Lørdag, 15 Maj

Yes, it has been a while....

Spring, you know.

Busy.

The trees are finally planted in Dover. Look! A new lawn in the making too. I hope there is grass now, instead of the brown and green ground though. A few more trees arrived in the mail. They are potted up now and will spend the year with us here. Next year they will go over to the new house. In total we planted 15 trees.... four apples, three pears, and the rest assorted peaches, nectarines and plums. The persimmons are here with two blueberry bushes. The trees should be old enough and producing fruit ready for harvesting when we finally make our move to the coast.

I have been busy - sure I have. Let me think though...

Waiting in anticipation for the first blossoms of this rather bizarre plant. Val gave it to us about five years ago, it was a seven inch stick from the Flower Show in Philadelphia. The other stick died, but this one hung in there. It is not a "pretty" plant - or rather - tree. But it sure is interesting. The branches keep dividing into three and have these large stiff leaves at the ends. The branches sort of take turns producing big leaves. It's hard to explain... it's as if the plant only has so much energy, so each branch has to wait its turn.

The leaves don't last too long, they dry out and every now and then, if it is quiet in the house, you can hear the crash of a dried out leaf hit the floor. The leaves are about eight inches long, and are a dusty grey-green, stiff and curled up, dried skeleton of a leaf when they hit the floor. Completely devoid of life. Thunk.

This spring, though, there was a new addition to the cluster of branch nodes. As you can see in the picture, there are twisted pointy blobs. These are the buds! We weren't sure at first... but knowing what kind of plant it was supposed to be, sure helped in identification of the plant part.

It is almost certainly a blossom! Since we have no other track record to go by, we are anxious to see if this bud will ever become a true flower. We guardedly watered and tended the plant...moving it around the room to gain the most direct sun. Good thing it is on a rolling base. It is, of course, a tropical plant and we can't put it outside until it warms up. Two or three days of 90 degree weather in April doesn't really count as warm weather. I'm glad it didn't go out, surely the buds would have dropped off from the wind, if not the shock of an extra 30 degrees of warmth.

Finally, one day, the bud becomes almost a reality. I can smell it now....

though Alex thinks it doesn't have a scent. I will admit that it is a subtle fragrance, and maybe the heady scent we are accustomed to bring to mind comes from an abundance of blossoms, but it is just fine. I literally hold my breath around this flower. We have waited so long... will it ever fully open? It is taking its sweet time to do so. From just a thought of being a flower to being a flower has taken about four weeks.

Definitely worth waiting for.

Post script - the wait is over for at least three more weeks. The two blossoms, which fell off shortly after fully opening, are sitting in a glass cup on our morning table. They still are fragrant, but having fullfilled their destiny, have made way for other flowers to follow in their foot - hmmm, what,  stem? steps, and fallen from the tree.

Plumeria.

I continue in my quest for information about my family. Last week I scoured the listings of all the cemeteries in Queens County, Nova Scotia, where my father's side of the family lived before coming to the US. I am so fortunate to be able to sit in our study and look at all the names and dates that someone has so diligently copied down from the headstones, typed into a document that found its way to a group of interested people and finally was placed on the internet. It is amazing. I have visited two of the cemeteries listed and was in awe then. But now, I am impressed with the foresight that people around the world and in many ages have given to record their lives. In so many ways; diaries, lists, notes and letters, minutes of meetings, happy occasions, sad ones, momentous and quiet thoughtful times. Thank you all.

Yesterday, I poured through the documentation of ship arrivals in Boston - mostly for the novelty of it, but also to see if an ancestor who captained a ship had shown up on the list. He did. A few times. The entries in the document are sparse.

Ephraim Dean Schoonr Murray from N.F. Land with Soldiers as passengers September 1762 

Ephm Dean Schoonr Molley from Hallifax Leuts Newton & Weston officer,Mr. Greenleaf Docts., Capn Scott Marrins and sundry others as per List now sent

Ephraim Dean ye sloop Two Brothers from Hallifax with Mr. ONeal a Trader in 1763

and lastly,

Ephraim Dean Sloop Two Brothers from Hallifax March 1 1764 with doct Kannady His Wife & Servt, Mr. Grant a Soldier His wife & 3 Children, Gardner Greenleaf a Shoemaker, John Mackdonel a Butcher,John Donlop a Gentlemn, Willm Donlop a Cooper, John Dount a Butcher, Paul Padert a Marriner.

 
There are no further arrivals by Ephraim Dean, or the sloop Two Brothers - which seemed to have changed owners at least five times in the years between 1714 and 1762. And there is a big gap in time between 1716 and 1762. I wonder if the papers are lost, or just not entered into the computer. In any event, I feel so much closer to these distant relatives. Just catching a glimpse of where and when these folks were walking on this earth, or rather sailing upon these seas, touches me. Perhaps it is my DNA stirring in recognition of some sort of cosmic vibration.
 
It's odd. I have so much information on my father's side of the family, but hardly any photographs. On my mother's side, lots of photographs, but little information. That we lived as children surrounded by uncles and their families on our grandfather's farm probably had a lot to do with it. More than that though, one family was a family of photo takers, and the other was not. Then again, going through my father's drawers of photographs, I have to say, he did very well in the photo department! He certainly made up for the family especially in his later years after he moved overseas.
 
People are funny, no?
 
Here are a few of my recent hand made endeavors ... to prove that I'm not a total slacker....
 
 

New bead styles and/or new glass experiments

Playing with roses - trying to hone some skills...

New style inspired by Haley Tsang using her murini - I'm taking a class with her in two weeks - yay!

and finally...

 
Something to while away the evening hours ... the beads are large enough to see at night ;-)
 
See you next time!