March 4th

March 4th is the only day of the year, that when spoken aloud in English, is a declaration of intention to go forward.  March forth!  How cool is that?  Ever since I was a little girl in Grade One, and heard my teacher say the date out loud, it has been my personal New Year's Day (I'm a little slow to get rolling on the year).

This is the time of year when my creative energy wakes up.  Whether it is the longer daylight hours, or the little signs of Spring all around, my creativity comes out to play!  There's a wild unruliness that takes over every one of my creative projects.  There's always a moment when I say, "what have I done?!!"  It's important to keep going...keep going forward...

Beware comparing yourself to others.  We all progress at our own pace, in our own way.  My friends are amazing photographers, and they inspire me to do better.

Unlike painting a carpet on the livingroom floor, digital photography is far less messy, and mistakes can be deleted.  It's fun to play with colour and light on the computer.  I have painted all the walls in my home, so changing backgrounds is as simple as carrying a vase from the dining room, to the living room or bedroom...or, changing the colour on the computer (if only painting walls and ceilings were that easy!)   

 

The reflected light from fresh fallen snow on the balcony is another great background!  Can't do this in July!      

Happy March 4th...Onward and upward!

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

Thank You Thirty Thousand Times!

I believe in celebrating milestones (actually, any excuse for a party).  It is so important to express joy, and gratitude for every special moment in our lives, and in the lives of those we love and care about.

Widow's Endorphins has been viewed 30-thousand times!  I am so grateful to each one of you for taking time to read this blog, look at the photographs, and perhaps share the posts with your friends.  WE could not have done this without YOU!

In just over three years, I have published 335 blogposts.  There are a few which have resonated with readers - both men and women.  Gone Fishin' from September of 2015 is one of my favourites, perhaps because it describes a turning point in grief.  Let me know if you too, see the photobombing fisherman in the shadows.  

http://widowsendorphins.blogspot.ca/2015/09/gone-fishin.html

Earlier this year, the Groundhog Day post, I'm Not Afraid of My Shadow! spoke for so many.  We all experience self doubt, often questionning whether we are worthy.  Since that February post, I've continued to push myself out of my comfort zone, and others have too.  It's been liberating.  For those who haven't read it, here it is again...

https://widowsendorphins.blogspot.ca/2018/02/im-not-afraid-of-my-shadow.html

The most popular Widow's Endorphins blogpost?  Naturally, one on gratitude!  It is with deepest gratitude to each of you, that I respost this blog, from September of 2017 called, Gratitude.  

https://widowsendorphins.blogspot.ca/2017/09/gratitude.html

The cover photograph of an apricot rose and pale pink ranunculus features the iconic Paris landmark, the Arc de Triomphe in the background (it's an empty caramel candy tin).  When I started writing Widow's Endorphins, I said that endorphins were natural pain and stress relievers, and that flowers and floral photography were my endorphins.  I know my life would not have been as rich without this cathartic process...I also know that in a sense, it has helped me triumph over aching grief.  It feels good to laugh again!

If you're curious, the top ten most viewed blogposts are:

Gratitude  September 25, 2017
Time is a Gift  March 25, 2018
Healing the World, One Heart at a Time  October 5, 2017
Fifty Shades of Pink:  If Lipstick Could Talk  March 31, 2018
Paper for the First Year  October 11, 2017
I'm Not Afraid of My Shadow!  February 2, 2018
La Vie en Rose:  Life Through Rose Coloured Glasses  April 8, 2018
Au Revoir, Mum  June 28, 2017
March Forth  March 3, 2015
Fairies, Butterflies and Ladybugs  August 27, 2017

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

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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

Hyacinths

The sweet perfume of hyacinths is once again wafting through Toronto markets.  We have a 16th Century German doctor, whose name sounds like lion heart raw wolf, to thank for these beautiful and intoxicatingly fragrant flowers.

Leonart Rauwolf (which means rough wolf) was a physician, botantist, and published travel writer whose claim to fame was a three year journey from Germany to Iraq, via the Mediterranean.  In 1573, he left his Augsburg, home in Germany's Bavaria region, and travelled to Marseilles, in the South of France.  From there, he travelled to Tripoli, Lebanon, and then on to Allepo, Syria, where he stayed until the following year, when he journeyed to what was then Mesopotamia.  Today, we would say Baghdad and Mosul, Iraq.  He followed much the same route back home, with a side trip to Jerusalem.  

   

Dr. Rauwolf returned to Germany with more than six hundred plants!  That's a lot of luggage on a trip!  Hyacinth plants were among his collection.  The plant was not unknown, it is found in ancient Greek myth, however, it had disappeared, and the botanist reintroduced it to Europe.

The plants with waxy, curled, bell-shaped flowers didn't look the way they do today.  Hyacinths of old had only a few flowers on a stem.  Commercial growers in the Netherlands and the UK have produced compact, multiple florets on hyacinths.  Hyacinth is available in deep pink, baby pink, yellow, cream, and white.  The most popular are the light blue, lavender, and deep purple varieties.

The unforgettable fragrance of hyacinth is indescribable.  It is a sweet, floral scent with the light freshness of a Spring rain...yet, it is powerful enough to fill every room in a house with fragrance.  As the days pass, the fragrance becomes slightly bitter, and it's time for a fresh bouquet!  Hyacinth combines well with tulips and pussywillows, which are unscented.   

Hyacinth is from the Greek Hyakinthos, a young man the gods Apollo and Zephyrus were training in manhood.  In this Greek tragedy, Zephyrus, the god of the West Wind becomes jealous watching the sun god, Apollo teaching Hyakinthos how to throw a discus.  He blows the discus off course, and it strikes Hyakinthos in the head, killing him.  Blood flows, and out of the blood, a hyacinth flower grows.  Who says Greek tragedies aren't pretty? 

In researching Dr. Rauwolf's travels, I came upon a wonderful description he wrote of something which was new to him: coffee drinking!  "A very good drink they call Chaube that is almost black as ink and very good in illness especially of the stomach.  This they drink in the morning early in the open places before everybody, without any fear or regard, out of china cups, as hot as they can, sipping it a little at a time". 

Wake up and smell the coffee...and the hyacinths!

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

Hello Spring!

It's the first day of Spring.  The Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere started at 6:28:40am. The exact moment many around the world ushered in Nowruz, the Persian New Year.  This is a time for rejuvenation and fresh starts. Wishing everyone a glorious season, and an extraordinary year! 

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

Thank You Fifteen Thousand Times!

WE did it!  Widow's Endorphins just reached 15-thousand views!  Thank you, dear blog readers for your support these past two years.  Looking forward to photographing more of the flowers which bring me such joy!

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

Pussywillows, Cattails and Other Tales

      Treasuring, remembering the promises of Spring   

Pussywillows, cat-tails, soft winds, and roses.

- Gordon Lightfoot, Lyrics and Music

Pussywillows, Cat-Tails (1968)

Folksinger and songwriter, Gordon Lightfoot grew up in Orillia, Ontario, one of many small towns in Canada's Muskoka region that swell with Summer tourists each year.  Lightfoot, who now lives in Canada's largest city - Toronto - would have spent his youth walking along country paths near lakes and ponds where the Pussywillows and Cattails (Bulrushes) grow.

Lightfoot is a legend in Canadian singing and songwriting, with:  If You Could Read My Mind, Did She Mention My Name?, Sundown, Carefree Highway, (That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me, Black Day in July, and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, to name only a few of his recordings. 

Orillia is also home to the Mariposa Folk Festival, which was founded in 1961.  Over the years, Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Buffy St Marie, Richie Havens, Donovan, Neil Young, Sonny Terry and Brownie Mcghee, Barenaked Ladies, Loreena Mckennit, and Serena Ryder have all played Mariposa.  

Like the Summer thunderstorms which blow across Muskoka, the Mariposa Folk Festival had a few stormy years.  In 1963, after wild, drunken brawls in the quiet streets of Orillia, the town council banned the folk festival.  So, in '64 the Mariposa Folk Festival took off for the big city of Toronto, where Lightfoot performed, Early Morning Rain for the first time.  Mariposa is Spanish for butterfly, and like the butterfly, the festival has moved many times over the decades, and is finally back in Orillia.

On it's Mariposa Folk Festival website, there's a quote from performer Chick Roberts, who said in 1985, "The history of Mariposa is not of any one person, it's the history of an idea.  Changing hands over and over again, Mariposa becomes like a folk tale...the myth survives and continues to fire the blood".     

There's a Polish folk tale about how Pussywillows came to be.  Kittens were chasing butterflies near the riverbank, when they fell into the water, and began to drown.  The mother cat's cries for help were heard by the willow branches.  The branches arched over, dipping into the river, and the kittens clung to them as they were lifted safely to shore.  Every Spring afterwards, the little kittens would reappear on willow branches.

There are many varieties of Pussywillows, however, the two most common are the small, snowy white, pearl shaped Pussywillow, and larger, Rabbit's Foot Pussywillow in these photographs.  The iconic, big, fluffy Rabbit's Foot variety stands on it's own, or in a floral arrangement.

This being the Ash Wednesday, and the first day of Lent, it is worth noting that Pussywillows have a revered place in Catholic and Orthodox churches throughout the Northern Hemisphere.  Palms do not grow in Northern climates, so, on Palm Sunday, many churches in Europe give Pussywillow branches to their parishioners.  Pussywillows often appear in Easter floral bouquets,

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

A Hint of Spring

There's a sweetness in the air, and a lightness in the steps of people walking through the city.  As the days grow longer, the light itself has a lightness about it.  Spring is just around the corner...and up the street to the neighbourhood florist shop, or grocery store...

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