Tag: flowers

Art

The Butterflies and the Bees

Andi

Its been a minute since I shared a photo I took. Granted, because of stay at home orders we haven’t been out as much these last few months as I would have liked, but we all have to do our part.

On one of our Nature Walks, we discovered several bees. Bees are our friends, and we love them. What was so incredible was that butterflies were also all about. It just so happened that a bee and a butterfly landed on the same flower and then stayed there together. I was so fascinated by this. Luckily I was able to snap a quick pic before they flew away.

family

Hat with Flowers Craft

Andi

I got this hat and decorated it for the Royal Wedding a few years ago. The ribbon flowers I’d made and glued on have long since fallen off, and I was left with this, bland, little sad looking hat.

So this is what I was starting with. I had some plastic flowers, a little ribbon, and a hot glue gun with glue sticks.

First, I removed some of the lace ribbon. It was excessive and looked like it was falling off. Off with it. But I added some orange and green ribbon to give a base to add flowers to.

I picked up three bundles of flowers I thought looked good together. Three was plenty. I had extras left over afterwards.

I didn’t have much of a set plan going into this, so I added flowers where I thought they fit. I’m not an expert by any means, and a hatmaker would probably laugh at how badly my hat looked at the end. However, I’m not trying to be an expert or a hatmaker. I’m the one wearing this hat.

Final product: flowers everywhere!

I like color, I like flowers, I like eccentric things. So for my style and my purposes, this hat was a success! I do not remember what I spent on the hat when I bought it, maybe $10? The ribbon was given to me, the flowers were $1 a piece. My hot glue gun was about $10 when I bought it as well. Not a huge expense for me and it gave me an hour outside doing something in the fresh air!

family

Coming Up

Andi

Coming up, you may notice an increase in crafting or recipe posts, probably some humor in my flubs in both areas. I’m doing this because it is what we are doing more, but also because I’m sure people are going to need lots of ideas.

We are navigating uncharted territory. I doubt there are many 102 year olds around that have seen a pandemic this extreme and could tell us what to do. We do have records however of plagues and pandemics from history and one of the things they tell us, keep your distance.

But self isolating, staying home and quarantining sucks. And I don’t mean that simply in a, “aw man do I hate this”, kind of it sucks, I mean it is unnatural for us and we grate against it. Isolation makes depression easier to take hold, it brings us down, it puts our minds on edge. We aren’t meant to be removed from other humans for a long period of time.

Humans are also not meant to be inside for long periods of time. We need contact with nature or we go insane. I don’t have the scientific intelligence to properly explain why, but I do know that the human mind needs to be around plant life. Even fake ones are helpful. Plants are calming to our minds. Being outdoors is invigorating and refreshing to us, and is necessary for our health.

During this time when most of us are under some kind of stay at home order, we have to find different tools to keep us healthy. Most of the orders right now allow you to go out to walk your dog or excersize. Take a walk. Walk your dog. Walk to the grocery store next time.

But even if you do not wish to walk or jog, get yourself outside somehow. I went to get some gardening supplies and the worker there told me he had seen more than the usual customers lately. A lot of people had told him, if they were going to be stuck at home, they might as well do something productive in their yards. It made me smile. I am glad people are taking to the outdoors to beat their blues. The butterflies are going to love this spring with all the extra flowers bored people are planting.

But let’s say you don’t have a yard to plant in or take your kids to play in. You live in an apartment with nothing but a small balcony. That’s ok! Go sit on it! Get some pots and flowers and plant them. Buy a bird feeder and hang it from your balcony. Sketch pictures sitting outside. Drink your morning cup of coffee on the balcony.

Many people are taking to video calling to get their human interaction while in isolation. It’s a good idea. But add onto it, the outdoors. So call your grandma from the patio instead of the couch.

Open up your windows every day the weather will allow it. Let that sunshine and fresh air into your home!

For the length of these Stay At Home orders, I challenge you to find some way to get outside every single day. However that looks for you. I will be happy to provide many ideas of what you can do, especially with kids, but it’s up to you to step out the door.

family

The Cactus

Andi

I have a lot of plants I like. I’m really a kind of plant person, I have them all over my house. One of my favorite plants is the cactus. I like how it appears harsh and even dangerous at first, but it also produces some of the most beautiful brightly colored flowers of the plant kingdom.

The cactus belongs to the Cactaceae plant family and is classified as stem succulents. A succulent has a thick skin and water may form up to 90% of the total mass. Cacti are a specific kind of succulent that has adapted to dry, desert like conditions. Not all succulents are cacti. In fact only about a quarter of the 10,000 species belong to the cactus family. The classification derives from the fact many succulents have water in their leaves, whereas a cactus only has water in the stem of the plant.

The word cactus comes from the ancient Greek word Kaktos. The word hasn’t really changed much. Just exchanged the K for a C.

Most cacti have a rounded shape. Instead of stems and leaves, they have areolas and spines. The spines prevent animals from eating the plant and sometimes kill bugs or rodents. They also prevent water loss by reducing air flow close to the surface. They also provide some shade to the plant. Cacti still employ photosynthesis, but since they don’t have traditional leaves, they do it a little differently. They also respond to rain shower much more quickly than most other plants. They bloom and grow very quickly to comply with the harsh dry climates they are native to.

Many believe cactus have natural healing properties, though not much scientific study has been done on the topic. The studies that have been done confirm they are high in antioxidants and anti inflammatory properties.

A cactus in the home does help to clean the air around it. However a spiny cactus does also bring a negative energy and may disturb fang shui if placed in the wrong place. It is suggested to place cacti outside or on a patio or balcony. At the very least a large open space and not near a bedroom.

I have a Christmas Cactus in my livingroom. It does not have spines. It may bloom anywhere from November to March. Mine already bloomed this year for a solid two months. It in fact has one bloom still hanging on, but I do not see any new ones budding. Last year, it did not bloom until late February. The flowers are a bright purple pink color. I name my plants, and this one is named Rita. It just seemed like a purpley slightly pink shade of a name.

This is the second Christmas Cactus I have owned however. I watered my first one on the same schedule as my other plants and accidentally drowned it! Cacti and Succulents don’t need to be watered as much as an ivy! Lesson learned.

Cactus is a charming plant species, with huge variety and vibrant color. I love them.

family, My Story

Young Travel

Andi

This tidbit of my life story is going to be a little more lighthearted than the last one. That one was kind of heavy, so let’s lighten up a moment shall we?

I said before I traveled a lot with my grandparents when I was young. My most fond memories are from the trips I took with them. Really, I’ve been a lot of places in my lifetime, and I realize how fortunate I am to have had such experiences. I got down the photo box and dug out some of the photos. There are so many trips we took, I can’t fit everything into one post. These are all from when I was very young, most with my grandma and grandpa, sometimes also a sibling. It also reminded me I really need to digitize my photo albums and probably organize them better. 😬

If you remember, I told you my Grandma loved flowers, particularly wildflowers. I have myriads of these photographs of just wildflowers. She would spot some and make us pull off the road so she could get out and snap a photo. I have no idea where this was taken, or how old I was. But even now, her passion lives on everytime one of us pulls out one of these and smiles remembering how much she enjoyed the flowers.

Someone recently asked me if wanted to go with them out to the sand dunes and I laughed. It immediately brought me back to this trip. I was probably about 5, maybe 6. For whatever reason they let my older brother (approx 13) drive the sand buggy, and he crashed it into a giant hill of sand. Kid couldn’t drive straight to save his life in that thing. My strongest memory, having to shower several times to get all the sand out of every crevice. And I was a scrawny little kid back then! Now I’m pudgy and have a lot more crevices for sand to get stuck in! So no, I don’t enjoy having sand in between my buttcheeks, but thanks for the invite.

I was probably 7 years old when my grand parents took me to Yellowstone National Park. Remarkably what I remember most weren’t the buffalo, or the waterfalls. It was the Park Ranger. They had an activity book you could do about the park, and if you finished it, you got to be a Jr. Park Ranger. I did it, very proudly, and gave my workbook to the ranger. It was a woman and I can recall the way she looked, her facial features, her hair, the sound of her voice. I don’t know why I can so vividly recall a person who’s name I never knew and who I won’t ever see again, but I do. I still have the Patch she gave me that says Official Junior Park Ranger. I also have a visual imprint of myself and Grandma sitting at a table behind a huge panoramic glass window watching Old Faithful. I’m not sure where Grandpa was in this memory. Maybe outside trying to take this picture.

At 8, I went to Mount Rushmore. I thought my brother was with us, but he says he’s never been, so I guess it was just me and the grands. I don’t actually remember much about the carving. We obviously saw it or this picture wouldn’t exist, but it’s not what I have in my memory banks. I remember the walking and the trees. We walked so much that day. Ducking into the shade because it was summertime. And I remember the gift shop. There was a museum about the making of the mount and it had a little gift shop. I was allowed to pick one thing and I couldn’t decide on what. I eventually got a sticker book. A sticker book. A shop full of options and I got stickers. Because 8 year old me was a genius.

One thing I find kind of humorous now is my Grandparents just did not have the same concerns my parents did, and it exposed me to different beliefs. I’ll explain. My parents being the religious way they are, insisted we go to church if we were gone over a sunday. So we did, but as Grandma and Grandpa werent like my parents, they didn’t really care what kind of chuch it was. About their only requirement was is it Christian? And is it on our way? Its Sunday, the town were in has a Methodist church, let’s go. Next Sunday, it was a Baptist church, also good. I don’t really remember any of these churches excpet for one. When we visited my great great aunt, we would always go to church with her because she was devoutly Lutheran and would not miss a service. I remember it because the organ pipes covered the entire back wall of the sanctuary and the side walls were solid stained glass. The place was beautiful. I remember walking in and being in awe of the beauty. The church I grew up in was boring and mundane compared to that. Old churches and cathedrals still leave me in awe.

This was at a beach, obviously, but I am uncertain as to which one. It could easily be Padre Island or Pensecola, FL. We went to both. I’m kind of leaning towards Texas though, because we went there more often. I love the beach. Unlike the sand dunes, there’s tons of water right there to wash the sand off. My great great aunt collected sea shells, so when we went to the beach, I’d search for shells to take back to her. Which is most likely what I’m doing in this photograph. The last time I got to see her, she gave me several of her favorite pieces. A bear made if sea shells. A shell necklacehe she had made. I still have these, and I cherish them.

When I was 12, my parents took my Aunt and Uncle on a cruise. As I was still at home, I got to go too. We went to Alaska. Seriously, one of the most beautiful places on earth. I couldn’t find the pictures I took there, all I could find was this tramway ticket. I suppose I will simply have to take another vacation and go back to retake the photographs. I always kind of liked moose, but after I went to Alaska, it was my goal to see one in person. I still haven’t accomplished that goal yet, but I did see a watch for moose sign up in the mountains, so my chances to see one are rising!

I severely love to travel. This of course does not cover every trip we took, but these are some of the strongest memories. I think my grandparents are the ones who first instilled the love of adventure in me. They were my biggest influencers. They are my fondest memories.

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Take Pride in the Things you Love

Andi

I took this picture on a walk. It wasn’t in a garden. It wasn’t anything fancy. It was simply brightly colored and something I found pretty.

I think there’s a beauty in the simplicity of finding something pretty. And that being that.

We spend so much time obsessing over how others perceive us and what everyone else thinks. People get mocked and ridiculed for the things they like. We take the joy out of enjoying things. In the bustle of appealing to all the people we lose sight of the things that once made us happy. We don’t notice the beautiful mountains or the singing bird. It’s not just about taking the moment to “stop and smell the roses” as they say. Now, it’s more about not being ashamed to let others know you love the roses and to continue being unashamed of it if you are belittled for liking something so cliche or so dumb as smelling roses.

I see this rear its head every fall when all the “basic white girls” flock to get their Pumpkin Spice Lattes and every one makes fun of them for it. Do some girls do it just to fit in? Sure, probably, but everyone does stuff like that at one point or the other. When I was younger I pretended to like a movie I’d never even seen so that all my friends that loved it wouldn’t think I was weird. So that’s really more than likely a little hypocritical of us to point fingers at them.

And even so, what does it matter? They enjoy their coffees, why can’t they just enjoy it and that be it? They are spending time having laughs with their friends. Isn’t that a good thing? Why have we as a society separated certain things as socially acceptable things to enjoy? This varies by the group or kind of people you have around you, but I’ve seen it just about everywhere. Maybe that makes me an oddball for loving the things I love and feeling no shame over it, but so be it.

Be proud of what you love!