I haven’t been surfing through blogs this week in my usual fashion. For those of you I normally visit, know that I’m seeing you on RSS feed but I’m not usually taking time to comment. I’m hoping life gets back to normal next week.

Real Life has been cramping my style. Don’t y’all hate it when that happens? I’ve had actual paying work this week, and I’ve been booking for next fall, so that I will get the opportunity to work then. With that real work, some housework, and a husband who occasionally wants the computer I just haven’t been able to visit much.

I do have to say that my spousal unit is a very good sport. He doesn’t whine, but I can see that forlorn puppy dog look in his eyes when he wants the desk. I appreciate him more than I tell him. But, I have to share the computer until those Google ads start paying off big time.

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Oh, there has also been a certain contest going on. This Eclectic Life’s This Blog Blows My Dress Up has closed to new entries. I printed those essays and handed them to the judge. Her eyes got as big as breakfast sausages! I don’t know that she really expected so many entries; there are some fine ones. I hope y’all will give them a read. You can find them on the contest page. Come back on May 8th, and I’ll tell you the winners.
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Here is one of the gardening projects that got done this week. We ripped out some gangly shrubs that were by my back deck. They were all leaning cattywumpus and looking ragged. That left me with this:

So, I pulled all that lava rock out. [NOTE:never, never, NEVER put down lava rock!] I sweet-talked my SU (I’m going to use “Spousal Unit” instead of “Dear Husband” just to confuse you) into setting up my fountain. A strong wind had come through about a month ago, and knocked this cement fountain down! The statue had broken, but SU used epoxy to put her back together and you barely see the cracks. I grabbed an old iron gate that was leaning against the back of the house waiting for something to happen. Now it’s leaning against the side of the house waiting for something to happen. But, the trumpet vine will grow.
This is what it looks like now:

I’m not a good photographer, so that doesn’t do it justice. Ignore the orange hose that is decorating the right side of the picture. In a few weeks, the plants will fill in, and the trumpet vine on the gate will grow. I expect it to feel like an oasis this summer.

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Finally, a friend of mine sent me the following letter to the editor printed in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. The writer addresses the issue of global warming:

I’m hoping she was being facetious, but you never know.

My SU read the article and said, “Wow! You mean Congress is the reason we have more hours of daylight in the summer? I thought that the summer heat made the days expand….”

Ba dump bump.

Technorati Tags: This Eclectic Life’s This Blog Blows My Dress Up, gardening, letter to the editor, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, global warming

No, there is not an Echo in here…an Echo in here.

Echo was, according to Greek mythology, a Nymph who lost her heart to a gorgeous young man named Narcissus. She had already ticked off the goddess Hera with her idle chatter. For that offense, Echo had lost her ability to speak her own words. Echo could only repeat the words of others.

Echo was so smitten with Narcissus that she followed him as he hunted in the woods, hoping to hear words of endearment that she could repeat to him. But, Narcissus wasn’t interested in love. He only cared about himself.

Nemesis, a minor goddess, took pity on poor Echo and decided to get revenge for her. When Narcissus got thirsty and bent to drink water from a quiet pool, he saw his own reflection. He didn’t know he was looking at himself. Narcissus just saw a really handsome face looking at him. Nemesis caused Narcissus to fall in love at last—with himself.

He whispered, “I love you.” Echo, delighted to be able to speak at last, whispered, “I love you.” But Narcissus didn’t notice her, because he was spellbound by the good looking face smiling back at him from the water. He forgot to eat and drink, and after weeks he died. In his place, a beautiful flower, named for him, sprang up. Echo stood beside the flower and pined until she faded away, leaving only her voice to senselessly repeat the words of others.

I had to tell you that story. I’ve always loved it, and only because of a plant I’ve had since the 1980s. Today, I walked out in the yard and noticed that my Narcissus is starting to sprout. That always gives me a thrill, because I inherited that plant from my Grandmommy Duncan.

One day when I was visiting her at her home in Oak Cliff (in Dallas), she pointed to a section of the garden and said, “Go and dig there. You’ll find the Narcissus that I’ve had since I was a young girl. It has beautiful flowers. I planted it at the farm in Styx and have dug it up to take with me every time I moved. It’s yours now.”

What a treasure! She had been carrying this plant with her from place to place for sixty some odd years. In among the dead stalks of the irises I dug. Grandmommy assured me I had the treasured Narcissus bulbs. I planted them at my home in Lindsay, Texas. To my dismay they never bloomed. When we moved to Southlake, I moved the plant with me. Once during the many years I lived there the plant bloomed. It was magnificent. But, it didn’t like where it was planted and didn’t bloom again. Twice more I moved, and twice more I dug up the bulbs to take with me, but was disappointed each time.

When I moved to Denton four years ago, I planted the bulbs. Voila! They had found their home. Each year since then I am treated to the most magnificent flowers with a heavenly smell. When springtime comes, I check on their progress every day excitedly waiting for the blooms and hoping that I’m not on the road for a week when they finally burst open.

Today I decided to post about my narcissus plant and googled “narcissus” for images on-line. NOOOO! My plant is NOT a narcissus! A narcissus resembles a daffodil a little bit. Mine looks more like an enormous chrysanthemum with a heavenly scent.

I’m crushed. Now I have to wait for it to bloom so I can take it to a garden center and find out what the heck it is.

Google is not my friend! But, I still love the flowers because Grandmommy gave them to me and they ARE beautiful. And I still love the story.

Technorati Tags: Echo, Greek mythology, Narcissus, flowers