My neighbor’s Gift – A time of need.

On September 11, 2012, I listened to horrors unfolding in the middle east.  Embassies were destroyed, flags were burned and people were killed – not in one country – two, Libya and Egypt. (remember those people we recently helped to gain ‘freedom’?) I heard my country pulled their embassy out of Iran.  Peaceful Canada?  Why?  History is repeating itself and I feel a hopelessness invade as I am powerless to stop it. I remember in the past when Iran attacked the USA Embassy and Canada, claiming they were Canadian citizens helped people escape – because the USA president wasn’t doing anything to help them. It was a time I was very proud of my country.

This is the reality of today’s problems.  My heart was sad and a chill ran through my body. I felt a real, tangible fear.

In the evening, I heard a knock on the door.  It was my neighbor.  She had bouquets of flowers.  She and her husband were going away for a few weeks and she brought my daughter and I her flowers – as they would be dead by the time she returned.  It was a nice thoughtful gift – at a time I needed it.

If this is a sign – I have yet to figure out what it means.  Thank you Mrs. Smith.

A Writer’s Tool – Flowers

Have you ever wondered why children find the dandelion so beautiful they will give it to one of the people they love the most – their mother.  All children do this.  Yet, as we get older we see the dandelion as a pesky weed – not beautiful but annoying.

We teach children to destroy them.  It can be a perfect example of how we change perception.  It also teaches us that beauty is really in the eyes of the beholder.

As a child I enjoyed blowing those pieces of fluff into the winds as much as blowing bubbles.

Now, I see flowers as a wonderful creation for our pleasure.  Most women enjoy receiving and giving flowers as a symbol of love.  Different colors – in the roses – portray different things.  White – purity; Yellow – friendship; Red – love;  As an author of romance I have learned the various meanings of flowers and find it helpful in writing.

 

Flowers my son gave me for Mother’s Day. Tiger lilies – Saskatchewan’s (my birth place) flower. Did he know?

One of my favorite lines in a song is from George Strait’s ‘I saw God Today’ – a flower growing out of a crack in the concrete.  I can relate so well to that line.

 

Wild flowers in the sunshine. A walk in the mountains.

 

Flowers blooming on my mock-cherry tree. The promises spring gives you.