Lotus Flowers & Tea for Two

I finally passed my 100 face mask goal milestone, so I am rewarding myself with a brief break from sewing this morning to sip some coffee and post some photo challenge pics for Cee’s Flower of the Day.

I love lotus flowers, however, I was not able to find any photos that I had taken of a true lotus flower… or even a waterlily cousin! Sorry, Cee! …so this is the next best thing! 🙂

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These beautifully beaded and handpainted Lotus flower earrings were crafted by a Maine Penobscot artist, Jo-Ellen Loring Jamieson. Her tribe is one of four tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy, where my ancestors can also be traced back, so I was thrilled to commission her talent for these earrings I wore to the All Tribes DC gathering. To the Wabanaki people, the Lotus flower symbolizes transformation and the double curves are a symbol of unity. Both are as meaningful to me now as we navigate our uncertain days ahead together. If you would like to see more of Jo-Ellen’s work, you can visit her site at Fisher Clan Creations. ❤

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While I realize these are not actually photos of lotus flowers, I decided to share these blooming flower tea pods which remind me of the delicate lotus petals that emerge and open above their floating leaves. A few years ago, one of our daughters had a sudden interest in all things Japanese, Manga and of course… Tea! I found these jasmine green tea pods that open when added to boiling water, and they were a huge hit… so magical to watch!

If you have some Lotus flowers to share, join in the photo challenge fun by visiting Cee’s site: FOTD – April 24 – Lotus

I Can Almost Smell the Roses

My new “Gertrude Jekyll” David Austin rose

I have been looking forward to contributing to Cee’s Flower of the Day Photo Challenge, so I jumped at the chance to add to the Rose galleries…

After landing myself in bed two winters ago with a horrible flu that lasted for weeks, I watched every Monty Don show I could find on cable! I eagerly waited for Spring to go on the hunt for roses, so imagine my delight when I went to a local nursery and found my first David Austin rose bush! I have read that they can sometimes struggle in our unfamiliar ground, but I amended the soil like a pro & mulched her up! Last summer was particularly hot for us, as well, so while this little “Gertrude Jekyll” bush had a rough start, I’m hoping for the best this year. Here in Maryland my rosebushes are just beginning to leaf out, but the few blooms I got last summer were absolutely gorgeous!

Another bush I could not pass up was this HUGE beauty that I saw while I was at Home Depot buying vegetable plants. I have never seen roses this massive before – they were larger than my hand! Once in the ground, the blooms seemed to become more ‘regular sized’, so I’m curious to see what they do this season. Either way they smelled divine and certainly had staying power… I found a photograph of one remaining rose that held on into November! That’s pretty impressive when our temperatures can drop below 30 degrees F here in Zone 7a. So that’s a bit of inspiration for resilience found in nature and inspiration for the day…

Just keep on keeping’ on, Friends! ❤