Monday, November 17, 2008

Christmas Cactus

Isn't this lovely? Honestly, all the variety in nature just boggles the mind. Sometimes I feel a little guilty about all the time and energy I spend making things and and just trying to make things pretty. You know, especially when I think of some of my friends who are nursing or teaching school children or practicing environmental law and such (God bless my brainy friends!). Then I think about how God could have had everything the same color, maybe a few designs of flora and fauna, but instead, look what he did.....He gave us so much color and variety. Animals that just make us stop in wonder! Some that are so odd looking that we just have to laugh. And then I realize that He made me the way I am and gave me that desire to create.

On a more practical note, my house plants have to be tough, since I frequently forget to water them. I just brought the last ones off the front porch today and even though we've had a few snow flakes already, they are still alive! I bought this Christmas Cactus last year and it spent the summer on the back porch. It's been inside for a couple of weeks now....I went into the living room today to water it and saw that it was bursting into bloom. Maybe it's a Thanksgiving Cactus!

A little indoor garden junk....I use little chairs as plant stands. This plant is sitting in a little wheelchair that my granddad made for his oldest daughter who had Spina Bifida. He designed a wheelchair that she could use herself, and would be low to the ground so she could play with toys on the floor like other kids. Sadly, back then they did not know how to operate for SB and she died when she was five. Grandaddy and Nana refined the design and added an option for a stroller handle and marketed them to hospitals. There's that creative thing again....but boy, inspired by their daughter, they really did think of something that helped people. Every time I look at that chair I think about how much they loved their kids.

3 comments:

Catherine said...

My Christmas cactus seems to randomly pick a holiday or two per year to bloom - Easter, Valentines Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and one year even Christmas.

A beautiful post!

Judy said...

Very nice post Joyce :).
Mine is blooming too and it used to not bloom at all and the one time it did was around Easter. I love the plant stand.

Peggy said...

You are correct. You were created to create. You keep it up! That story about your Granddad and Nana has me all teary-eyed.