Widow's Endorphins: Fireworks for a Happy New Year!

Widow's Endorphins: Fireworks for a Happy New Year!:   I spent the last hours of the old year, mesmerized by the indoor fireworks of glass sculptor, and genius Dale Chihuly.  I have se...

Fireworks for a Happy New Year!

 

I spent the last hours of the old year, mesmerized by the indoor fireworks of glass sculptor, and genius Dale Chihuly.  I have seen his work in magazines and on television, and was awestruck by the power and beauty of his creations.  That is saying a lot, having been disappointed seeing the Mona Lisa in the Louvre in Paris, and thought a recent Picasso exhibit was Pica-so-so.

The Tacoma, Washington born artist has travelled the world over, and yet, there's a strong Pacific Northwest presence in his work.  His creations have elements of the sea, forests, flowers, and are influenced by indigenous art.  I am looking forward to exploring his work, and these themes in the coming year.

It has been a tumultuous year.  Yet, personally, 2016 has been great!  I have had the love and kindness of family, friends, and strangers who have become friends.  I am grateful for having been able to share today's unforgettable experience at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) with two dear friends, and end the year on a high note.    

Wishing you all an extraordinary year of love, authentic happiness, laughter, great health, peace of mind, and abundance. May you all have a burst of energy and creativity rivalling the biggest fireworks show ever!  Happy New Year!

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Pantone Color of the Year 2017

Widow's Endorphins: Pantone Color of the Year 2017: Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Pantone Color of the Year 2017

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Merry Christmas!

Widow's Endorphins: Merry Christmas!: Amaryllis blossoms and a silver tea set. Photograph Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incor...

Merry Christmas!

Amaryllis blossoms and a silver tea set.

Photograph Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Pine Cones and Icicles

Widow's Endorphins: Pine Cones and Icicles: Simple, natural pine cones are as much a part of Christmas decorations as brightly coloured glass ornaments.  They're adaptiv...

Pine Cones and Icicles

Simple, natural pine cones are as much a part of Christmas decorations as brightly coloured glass ornaments.  They're adaptive to any decor, whether rustic or sophisticated.  I've collected many over the years, and given them all away, only to collect them all over again.   

Pine cones will last for decades, decorating a mantle piece or doorway Christmas after Christmas. Icicles, on the other hand, need to be preserved in photographs.   

Icicles are formed by the warmth of the Winter sun, melting the snow from the branches of a tree. The cold air freezes the water droplets, to form long icicles.  

These icicles were actually formed in another way:  an ice storm the previous day, froze the rain on the branches, gradually forming icicles.  The sunshine the following day, made everything twinkle. Nature's tinsel.

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Santa's Workshop and Snowflakes

Widow's Endorphins: Santa's Workshop and Snowflakes: At this time of year, my Toronto abode looks like Santa's workshop. Christmas cards and decorations in various stages of completi...

Santa's Workshop and Snowflakes

At this time of year, my Toronto abode looks like Santa's workshop. Christmas cards and decorations in various stages of completion, creating happy clutter everywhere!  With the first snow of the year, falling softly on the city, I took advantage of the subdued light, and took a few photos of this year's ornaments.

I've made handpainted glass ornaments every Christmas for more than a dozen years.  Some years, the orbs have been painted in rich jewel tones.  Last year, I introduced turquoise, copper, and gold to the collection.  This year, I've been playing with sugarplum colours.

No two are ever alike.  What's more, they change - evolve - every day until they're dry.  The magic happens when the painted glass is turned upside down, allowing the paint to slowly drip and dry.  The process takes five to seven days.  Not one to stand around watching paint dry?  Keep turning and swirling the glass orbs, creating new pathways for the paint to travel.  

One year, I had the brilliant idea of placing them all along the baseboard heaters to speed up the drying process.  Rivers of paint poured from the glass orbs, leaving them bare as light bulbs.  I had to start all over again.

Like the snowflakes falling outside the window, each ornament is uniquely different.  They're a metaphor for all that is great about living in a multi-cultural society.  My city is one of the most multi-cultural on the planet.

Yesterday, digital media shared a speech, which former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau gave to the Canadian-Ukrainian Congress in Winnipeg, in 1971.  For young readers, he was Justin's Dad. Pierre Trudeau said,

"Uniformity is neither desirable nor possible in a country the size of Canada.  We should not even be able to agree upon the kind of Canadian to choose as a model, let alone persuade most people to emulate it.  There are few policies potentially more disastrous for Canada than to tell all Canadians that they must be alike.  There is no such thing as a model or ideal Canadian.  What could be more absurd than the concept of an "all-Canadian" boy or girl?"  

"A society which emphasizes uniformity is one which creates intolerance and hate.  A society which eulogizes the average citizen is one which breeds mediocrity.  What the world should be seeking and what in Canada we must continue to cherish are not concepts of uniformity, but human values: compassion, love and understanding."   

  

Working in Santa's Toronto workshop, I'm reminded of the heartfelt and powerful eulogy the current Prime Minister gave at his late Father's funeral.  He recounted how, on one of his Dad's Prime Ministerial trips to the military/research station in Alert, in Canada's far North, he was taken by jeep to a secret facility.  Little Justin was hoisted up to peer through a window of the only red building on the base.  He saw a man, hunched over a cluttered workbench.  He was wearing a red suit, with white fur trim.  At that moment, he knew how powerful his Dad was:  he knew Santa Claus!

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.    

Widow's Endorphins: White Orchids

Widow's Endorphins: White Orchids: It is a sad case of mistaken identity.  Beautiful, elegant  Phalaenopsis Orchids  are commonly known as Moth Orchids, all because of...

White Orchids

It is a sad case of mistaken identity.  Beautiful, elegant Phalaenopsis Orchids are commonly known as Moth Orchids, all because of what a South Pacific explorer thought he saw.  Back in the 1750's, a Swedish Naturalist, discovered the orchids on the Indonesian island of Java.  Peering through his field glasses, Peter Osbeck mistook the orchids for a swarm of moths, and the name Moth Orchid has remained for nearly 270 years.

The Victorians thought they were the very symbol of luxury and refinement - even, royalty.  Although a staple of modern supermarket floral departments, they are still thought of as a luxury.  In reality, they are one of the most economical flowering houseplants.  These orchids will bloom for four to six months, before going into a dormant stage for a year or two. With small sips of water (only 60cc or two ounces a week), they will live to bloom again.

The orchid's gracefully arching branches, create a sense that the blossoms are ballerinas leaping in mid-air.  I love the white orchids for their simple elegance.  They're also very colourful.  The Phalaenopsis Orchids come in a variety of colours and patterns, including deep magenta, soft pink and bright yellow, with tiny spots, or stripes.

These were photographed in the late afternoon sun, against a backdrop of my favourite Japanese paper.

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Rainy, Foggy Days

Widow's Endorphins: Rainy, Foggy Days: It's that time of year when Autumn's vibrant colours are set against a backdrop of slick black, smokey greys, and muted greens...

Rainy, Foggy Days

It's that time of year when Autumn's vibrant colours are set against a backdrop of slick black, smokey greys, and muted greens.  Maple leaves, on my walk through Squirrel Alley, as my friend calls it, look like a Japanese print - the rain reviving the bold crimson, orange, amber, yellow and green on the deep black and silver surface of the pathway. 

Bougainvillea against the fog shrouded trees.  The vibrant colour is muted in the low light, allowing the veins of the paper thin flowers to show off.  As the fog dissipates, the vibrant magenta colour becomes bolder.  

The last rose to bloom on my balcony.  A lone Oscar Peterson rosebud, braving a near freezing late October day.  This last rosebud is different from the rest - the piano key white never revealed itself. The last rose is the palest apricot, pink and yellow.  As the curtain draws on the show season, the Oscar Peterson rose takes a quiet bow.

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Postcard to Heaven

Widow's Endorphins: Postcard to Heaven: Having a wonderful time.  Wish you were here. Photograph Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images ...

Postcard to Heaven

Having a wonderful time.  Wish you were here.

Photograph Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Inc.

Widow's Endorphins: Happy Thanksgiving!

Widow's Endorphins: Happy Thanksgiving!: Giving thanks for life itself...for each breath and heartbeat.  Giving thanks for the love and kindness of family, and friends. Giving...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Giving thanks for life itself...for each breath and heartbeat.  Giving thanks for the love and kindness of family, and friends. Giving thanks for the beauty of nature, and the abundance of our planet.

Photograph Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Echinacea, It's Nothing to Sneeze At!

Widow's Endorphins: Echinacea, It's Nothing to Sneeze At!: Echinacea is more than just a pretty flower.  It is a recognized immune system booster, first used by the Indigenous people of North A...

Echinacea, It's Nothing to Sneeze At!

Echinacea is more than just a pretty flower.  It is a recognized immune system booster, first used by the Indigenous people of North America for relief from cough and sore throat.  For those of us who use it to prevent colds, we owe a debt of gratitude to two men who met back in the early 1950's.

Before we get to that story, a little about the plant itself...  

Echinacea gets its name from the Greek word, echinos, meaning hedgehog.  The perfect name for this flower!  Echinacea comes in purple, magenta, white, yellow and cream.  Besides the prominent, cone-like, "hedgehog" centres, the flower has petals which point downward.

They may look like a crowd of people with umbrellas, however, these are not rainy day plants. Echinacea is a member of the Sunflower family.  It won't grow in the shade.  Think of the wide Prairies, and plant Echinacea in a spot that gets full sunlight all day.

They're very hardy, and survive year after brutal year of Eastern Canadian Winters.  These drought resistant perennials withstand temperatures from -40C (40 below on the Farenheit scale), to 40C with the humidex (that's 104F)!

The flower, and its roots have been used medicinally by the Cheyenne, Lakota, Crow, Comanche, and other indigenous tribes forever.  It was introduced to European settlers, and in 1737 the plant and its medicinal use was described in John Clayton's Catalogue of Plants, Fruits, and Trees Native to Virginia.    

In 1953, Alfred Vogel, his wife and daughter, travelled from Switzerland to the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA. There, he met an Oglala Lakota Medicine Man, Ben Black Elk, who taught him how to use Echinacea externally for wounds and snake bite, and internally for cough and colds.

Black Elk gave him Echinacea seeds which Vogel took back to Switzerland, and cultivated.  His naturopathic medicines grew out of the time Black Elk spent sharing with him generations of knowledge about the plant.  The A. Vogel company website says, "the plants grown from these seeds were the basis for Alfred Vogel's experiments with Echinacea, which became his most important healing plant".

 

Alfred Vogel died in 1996, at the age of 94.  The statue in the garden museum in Teufen, Switzerland shows him carrying a bouquet of Echinacea.

Ben Black Elk died in 1973, at the age of 74.  His lifelong passion for his Lakota heritage, earned him the title of the "fifth face" on Mount Rushmore.  His father, Nicholas Black Elk is credited with the revival of Indigenous culture, through poet John Neihardt's 1932 book, Black Elk Speaks.

One of Black Elk's descendants lamented that not one penny of the millions made in sales of the book, ever went into scholarships for their people.  As for shared profits from Echinacea sales, I have not found any mention of this either.     

Echinacea has been widely studied.  It has been proven to fight infection by stimulating the cells which heal the body from infection.  Echinacea stimulates phagocytosis, which is what happens when white blood cells and lymphocytes consume invading organisms.

A major warning: Echinacea is so good at stimulating the immune system, that it must be avoided by anyone with an autoimmune disorder, such as Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, or Multiple Sclerosis.

People who have had organ transplants, must take immunosuppressant medication to prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organ, or organs.  Echinacea counteracts that, potentially leading to organ rejection and failure.

Echinacea also has blood thinning properties, and may be harmful to someone taking blood thinners.

I've been taking it for thirty years.  While I have had the occasional history-making cold (headline: Woman Gets Man Cold!), it has kept me cold free year after year (that, and hand washing).

So, thank you to Ben Black Elk for so generously sharing generations of knowledge about the Echinacea plant, and thank you to Alfred Vogel for experiments and product development, so that millions of us can stay healthy through cold season!

Floral Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Inc.