call to the lorax

A rather alarming update on my beloved gothic garden: the evil overlord of our caravan park has come by my home 4 times this month and issued me a signed ' notice to quite' (with an eviction notice pending) regarding all of my gardens, some of which I planted 21 years ago. He already took down a 50 ft. cottonwood which provided much appreciated shade and plans to forcefully remove all other trees, shrubs and non-grass flora from my yard.

He claims the roots from the plants will brake the pipes and cables buried in the earth and that he is banning all gardens from the entire Orchard Grove Mobile Home Park (the name alludes to the thick irony of all this).  Many, many other people have much more extensive gardens than mine but he seems to be trying to use me as an example.

My neighbors now refer to this area as the Barren Flats Park. I've transplanted 2 rather large cherry trees, lilacs, plums, elderberries, Japanese maples, mulberry trees and potted up many other shrubs and herbs so that their roots will not touch his precious lawn. He informed me that all of my herbs look like weeds to him and must therefore be evacuated immediately. This little patch of earth outside my door now looks like a war zone with huge gashes, deep holes and random divots where life once to blossomed forth.

  

He is clearly picking on me at the moment but he says the other 199 homes will be dealt the same orders in the coming year...sod - sod- and more sod is his mantra. The chain saws are going all day long as he takes down 75 ft. tall trees in a manner that would certainly horrify the Lorax. Making matters all the less pleasant, he has a nasty communication style in which he has taken to calling me "Little Missy" when he is issuing his anti-garden demands...ugh.  Perhaps it is time for me to file a harassment claim with the city so they at least know that this guy is nuts...funny how his name is John NUTALL.

.

a single secret word

 

When geometric diagrams and digits
Are no longer the keys to living things,
When people who go about singing and kissing
Know deeper things than the great scholars,
When society is returned once more
To unimprisoned life, and to the universe,
And when life and darkness mate
Once more and make something entirely transparent,
And people see in poems and fairy tales
The true history of the world,
Then our entire twisted nature will turn
And run when a single secret word is spoken.

Novalis (1800)
translated by Robert Bly

(a u m . . . ) 

botanica gothica

Laurissa, Laurissa, quite contrary.

How does your garden grow?

With gothic darkness and

Bela Lugosi Lillies all in a nice little row.

With Bloodgood maples,

Double Purple Devil's Trumpet (Datura)

(and if Edward Gorey made sunflowers)  

the Black Knight Scabiosa can all be seen in the moon-glow.

With Black Salvia also known as S. salvatrix, Sage the Savior

(one of the ingredients of Four Thieves Vinegar, a blend of herbs used to ward off the plague, cuz heaven knows we all need some saving).

And Black Shiso leaves waiting to become salad du morte served with a side of fresh nightmare as the story goes.

The Garden, adorned in her Black Lace Elderberry, listens as the

Black Heart Sweet Potatoes,

and Dark Opal Basil sing haunting lullabys to each unsuspecting passersby.

We'll happily refill your goblet with a Stevia sweetened Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) tisan

 

as you speculate with the Dark Lord Geranium

about the mysterious note the Inky Fingers Colius left before he disappeared last night...

(I've been gardening moochoss-much this year. All of the above characters and many more happily or perhaps eerily, reside at Dasila's Euphorium Estates located centrally in the Orchard Grove Caravan Park.)

reason and passion

And the priestess spoke again and said:

 "Speak to us of Reason and Passion."

 And he answered saying:

Your soul is often times a battlefield, upon which your

reason and your judgment wage war against passion and

your appetite. 

Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul,

that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your

elements into oneness and melody.

But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the

peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the

sails of your seafaring soul.

If either your sails or our rudder be broken, you can

but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in

mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and

passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own

destruction.

Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the

height of passion; that it may sing; And let it direct your 

passion with reason, that your

passion may live through its own daily resurrection,

and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.

I would have you consider your judgment and your

appetite even as you would two loved guests in your

house. Surely you would not honour one guest above the other;

for he who is more mindful of one loses the love and

the faith of both.

Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the

white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of

distant fields and meadows - then let your heart say

in silence, "God rests in reason." 

And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes

the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the

majesty of the sky, - then let your heart say in awe,

"God moves in passion."

And since you are a breath In God's sphere, and a leaf

in God's forest, you too should rest in reason and

move in passion. 

-Kahlil Gibran  

(Yes, that is a D & D image above...grok the hilarity if you dare.) 

last night

Last night I had a dream-
a blessed illusion it was-
I dreamt of a fountain flowing
deep down in my heart.
Water, by what hidden channels
have you come, tell me, to me,
welling up with new life
I never tasted before?

Last night I had a dream-
a blessed illusion it was-
I dreamt of a hive at work
deep down in my heart.
Within were the golden bees
straining out the bitter past
to make sweet-tasting honey,
and white honeycomb.

Last night I had a dream-
a blessed illusion it was-
I dreamt of a hot sun shining
deep down in my heart.
The heat was in the scorching
as from a fiery hearth;
the sun in the light it shed
and the tears it brought to the eyes.

Last night I had a dream-
a blessed illusion it was-
I dreamed it was God I'd found
deep down in my heart.

~Antonio Machado

black water dragon

Happy New Year!!!
2012



















Water Dragons hatch from eggs and ascend to the heavens in the form of water spouts. They invoke power, strength, and good luck. The Year of the Black Water Dragon (the last one having been in 1952) represents good negotiations. Water calms the Dragon’s fire and the Black Water Dragon is far more perceptive of others’ needs, and is more likely to be progressive and diplomatic. This Dragon will act wisely and intelligently, making smart decisions – as long as they have been well researched.

morocco

As-Salamu Alaykum,



















Just off the sky boat from Spain and Africa.

Hope all is well with you.

.

metal rabbit

The Chinese New Year is February 3rd this year.

Good-bye year of the Tiger - Hello year of the Metal Rabbit.

(Although... there are whispers that he prefers to be called
The Iron Bunny, followed by the sound of a gong.)

















This is the ideal time to have a feng shui consultation for the upcoming year.
Hey...whadda ya know!
I have advanced certification from The American Institute of Feng Shui to do just that! Give me a call at Ling Ling Designs if the Metal Bunny needs to find a cozy nest in your home.