the flowers that was used medicinally to cure certain unsavory diseases.

The pansy is the subject of legend and lore in every culture where this pretty flower blooms. I especially enjoyed learning what American pioneers thought of this flower. They felt that if they picked a handful of these flowers in the spring and brought them into the farmhouse, prosperity would ensue. If the custom was neglected, harm would come to their baby chicks and ducklings. Pioneer children made dolls out of the pansy blossom. Using the pansy flower for the faces, they would add leaf skirts and twigs for arms and legs. So beautifully inventive!

I am linking this post to Bernideen's Tea Time Blog "Open House" meme today.

Happy Mother's Day

A Mother's Love


There are times when only a mother's love 
Can understand our tears, 
Can soothe our disappoints 
And calm all of our fears.

There are times when only a mother's love
Can share the joy we feel
When something we've dreamed about
Quite suddenly is real.

There are times when only a mother's faith
Can help us on life's way
And inspire in us the confidence
We need from day to day.

For a mother's heart and a mother's faith
And a mother's steadfast love
Were fashioned by the angels
And sent from God above.

--Author Unknown

Happy Mother's Day