Seeing Purple

It only hurts when I bite my tongue!  The truth is, sometimes it's best to bite my tongue, because words are painful, and they can leave scars.  It's surprising how a moment, or a couple of days of quiet reflection will change my perspective.  When I do speak, it's with greater clarity, and power.

Allium flowers always remind me of fireworks...the perfect imagery for this conversation about emotional explosions and how to diffuse them.  Last week I was angry to the point of tears over something beyond my control...yet, something that I could control my reaction to.  It took days to get to that point. 

Allium is a member of the onion family.  Like an onion, a problem may have layers and layers of anger, hurt, and disappointment to peel away, before getting to the truth about it.  It helps to be able to articulate feelings, and the source of the anger.  So, after I ranted to friends, and my bathroom mirror (my mirror is a great listener), and told a few people off (also in front of the mirror), the irrationality of my anger became obvious.  My humour came back too (although it's in the bite your tongue category). 

Just because I knew I was irrational, didn't change the raw emotion.  For a walk I went.  The afternoon sun backlit many of the flowers in the park next door.  As I focussed my eyes, and my camera on beauty, my energy transformed.  I spent a blissful hour and a half in serenity and acceptance. 

 

From this calm, centred space within, I could more clearly see the source of my pain.  I was able to put myself in another's shoes, and accept them as they are.  There was nothing to forgive, since they had done nothing wrong.   

I deep breathe my way through the worst of life's experiences.  Some call it Mindfulness Meditation.  It has worked to calm and centre me through every crisis.  Deep breath in, one, two, three, four.  Hold it, one, two, three, four.  Exhale slowly, one, two, three, four.  Pause, one, two, three, four.  Deep breath in, one, two, three, four.  You can do this on a subway!

In that calm, my intentions clear, I visualize what it is that I truly desire.  Kinda like making a wish, and exhaling...  

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

Victoria Day In and Out of the Garden

My Victoria Day long weekend plans have had cold water poured on them!  Victoria Day is the unofficial start of Summer in Canada, and it is a Canadian rite of Summer, to work in the garden at least one day of the long weekend.  It's been pouring rain, and bitterly cold in Toronto.  So, I've turned to my blog, to share my virtual garden with you.

The Victoria Day weekend began on a high note.  Saturday morning was brilliantly sunny.  Cold, but sunny.  My Brazilian friend and I headed to a busy garden centre, looking for plants for my balcony garden.  After a long Winter of white and grey, and bare branches, the vibrant, intense colours of this year's annuals were hypnotic.

The first flowers to catch my eye were sunset coloured Passion Fruit Dahlias.   I love the blend of coral pink, and apricot colours!  Dahlias are sun worshippers, so these are going in South facing windowboxes, where they'll get at least six hours of direct sunlight a day. 

I have often planted fuchsia beneath taller dahlias or geraniums, giving the sun-sensitive fuchsias partial shade.  Look at these cascading fuchsia blossoms! 

The coral pink of the fuchsia petals are a close match for the coral pink dahlias...

We were strolling through the flower-filled parking lot, when a rack of vibrant and bright, Dark Get Mee Campanula caught my eye.  It is a wonderful compliment to the coral pink of the other flowers. Campanulas enjoy 3 to 6 hours of morning or late afternoon sun, in other words, they need to be tucked under other plants for shade.

And then it happened...my friend saw this gorgeous beauty hidden in a far bottom corner of a rack of fuchsia plants.  It took my breath away!
    

Fuchsias bloom from Summer, through Fall.  Over and over again.  While fuchsia blossoms are exquisite cascading from a hanging basket, Toronto's infamous windstorms have been known to toss hanging baskets off balconies, endangering anyone below.  In a high wind, these little ballerinas, look like Can-Can dancers at Cirque du Soleil.  They'll be potted in a sturdy, heavy container.

I also brought home this lovely, although nameless, dahlia.  In Saturday's sunshine, it looked more blue, than it did in Sunday's rain.  This one too, will be placed in full sun, where it will bloom perhaps as late as November.

For the first time, since moving to Toronto, one of my roses survived the Winter.  It doesn't have a tag, so I have no idea what it is.  I'll know for sure in about two or three weeks.  I think it was this one...

I am really curious about one of the roses which I brought home on Saturday.  It won't bloom for about two weeks.  The tag shows a dusky, almost purple floribunda rose.  Dramatically named Ebb Tide, it was another of my friend's great finds.  It has a spicy, clove fragrance similar to carnations.

A rose that I have photographed many times over the years, is the Chicago Peace Rose, and I brought another one home for this year's balcony.  As the blossoms age, the colours of the rose petals evolve from deep pink, to apricot, to the palest yellow, making it an ever-changing, always fascinating rose to photograph.

There are still more plants to add to the garden.  In addition to the geraniums or petunias, there are smaller flowers to fill in the window boxes and planters.  Mint, rosemary, and lavender also grow wonderfully on the balcony, and they combine beautifully with other container flowers.

Saturday and Sunday were too cold to get any planting done.  This morning, I woke up to sunshine! It's going to be a perfect day for planting!  The long range forecast:  the balcony will be ready within a week!

Happy Victoria Day!

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