Another Day, Another Dance

Since returning to Haitian dance, I feel like I have had to start over again.  I now have control over my left side, which seemed to wish to dance in its own merry way for some weeks, apart from whatever I was trying to do!  Today I felt as if my body were divided into four distinct quadrants, each with its own idea of how to dance.  Each time I go to dance, things are a little better, though.  It is a long journey back from the Styx.

My garden is beginning, just a little, to emerge: the Titan sunflowers I planted are beginning to sprout.  My four tomato plants are taking off, their new lengths needing to be tied to the stake every few days.  They have got a LOT of yellow flowers.  All the roses have blooms; my white rose, Elena, is probably going to be covered with perfect, creamy white roses in a few weeks.  Most amazingly, my blue columbines are thriving:  I have only seen them very, very briefly, as they are the first things the deer will eat if the gates to the deck are left open.  I also have red salvia for the hummingbirds, an enormous hollyhock (from seeds gathered near Bookshop Santa Cruz's old pre-earthquake site), milkweed for the monarch butterflies, and two types of mint (essential for a lemon-mint-eggplant soup I make which is so nice in summer--it can be served cold or hot).  I've also got a few pumpkins growing from seeds taken from Thistle's Halloween pumpkin (I like to salvage seeds).  Of course, there are the usual suspects:  blue and white morning glories, calendula, cosmos, and nasturtiums.  My garden is never without those flowers.

One thing I have been very happy to find are places that sell hard-to-find seeds.  I am going to plant what are called "pink fairy lanterns" which are native to this area and which once gave me enormous hope when I was in a very hopeless state of life many years ago...they just appeared in front of my house, next to the water meter, of all places, like unbidden magic.  This is what they look like:

They are also known as "globe lilies".  They are truly a "lily of the field"--they are native to Northern California, as I said.  The variety I am planting is a bit more on the pink side.  Imagine coming across these in a deep blue sadness, where everything looked gray and impossible, and then these magic pink flowers!

Well, it is time for me to get to sleep--thank you for stopping by Planet Joanie!