being and nothingness

Is it like the cosmos being sucked into a big black hole? Alternatively, is it like entropy, a vortex that somehow holds this universe in place and stops it from spilling into “empty space” similar to a smoke ring.
Is it something dissolving into nothingness? This cannot be because then that something would have to be consumed by nothingness in the strict sense of nothing at all, no content, complete emptiness.
Is it just a sunflower?

GP

no oxymoron

Sometimes the mundane can be so, well, it can be extraordinary (oxymoron?).
I consider the Hosta or Plantain Lily as an ornamental used by architects to create low maintenances plantings -- thus for the most part somewhat mundane.
Then you see them bloom like below, where the flowers look like fine Art Nouveau jewelry. Not so mundane are they.

hosta

It’s funny how if you stop sometime and observe the ordinary, yes even the mundane, it can reveal its own intrinsic majesty to you.
It is as though we get these small glimpses of heaven surrounding us at times; what life is without the strangeness of death and decay.
You may see this as the cycle of life – birth / death, the ying and yang. As an eternal being, I recognize the living God, the God of love. I still find death perversely strange and that’s why I cling to the love of God! I guess that is why the killing of an innocent person on my behalf also seems so extraordinary.

This God is not a god represented by clay or bronze sculpture, prayer wheel or tolling bell but the formless God of love, known as I AM or Father. I want to live in the presence of complete love forever and not die as in NO MORE, utter nothingness.
There is nothing I can do in life to earn this, not enough prayer wheels to turn or bells to chime, simply put it is a unconditional gift of love from God; as it should be.

GP

obedience PLANtS

Obedience is something that I lack entirely. As difficult as it is for me to comprehend it has its own transcendent beauty. I guess I could use more of it.

obedience plant
Physostegia virginiana

"Obedience Plant" is called such, because if the flowers are twisted on the stem they will remain in position.

I think of it as “ephemeral Bonsai” or “temporal art”, when I look at them and think that I could manipulate them into geometric forms with wire.

GP

hibiscus

Three reasons for loving mid-summer.

The Rose of Sharon has come into bloom in our garden. We have three different varieties that dazzle our eyes. The first is the national flower of Korea, “The Rose of Sharon” which is native throughout Asia and India. The second is a hybrid of this shrub, a “Double Bloomed Rose of Sharon”, and comes in diverse colours. The third is a native Hardy Hibiscus which grows native to our climate and which I have not represented here by photograph but will once I have a better image.

Rose of Sharon - Hibiscus syriacus

Double-Bloomed Rose of Sharon

Tropical Hibiscus

This Tropical Hibiscus has been in my possession for more than 25 years and grows in my studio in the winters, spending the summers on our deck.

I love them all and the many colours they now come in. They make the mid-summer that much more joyful with their radiant blooms and the hummigbirds that flock to them.

dragonfly

This is one reason I love summer, I can be distracted by the most common and yet wonderful of things such as the beauty of this Dragonfly up against my tool shed. In the small and large of insect world, all have their own unique intrinsic beauty.

Funny thing is that while I realize the above to be truth I still have an aversion to some insects such as Maggots, White Grub Worms (I squish them between my fingers) and Ear Wigs. Whatever beauty is in these I still have yet to discover.

Yes just another paradox in my life! Then again, I ask you if I loved insects as Francis Assisi loved birds and animals would they make me a saint? Just a thought.

GP

summer

Yes summer is a fine time of the year.

I'm still alive and grateful for it!

Well I haven’t died in fact I’m very much alive. I may feel like I’m somewhere between life and death, caught in a type of living purgatory but I’m here. I’ll always choose life over the alternative because life is such a wonderful gift, all of it.

I haven’t felt much like writing lately as you can see. Summer is so wonderful and I have so much to do. Go to the cottage, the beach, holidays, work etc. I seem to like writing in the cooler seasons of the year.

I went out and bought a new camera yesterday. It’s a sweet rig and I’m so happy to have this new tool to document my work and take wonderful pictures. I bought this camera because of what it can do, as seen below in these two photos of Echinacea flowers from our backyard.

Magenta Echinacea with Bee
click to enlarge

White Echinacea
click to enlarge

This camera can shoot up to 1.25 inches from the object; it is great for macro images of flowers. Did I say I love it? In case you are wondering, the camera is a Nikon COOLPIX 8800 Digital.

When fall comes, I’ll get my proverbial ass back in gear and load a hundred or so images from my garden that I took this summer. For now thanks for caring and know that I'm busy in the garden.

Yes, I got a new toy and what a toy it is!

GP