Natures Notes -- Flowers..Flowers..Everywhere But So Difficult to Draw

This post is for the Nature Notes meme hosted by Rambling Woods every Tuesday. I start this post with a picture that I drew. It's not a nice picture as I am very novice in painting but which I love to do. This painting is done in acrylic.



So many things are happening in garden right now, so many flowers are blooming or are on the way to blooming that I am at a loss of photographing them, taking down notes or taking care of them. More information about them will be coming slowly later on, especially as I prepare to write the summer season celebration meme for Donna of Gardens Eye View. So, I am cheating today by posting a painting. All my painting involves nature -- animals, forest, flower, sea-beach, mountains, meadows, etc. Oil and acrylic are my favorite medium. Do you like painting?

Cicadas are here in many parts of NJ (coming out of the soil after 17 years) though they are not here in our town. I went to a town about 20 minutes drive from here, closer to the NYC. The sound of the cicada was deafening; one has to experience it as words can't describe it; it is enough to say that the sound can make anyone stop in their path, stand still and get mesmerized by the sound. Here are the cuties on my hand and what happens to them when they die.

Every Dark Cloud Has a Silver Lining

To me the dark cloud was the mini jungle that I created in one long stretch of the garden. As you can see in the above pictures that the place is indeed a veritable forest taken over by overgrown grass, creeping ivy, violets, wild ginger, that unknown-bushy plant(tree) and Jerusalem Artichokes. But, now I am dancing on the moon. Because in my jungle, a snake has taken up residency :-). Twice I tried to take pictures, twice it slithered away so quickly that I could not take any. I can't even identify it. Online searches make me believe that it could be either of the following (eastern ribbon snake, queen snake or eastern garter snake though habitat-wise it cannot be queen or ribbon. But Who Knows? May be there is even a hidden water puddle somewhere there in that jungle):

All the three above pictures are taken from Wikipedia. I do not claim them as my pictures.

It looks shining black with whitish (yellowish or some light color)stripes running along its length. I could not count if it was two, three or more such stripes. It is about two feet (or could be more as it slithers into its hideout at lightening speed) in length. It basks in the sun in this asparagus patch:



Last year I found this snake slithering away from my garden to that of the neighbor.



I was sad to see it go to neighbor's garden. I wanted it to be in my garden. But, this year I am feeling so happy that I am feeling dancing and clapping around the garden (too bad that I can't do it; I will surely then be captured and taken to an asylum) for my friendly neighbor Snaky's presence. Also, there will be no chance that he will go back to neighbor's yard as this new neighbor has cut down and cleaned everything in his yard (only grasses left). All online research is also telling me that presence of snake signifies a very healthy ecosystem. I am so happy that at least I am being able to create such an habitat and contribute towards the health of Mother Earth. Not only snake but a sparrow and a sterling has made nest in our house this year. The sparrow has made the nest in our patio window slides, just above our head and within our reach. They must be crazy to make it so close that we can reach it by our hand! The sterling has made it in the roof (actually under the roof. There is this opening, I don't why, a small narrow one to the inside of the roof; they have made it there). Whenever I go out into the patio to tend my plants and seedlings, the Father-Sparrow comes out, sits on the patio railings, looks at me and chirps out loudly. I don't know what he is trying to say -- may be scolding me for being there and scaring the babies and asking me to leave; or perhaps giving out a danger signal; or may be begging for food as they all have seen me filling out the bird-feeders.

Lovely story and a video to go by with today's post. Careful, it can bring tears to your eyes. Here it is. Whatever knowledge you might have of snakes in garden, please share :-). By the way, dear bloggers, all these are non-venomous and very shy snakes. If these were poisonous, I was not going to have that wild dance :-).

In Loving Memory.....

Peonies are blooming. I saw them opening up yesterday (5/29/2013).



My mother, who suddenly passed away in 2012 due to doctor's blunder, simply loved them. She visited me for six months in 2010. That year the peonies bloomed in July-August. She had arthritic knees but still she would limp out into the garden to enjoy the atmosphere, smell the peonies, enjoy their beauties and complain about the beautiful roses for not having any good smell. Here is she:



She looks so sad in this picture because it was the last day of her visit with us. Now she is gone forever from this material-world but remains alive in our mind and heart. I am not a religious person and thus does not find any comfort in such thoughts as that she is in heaven or that one day I will meet her in heaven. But I still wonder where she might be now? Is death the end of all? What is birth? What is death? Is birth the result of mere combination of male and female reproductive cells or something more? Is death just the destruction of those cells or something more? Is it similar to us picking out the weed and thus killing them? Who is picking us out then and why? Are we becoming like weeds at certain point in our life? What is that point then and who makes the decision? If I have to believe that God is making such decision, then I also have to declare myself a Goddess as the decision of life and death of all living organism in my garden is in my hand. So no, I can't believe in God/Goddess and make my life easier.

What is this vast universe? The size of the observable universe is about 14 billion light years, that is about 82.3x10^(21) miles. It's diameter is 546.7x10^(21) miles. Can you imagine the size? And who knows what's beyond that? I wish I could travel throughout space and time, observe the Big-Bang and the parallel universes, feel the higher dimensions and find answers to many questions.

But I do not have any such luck or perhaps even in hundred years. Now all I can do is become depressed for this unknown life or roam around in graveyards, thinking about all the people there. It is so strange to think that buried underneath are people who once had so much dreams and wishes and memories; spent their lives just like us -- thinking, reading, writing, gardening, gossiping, enjoying; they also felt pain and got scared. But, now nothing is left of them but some inanimate skulls and bones. Or maybe they have already become compost?

So, what's the use of gardening when I don't know what will happen to this life or to this garden with my death? Observe, learn, get awe-struck, spread the good vibes, share, struck-up friendship, help other creatures and enjoy the beauty till death snatches me.......

In loving memory all I can do now is whisper to the air that the peonies have bloomed. You have now become one with air as all the atoms and molecules that made you have disintegrated in it. Wherever you are roaming around now, I hope the air takes the message to you. Perhaps your molecules are now floating around in my garden. Whatever air particles you breathed in, perhaps I am breathing in them now...