Easter cactus?

I began collecting Christmas cactuses (cacti) last winter. I have a couple of big ones, some little ones, and some very little ones I propogated myself.

I've been studying up to know when to fertilize, and with what fertilizer. This month I'm supposed to start adding fertilizer for leaves, and set them outside in the shade in the summer months. Then in the fall begin applying fertilizer for blossoms at Christmas time.

So, hello! Why are my "Christmas" cacti blooming for Easter?

At first it was disconcerting. Then it began to sink in (aside from the obvious "resurrection" theme).

They are a "bloomin'" example of getting rid of boundaries! Who says Christmas cacti can't bloom any other time of year? Who says WE can't flourish when least expected? In fact, who's to say one person's "life" season isn't another person's "dormant" season? Or vice versa? Christmas is the most depressing time of year for some, made worse by "society's" expectations for joy and mirth.

So why should spring get flowers it doesn't expect? Who knows? Just more questions without answers.

Thank you, dear Cosmos, for this colorful surprise.

I wonder if they'll "rest" at Christmas?

Ok, now that I've had my philosophical rant, any horticulturalists have answers? Rachel?

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Visit my new blog: Paris deconstructed

I hope you will visit my new blog: Paris deconstructed. If you love something as much as I love that city, why not create its own blog?

This blog, Synchronizing, will continue. Paris deconstructed may have less frequent posts, perhaps weekly.

See you there!

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A poem: The Curl of Satisfaction

The Curl of Satisfaction

The fourth grade girl did not yet know the lesson
of waiting, so she gave her teacher, my husband, the bluebird
house she had built for her own yard
and watched while it remained unpopulated
two seasons.

He nailed his birdhouse gift to a little gray poplar
in our field and we waited another two years.

We studied bluebirds,
knew we’d have to clean out the house
for another family next year, if a family ever came.

Today his arm stops me, pointing to the little poplar
twenty feet away where blue and orange ignite
a branch like a match flame: a male bluebird.

The female darts out of the birdhouse’s black hole
and eyes us from another branch.


The birds hesitate. They scoop to other trees
away from us. They postpone their nesting
until we are well away, until
when?

I’m learning to wait
for the curl of satisfaction that comes
more often than not. I hold
hope like a pilot light

until the time
that is no time, when reasonless beings burn:
Now.


- Ruth M. April 2006

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Graffiti

More on Detroit.

Last Saturday we went to the Cass Cafe where we hung out with Lesley. It's a bohemian place with original art for sale on the walls, yummy food with a spicy twist, my first authentic cherry coke with grenadine syrup (I know, I'm a loser never to have had the real thing).

Click on photo to see the RED in the bottom of the glass better.

Lesley told me I needed to visit the bathroom just to see the door latch, which is about ten times bigger than a normal door latch. You can see my 18-inch bag hanging on it, below. Strange proportions and perspective, eh?


This is another view in the women's stall. (I hope I didn't leave anything lewd in the photo, besides the fact of a photo in a bathroom stall itself being a bit lewd.)

This is in the men's stall (thanks, Don). This blows me away! It looks like a painting. Now who do you suppose took the time?

I love graffiti as an art form, in the right place. I'm glad Cass Cafe doesn't remove theirs.

Don't you love the artistic writing you see on trains and on the sides of buildings in certain cities? Not all of it is view-enhancing, obviously. But it's another instance where perspective matters.

Here's a site for trying out your name (or whatever) in a graffiti font.

Here's a great (if annoying at times) site for worldwide graffiti as art.

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Detroit houses

Since Lesley began studying at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit, we’ve been learning more about Detroit, exploring neighborhoods, and generally appreciating it as a community more. (She graduates this semester, and today she flies to Milan to represent her school at the Milan Furniture Fair! See my post February 16.)

Saturday we took her to lunch and explored the exhibits at her school, HER exhibits, our last visit before she graduates May 11.

We also explored two historic residential areas. I want to show some of Detroit’s houses. They're not as spectacular as mansions in many places, but I love them. The first, above, is in the Canfield historic district. The other two, including Jack White’s former residence (which one do you think it is? hint: the band White Stripes, everything in the band is black and white, hmm?), are in Indian Village.

Architect Albert Kahn was among the architects of homes in Indian Village. Edsel Ford among the home owners. The wide variety of architectural styles is amazing. Many people bought up these homes in the past few decades for a song since many need refurbishing.

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Happy Birthday, Don

I'm so glad you were born.

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The "end" of the rainbow

I know very little of the physics of our world, but what I "know" astonishes me. What I saw Friday driving home from work blew me away.

I saw the end of the rainbow! I don’t know how many rainbows I’ve seen in my lifetime, not all that many. Always, the ends of the colorful arc are hidden behind trees, clouds, buildings.

Friday, driving home in a mix of lightening and thunder, rain and hail, there was a rainbow, and sometimes a double rainbow (as you can see in the photo above). And most exciting was that the end of the rainbow was visible, which you can just see if you look closely at the zoom of the same view below, in front of the trees.

I know the prism is a result of the sun shining through the water molecules in the air, a physical law. But that the Creator decided to make it so beautiful, so complete and whole, is a sign that beauty, light and truth are at the center of all things.

The full spectrum of color, the same colors that clairvoyants see in our chakras – our own ever-present rainbow -- the perfect balance and symmetry, this is our fundamental truth! This is who we are, what the world is, why we need to peel away layers to see it as often and as regularly as possible. Our hope, our truth, our beauty, our light.

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