For Cee’s FOTD
Double-fold
An idyllic excursion to the isle of Bora Bora
reveals a bit of trivia about the native flora.
If you like vanilla ices or crave a bit of flan,
choose a certain orchid to train attention on.
Hummingbirds that glide from flower to new flower
fertilize the orchids that cling to forest bower,
and the end result of these journeys here and there
is a wrinkled seed pod, hanging in the air.
All these fragile flowers, gorgeous to the eye,
give birth to vanilla pods and then proceed to die.
The triumph of their being revealed here in this seed
that mankind in its questing, mankind in its need
collects to sell as flavoring whose savor is so nice
that only golden saffron exceeds it in its price.
What triumph of nature—bounty that is hung,
as pleasant to the eye as it is to the tongue.
The Ragtag Daily Prompt today is GLIDE, Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) is IDYLLIC, Your Daily Word is EXCURSION, Word of the Day is TRIVA and Spur is TRIUMPH. Vanilla Planifolia Orchid, image from Wikipedia.Image of vanilla ice cream cone by Marie Dehayes on Unsplash, used with permission.
I took this photo of a hibiscus held captive outside a local paint store. I let my hibiscus go free!!!
For Cee’s FOTD
It isn’t very far from my studio in the garden to my bedroom door—just about 6 feet of sidewalk, then a twelve foot steep ramp that used to be just the wall beside the stairs down to the basement kiosk that I had added a hand railing to and maybe 8 feet across the patio, but laden with a lamp I’d just repaired, my computer, phone, two tubes of glue, an empty cup and my hank of keys, it was a bit of a balancing act. It was nearly 1 a.m. and pitch black outside and I had the studio to lock up and then the house to unlock. But when I saw the loaded hibiscus bush in full bloom at night, probably due to the motion-detector light that the dogs had been setting off all night-, I knew I had to take a photo. So, everything in my arms went down on the sidewalk while I searched for my phone, with no success! So, about face, open the door and the search for the phone began. I finally had a flash of memory of putting the phone on the grinder when I had used the bathroom earlier. On my way out of the studio for the second time, however, I noticed Diego tracking something along the ground and noticed a beautiful small beetle. Then, two more on the screen. So, if I hadn’t decided to photograph the hibiscus and if I hadn’t left my phone in the studio, I never would have noticed these two varieties of beetle that I’ve never seen before. Finding the treasures in adversity. One of the great learnings of life. Here is what I saw on my short way home from the studio tonight:
(Click on photos to enlarge.
This vine has been growing on the outside of my wall for nineteen years and I still don’t know what it is. On a whim, I snapped this photo not noticing what a wonderful background the color of the car parked across the street made for the little surreal still life the flowering vine formed. It’s the first good shot I’ve had of this flower in all those years.
ForCee’s FOTD.
