Widow's Endorphins: Lilies for Easter

Widow's Endorphins: Lilies for Easter: Consider the lilies how they grow:  they toil not, they spin not, and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arra...

Lilies for Easter

Consider the lilies how they grow:  they toil not, they spin not, and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Luke 12:27

Glorious lilies are the very symbol of Easter, and whether you choose the dramatic, pink speckled Stargazer, or white Oriental Lilies (above), or the traditional Easter Lily (below), you'll say, "Hallelujah", each time you gaze upon them!

What we call the Easter Lily, was once known as the Bermuda Lily.  In the 1880's a woman brought bulbs from Bermuda to her Philadelphia home.  For the next forty years, the Bermuda plant's popularity was in full bloom!  That is, until the Bermuda bulbs developed a disease.  Japan's Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa is the largest) then became a major source of Easter Lily bulbs for North America.

At about the same time, in 1919, a returning World War I soldier, Louis Houghton, brought home a suitcase full of hybrid lily bulbs, and gave them to family and friends on the Oregon coast.  The climate was perfect, and by the time Pearl Harbor put an end to trade with Japan, there were 12-hundred growers in Oregon and California, producing bulbs.

Today, the US Westcoast, along the Oregon-California border, is known as the Easter Lily Capital of the World.  Almost all of the Easter Lily bulbs - about 12 million of them - are shipped from there, to commercial greenhouses in Canada and the US.  Easter Lilies are not as popular as Christmas Poinsettias, however, they are the number four biggest seller in the potted plant market, just behind Chrysanthemums and Azaleas.

If you're wondering about the fate of the Bermuda Lily.  It lives!  Each year, Bermuda airlifts lilies to Windsor Castle, as a gift to the Queen.

The queen of the cut flower world, Stargazer Lilies, are the creation of eccentric hybridizer, Leslie Woodriff, an Oregonian who moved to California in the late Sixties.  He was obsessed with creating a spicy perfumed lily with stunningly beautiful, vibrantly coloured, large blooms.

Working from what has been described as a ramshackle home and greenhouse, he experimented with the fragrant, bell-shaped Oriental Lily, and the upright, colourful Asiatic Lily.  Oriental Lilies have a powerful fragrance, however, their large blooms face downwards.  Woodriff would gather pollen from one lily, and brush it onto the stamen of another.  He rarely kept research notes, so the exact parentage of his amazing Stargazer Lily is unknown.  One day, in the mid-Seventies, there it was:  the most beautiful, fragrant lily he had ever seen, and the vibrant pink, speckled blossoms were facing upwards, towards the stars!

Woodriff didn't make a penny from the world's favourite lily.  His business partner got the patent rights, and marketed the lily.  Money isn't everything.  There is more to life...
    

Lilies and Easter go back to Jesus himself.  In telling his disciples, (and this is translated into modern English) "...don't worry about your life, as to what you will eat, nor for body, as to what it will put on.  For life is more than food and body more than clothing.  Look at the lilies how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet, Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are..."

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

Widow's Endorphins: It's Spring, Happy New Year!

Widow's Endorphins: It's Spring, Happy New Year!: Spring has arrived, if only on the calendar in some Northern lands.  A time of rebirth and renewal, no wonder it is the Persia...

It's Spring, Happy New Year!

Spring has arrived, if only on the calendar in some Northern lands.  A time of rebirth and renewal, no wonder it is the Persian New Year - Nowruz.  Sometimes spelled, Norooz, it means, "new day", and it has been celebrated each Spring for more than three thousand years in Iran, as well as parts of Turkey, Afghanistan and Syria.

If you are fortunate enough to be invited to an Iranian home for lunch or dinner, you may see a table laden with decorated eggs, grass and goldfish - these are not on the menu!  At this time of year, almost every Iranian home, restaurant and cultural centre decorates tables with symbols of the new year.    

It is called, Haft-Seen and features seven symbolic items all beginning with the letter "S", or Seen:
Sabzeh, or sprouts, represented by the sprouted wheatgrass to symbolize rebirth.
Samanu, an elegant, creamy pudding made of common wheat sprouts, symbolizes tranformation.
Seeb, or apple represents health (certainly in European culture).
Senjed, the dry Lotus fruit, represents love, because who wouldn't fall in love under the boughs of the fragrant lotus tree in full bloom?
Seer, the Persian word for garlic, which everyone knows is healthy, represents medicine.
Somaq, or sunrise coloured Sumac berries, represents good conquering evil, at sunrise.
Serkeh, or vinegar represents age and patience.

These are the seven traditional items...but wait, there's more!  A mirror, to reflect on Creation. Candles for each child in the family, represent happiness and enlightenment.  A basket of painted eggs representing fertility.  Coins for wealth and prosperity.  Earth floating in space is represented by an orange floating in water.  Goldfish in a bowl represent life, and the end of the old year.  Hyacinths and Narcissus and rosewater grace the table with beauty.

It is surprising how many of the symbols are universal.  Spring is truly a time of rebirth and renewal - for all of us.

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

Widow's Endorphins: Modern Ireland

Widow's Endorphins: Modern Ireland: Happy St. Patrick's Day!  All around the world, we celebrate the Patron Saint of Ireland, who died March 17th, in the year 461....

Modern Ireland

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  All around the world, we celebrate the Patron Saint of Ireland, who died March 17th, in the year 461.  It was St. Patrick who created the Celtic cross, by adding the Irish sun symbol encircling the cross.  Legend has it, that St. Patrick taught the Irish about the Holy Trinity, using the Shamrock - a three leaf clover - to demonstrate the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  North American celebrations are more likely to include someone dressed as a Leprechaun, downing a pint of Guinness, while attempting a River Dance high step.

With all of the ancient symbology, and modern day iconic images, it is not surprising that we still think of Ireland as a rural land, of sod cutters and milk maids.  The Emerald Isle is also the land of Waterford Crystal, and headquarters for all of the major high tech companies.    

   

Modern day Ireland is sophisticated, entrepreneurial and young!  The country has the highest proportion of people under the age of 25, of any country in the European Union.  They are connected, too.  Internet access is available in more than 88% of homes in Dublin, and 82% in rural parts of the country.

Ireland is the world's largest exporter of software, since it is the point of export to all of Europe and the Middle East.  Dublin is the European headquarters for Google, Facebook, Paypal, Microsoft, eBay, LinkedIn and Airbnb.  Apple is headquartered in Cork, and Intel's offices are in Kildare.

Government statistics for Irish enterprises show that nearly two-thirds are using social media. Statistics for 2014, show 62% of Irish enterprises use social media in business, compared with 36% of businesses in the 28 member European Union.

Last year saw an almost 30% increase in the number of cars being licensed.  More than 92-thousand new private car licenses were issued.  Retail sales also rose, though by only 6.4%. Surprisingly, even with all of this spending going on in Ireland, credit card debt went down by 8.3% in 2015.

These feathery Parrot Tulips and beautiful, rose-like Ranunculus create a sophisticated, and modern St. Patrick's Day bouquet.  I bought these at Florigens Design, one of my favourite Toronto floral and urban botanical design shops.  The milk maid postcard is from my own collection of antique postcards, and the dark green cloth on the floor, is my favourite old cardigan sweater (in another life, it was Sir Walter Raleigh's cape).

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

Widow's Endorphins: March Forth, It's March Fourth!

Widow's Endorphins: March Forth, It's March Fourth!:   Next to Christmas, New Year's Eve, Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Mothers' Day, and Birth...

March Forth, It's March Fourth!

 

Next to Christmas, New Year's Eve, Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Mothers' Day, and Birthdays, I really love celebrating March Fourth!  It's a lonely festival, usually attended by me alone.  So, I'm on a mission to get you as excited as I am.  It is the only day of the year, that when spoken aloud in English, is a declaration for action. March forth! Go for it!

Some of us create a vision for ourselves on the eve of the New Year, or with sober second thought, the next morning. Others do this on their birthday.  There are even those who mix tax time with taking stock of their lives.  March 4th is good for me.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." These words are part of a powerful passage often attributed to "Germany's Shakespeare", writer, playwright, and philosopher poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Not exactly.

In 1950, Scottish mountaineer, William Hutchinson Murray led the first Scottish expedition to the Kumaon Range, in the Himalayas between Tibet and Nepal.  They attempted nine mountains, and climbed five of them - a 450 mile expedition. Talk about marching forth!

In his 1951 book, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition, Murray wrote about commitment, "...when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter.  We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts.  We had put down our passage money - booked a sailing to Bombay.  This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.  Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:  that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.  A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.  I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:  Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!"

Murray's reference to Goethe, has led many to falsely attribute everything he wrote to Goethe.  The last lines though, set the Goethe Institute on a two year search for the origin of the quote. Finally, in March of 1998, they discovered that it is from an 1835, "very free translation" of Faust by John Anster. In this translation, the Manager, in Prelude at the Theatre says,"...then indecision brings its own delays, and days are lost lamenting over lost days.  Are you in earnest?  Seize this very minute; what you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it".

What are you waiting for?  March forth!

I did not draw these Stargazer Lilies.  I've been experimenting with Picassa's pencil sketch option on my computer, to morph the photograph into a drawing.  My own tech version of the adult colouring book!

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