Stargazer Lily

I took a picture of this Stargazer Lily flower from the garden of a doctor whose grandchildren are taking art sessions with me on their free time. We were looking for something inspiring for the kids to draw and paint. So amidst happy chatter about their friends and school, there were frantic tugs, shrilly shouts, and that delicious children's laughter that never fail to tug at my heart.

What makes children laugh, shriek in delight, grab your hand, and steal your heart?

A pretty flower, a butterfly, their pet rabbit running in all directions ;-), the dog running after the rabbit :-0 and me running after the dog not to chase the rabbit! When laughter has died down with everybody wiping happy tears from their eyes (we tear up from too much laughter!), another happy scene would make the kids shriek again (this time it is the cat beating the dog to a treat!) Indeed, there are no dull moments with kids around!


But in the end, when everybody has settled down to their individual creative productions and completed their artworks, it was time to return to the garden and marvel at the beauty of nature. In the end, it is still that small spark of beauty that appealed to everyone, young and old, people and animals, that we keep returning to, to hold in our hands and imprint that image in our minds. An image that inspire happy stories and happy sounds (and which can become great literary works and music and cinema and theater and visual art!) and happy memories.

I had them. And those memories keep me inspired especially during bleak and painful times when all we see are disasters, civil unrest, overseas workers returning to their homeland penniless, families losing each other, lands devastated and nature taking its course and leaving modern society with its technology and power and intelligence back to the basic.

It is indeed time for renewal.
It is time for us to return to our natural state.
For nature to demand back its fertile soil.
For the air to be cleaned, the waters purified,
and the energy field distilled and recharged.
It is a painful process
and one that we must go through
to make us whole again . . .



My rare (at least to me!) Pink and White Stargazer
for such generous friends like Beverly
at Pink Saturday:


. . . for Maia and her Macro Flowers:
(Last week was the anniversary of MacroFlowers and Maia made a wonderful video to showcase some of her participants past entries. Mine was included. ;-) Thank you MACRO hugs, Maia, for being patient with all of us, for your generosity and for simply taking the time to gather all of us every weekend!)

and for the fun team of Luiz Santilli, Laerte Pupo,
Denise and Sandy Carlson at Todays Flowers:


. . . in the stillness of the hour, in that silent second when all we have left is our broken heart and dignity, we take a step forward, one at a time, and know that for every single painful step we take, we step bravely into a new tomorrow and a better heart. . .