The Whimsy of Orchids

Orchids beguile in a variety of ways to attract pollinators. Their ploys seduce, attract, and hoodwink their prey. They imitate fragrances and also present unpleasant odors while pulsing their landing platforms. Orchids mimic enemies, sexual partners, and phony nests.

The deceptions become a diversion for only the orchids' benefit. Promises of reward serve only to get the flowers fertilized. The pollinator gets nothing in return.

In 1862, Charles Darwin felt a fascination for orchids and studied the orchid's seductive process. He published, On the Various Contrivances by Which British and Foreign Orchids Are Fertilized by Insects. The book became a best seller before the publication of his Origin of Species. 






Orchids display their attractiveness even in the Arctic Circle. More orchid species exist
(26,000 -30,000) than species of mammals, reptiles, and birds combined.

Orchids (family Orchidaceae) provide sticky packets of pollen to entice bees and wasps that do the most work. Also flies, butterflies, moths, and birds get seduced by the process. Mosquitoes, ants, beetles, and small animals feel attracted by the orchid's siren call.

Reciprocity does occur. Even though the pollinators receive no reward, those of us who love the colors, shapes, and scents do benefit from the whimsy of orchids.

Flavor Life with Mystery

“The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer. They think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.” 
- Ken Kesey

A Chinese poem reveals the true measure of a mountain's greatness is not its height but whether it is charming enough to attract dragons.

Life gathers joy with mystery and fabulous.

What if you planted a garden in which strange plants grow?  How would you describe them by colors, textures, scents, and sounds they make? 

Imagine an orchestra or a wild concert of blooms. Discover magicians within the petals. Discover ways to choreograph the dance.

Place yourself into an encounter of strange and delve into the wonder and magic. 

Move from the actual into fun and fantasy.

Flavor your life with mystery and see where it leads.

Textures of Love

"Love calls us to do the things in this world."   - Richard Wilbur

". . .migratory musicians,/one last/ word before /I go back with wet shoes, thorns /and dry leaves/ to my home:/ vagabonds, I love you/free far from the shotgun and the cage." - Pablo Neruda from, "Ode to Bird Watching."

Pablo Neruda, one of the most loving poets, forms an authentic attachment to life. Calling on unlimited sources of inspiration, he writes odes to an elephant, a pair of socks or a bar of soap. He calls them all to life and reminds us of the interconnectedness of all things and beings. Compassion and humor populate his poetry.

At the end of, "Ode to Bird Watching," Neruda leaves in frustration at not getting close enough yet he makes peace with his love of the birds' wildness and inaccessibility, " . . .messengers of pollen/matchmakers/ of the flower, uncles/ of the seed/ I love you,/ingrates/ I'm going home,/ happy to have lived with you/ a moment/in the wind.

What is Love?  Poets and writers have nose-dived and bellyflopped into its lakes and caverns for years. Everyone has experiences and expectations. Which are real? Has the notion of Love become a distorted part of our imagination and desperation? How does it transfer beyond the human form?

Peel the Artichoke

Love is an artichoke

all layered in secrets.

Hear the cricket snap of leaves

petals tipped in silky maroon.

White whiskers protect

the heart.

Cook warm,

squirt a tang of sweet lemon. 

Push and pull to savor the green,  

see how the leaves fall away. 

Once at the heart,  

ah the tingle, oh the sheen.

                      - Penny Wilkes

What do you make of Love?  Does the word by itself send ripples and thrills. Do memories bring shudders?

Where does Love begin? How do we learn to Love from the inside out free from expectations and doubts?

Write an approach to Love you have not considered before. 

Examine layers and textures.

Into the Wild Blue

Air travel provides a time, removed from the earth’s pull, to detach and focus among the clouds. 

Close the eyes and feel an expansion and awe of this machine defying gravity and taking you to a destination.  

Feel the lightness.  Play in your childlike mind.  

Find words that describe the abundance within.

When you arrive at your destination, notice with all the senses.  

Take in nuances of the arrival moments in scents and sounds and energies in the air.

Clouds come from time to time and give one a chance to rest from looking at the moon. -Basho

Write into the Present

Take time to revel in the gift of now. Do what needs to be done.

Each day give yourself the present.

Don't plan it.  Don't wait for it.  Let it happen.

Write now!

Intensify your commitment to self-care.

Deepen your devotion to making yourself feel the best. Increase your artistry by providing yourself with everything you need to thrive.

Stay present. Write about it.

Celebrate Trees

So the tree rustles in the evening, when we stand uneasy before our own childish thoughts: Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness.  - Hermann Hesse

I have always felt a tree connection. Growing up with gingkoes, magnolias, pines, oaks, and a variety of fruit trees, I sought solace among them. An affinity grew. When I wanted to run away, the olive trees hosted my safe departure. Under their protection, I studied French verbs. I hugged my trees, climbed branch upon branch to revel in the perceptions, gained from the top's view. Once I fell out of a magnolia on my head. Gravity did it, not the tree.

A study by the University of Exeter's medical school has found that individuals living in polluted urban areas have fewer admissions to the hospital with asthma when lots of trees populate their neighborhood.

Published in the journal, Environment International, the study looked into the impact of urban greenery on asthma. The study viewed more than 650,000 serious asthma attacks over a 15 year period.

It suggests that respiratory health improves by the expansion of tree cover in polluted urban neighborhoods.  

Trees never leave us. They transform and provide gifts to everyone who uses a desk, cabinets, and wooden toys. We feel protected within the structure of buildings that include wood. 

Even during their winter months, trees hold nests for the birds' next season. 

Jacques Goldstyn wrote, Bertolt, about a boy whose best friend is an oak tree named Bertolt. Daily refuge in his tree provides real and metaphorical ways to observe the world. Bertolt gives caring and solace through his structure; host to the boy's imaginative adventures. 

In spring, when Bertolt's leaves shine, animals make homes in its nooks and branches, the boy observes everyday happenings around and below him. Each year he says goodbye to Bertolt for the winter season.  

After the last frost when other trees begin to bloom, the boy notices Bertolt's branches remain bare.  When he realizes his tree has died, he honors his friend's life and generosity, revealing to readers the mutuality of this true friendship.  

The book features the imagination and ways we nurture ourselves in becoming who we are. It also reveals mortality and loss, sorrow and acceptance.

Hug a tree and climb one today.

The Brainy Black-capped Chickadee

The Black-capped Chickadee has an intense curiosity to investigate everything in its home territory. Their interest even includes human beings. They do not migrate but seek bird feeders easily. 

Try to say their name three times quickly and then chuckle.

Dr. Fernando Nottebohm of Rockefeller University in New York studied the ability of Black-capped Chickadees to recall locations of hundreds of stored seeds. His lab produced the first evidence that in the adult brain of birds with the learning of new behaviors, neurons are replaced periodically. During late summer and fall, brains of chickadees grow as the birds hide food, usually seeds, in their home range. By winter they know where to find their stash.

The hippocampus, part of the brain that grows, plays a role in spatial memory. Dr. Nottebohm suggests that when demand for memory space peaks, the chickadee discards cells that hold old memories and replaces them with new cells that store memories. 

Studying the ability of a bird’s brain to generate new neurons might uncover ways to replace brain cells lost due to injury, stroke or degeneration, as happens in diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Alzheimer's. 

The term, "bird brain," does not suit the chickadee.

Happy Thanksgiving

“For each new morning with its light, for rest and shelter of the night, for health and food, for love and friends, for everything thy goodness sends. I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and new.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Research confirms the importance of Gratitude when felt and also shared with others. Subjects were asked to write their gratitudes. After ten weeks in the study, they exhibited major increases in their happiness scores, felt more optimistic, and better about their lives. 

They also reported exercising more and had fewer visits to the doctor following the experiment. The second group wrote about daily problems and situations that left them unhappy. These individuals felt comparably unhappy as a result.

"If thankfulness were a drug, it would be the world's best-selling product with a health maintenance indication for every major organ system," said Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, head of the division of biologic psychology at Duke University Medical Center. Oxytocin, the social bonding hormone, floods the brain and body with euphoria during moments of happiness and feelings of security that can result from a hug.

Gratitude helps us discover the wonders in life. Happiness and contentment result as by-products, especially when gratitude is shared.

Write a thank you note to anyone who has influenced your life. Then, thank someone mentally and self-reflect on his or her importance to your happiness. 

During the day, thank individuals for their smiles or kindness toward you. 

Keep a journal to express and share thoughts about emotional and physical gifts you have received.

Consider a negative situation that provided guidance and insight. How did it offer feelings of gratitude?

List your gratitudes and explore the specifics of why they made you happy. 

Grow buoyant, float and fly.  A bit of humor conquers all.  

Appreciate what’s offered regardless of the form. 

Enjoy a Grateful Thanksgiving Day.

Write About Obsessions

"Judge a moth by the beauty of its candle," said the poet Rumi.

Does your writing reveal an obsession with something amazing or amusing?  Do you write about aspects of life that confuse and confound? 

Make a list of three obsessions you would like to pursue that you haven't considered.

Write from deep inside. Develop a world of wonder. Add a spark of humor.

Play with Punctuation

Play with punctuation.  After you've responded to each of the ten choices, do a freewrite to combine them.  Let your life sentences emerge.

Observing your life:

l.    Describe a comma (a pause) you've experienced.

2.   What felt like an ending ( a period).

3.   Include a parenthesis ( ).

4.   Use an action verb to push the punctuation.

5.   What connection has a semi-colon made for you?

6.   Add a dash of -

7.   Entertain ellipses to begin or end . . . .

8.   What does a colon offer your list of fun or fantasy?

9.   Question the quesion mark that appeared before a choice.

10.  In what situations do you feel possessive like an apostrophe?

Have fun and live your life as an exclamation point!   

Play with Questions

Play with questions rather than search for answers.

Which part of my mind will lead?

Should I ascend or descend?

Will I plunge deeper down all the way to the bottom of a situation or zip higher up?

How about a flight into the wide open spaces?

What if I embrace a journey into the wild frontier where none of typical rules hold true?

There is no rush to decide

Dwell in uncertainty for a while.

The Thrill of Discovery

During childhood, I marveled at birds in flight. With a sheet above my head, I jumped from a tree surprised at landing so soon. The intrigue of creatures that wriggled under rocks held my attention.

Tadpoles grew legs in our pond. Their bodies bulged into bug-eyed frogs.

At night I opened watches and dismantled radios.  I had an idea about how to unroll the top of a soda can. Then the pop top arrived.  My curiosity grew and knew no bounds.

Do you recall flying a paper airplane or floating a handmade boat?

Could you disassemble a clock or radio to see how it worked?

Think of ways you planned something outrageous or courageous.  

Go back in time and regain the thrill of a discovery.

 

Play With Your Powers

In Celtic literature, an individual arrives on earth through three forces: the connection of mother and father, an ancestor's wish to be reborn, and the involvement of a spiritual power.

Choose one of your ancestors to live again. How will they slide into your persona?

Which spiritual force could develop your mind and body?

Choose an animal, plant, or bird to provide magical insights.

Which of your potential powers will you develop?



Energize ideas and stories around the above.



Let your imagination flap around.

Play with your Powers.

Leave Things Undone

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials. - Lin Yutang


Any perfectionistic traits I showcase result from inheritance. Both parents felt everything had a place and should be there. My father knew how to plan and proceed with excellence. He made certain my room had a neat appearance before I went to school. Surfaces must shine clear of clutter. I learned to cram items in drawers and closets as a result when I whirlwinded around the room to make the place presentable.

My mother had it both ways. Her surfaces and drawers promoted perfection. 

When I get ready to take a trip, I whirl around the house, cleaning, fixing, emptying, scurrying. After I read the above quotation, I decided to let three "things" go. Leave a dish in the sink, a sock on the closet floor, towels not washed. After a few two and outs, now it feels right.

The plan of leaving things undone has lightened my spirit. 

Notice how and when you can do this each day. If you are a get things done person with way too much "perfection" and obsession, try my experiment.

Now, if you are a procrastinator, you will love this challenge. Try to accomplish three more things.

Always let positivity and humor race around along with you. Laugh at your challenges.