The trees have been struggling for the lack of rain. Last night we had the first really good rains of the season, and I’m hoping for many more new spring leafs in the coming week!
Category: flowers
King protea
The king protea has the largest flower of the protea family, and is the national flower of South Africa. It grows on a woody shrub that grows between 1 and 2 meters high. The plant is adapted to the wildfires that often rage through its habitat by a thick stem that remains underground. After a fire, the shrub resproutes from that stem.
Photo taken in Van Staden’s Wild Flower Reserve.
Keep on the sunny side
There’s a dark and a troubled side of life
There’s a bright and a sunny side too
Though we meet with the darkness and strife
The sunny side we also may view
(A.P. Carter)
Praise
Glory to you for the feast-day of life
Glory to you for the perfume of lilies and roses
Glory to you for each different taste of berry and fruit
Glory to you for the sparkling silver of early morning dew
Glory to you for the joy of dawn’s awakening
Glory to you for the new life each day brings
–
Gregory Petrov
Remember
The tenth of May is a special day for me, a family day. It is the day that my paternal grandparents – Egbert Kamps and Johanna Vrielink – married. It is also the birthday of my maternal grandmoter – Dina Roseboom-Noppers. Today I offer this rose in remembrance of my roots.
Welcome
Back in Lusaka we are greeted by these lovely yellow wild flowers that have sprung up literally everywhere besides the roads and on our campus. What a welcome!
Budding futures
“In a perfect world, there is no future,” I read yesterday in Sansal Boualem’s novel 2084. An interesting statement. When we think about the future, we almost automatically think about change, about things that are not yet here. “When I grow up, I want to be a doctor.” “Our day will come.” “Maybe later.”
That the future may be different than the now gives us hope. Maybe in the future we find a way to distribute wealth in a more equal manner. Maybe in the future we will find a cure. Maybe in the future we will learn that war is not necessary.
If everything is already perfect, it is not necessary to think about the future. Nothing needs to be solved. No solutions need to be delegated to a realm that has not yet manifested.
In a perfect world, there is no future.
But can a world without a future be perfect? No future is no development. No chance to become better at anything. No chance to become a better person. No buds growing into flowers.
To me, looking at the photography of the blossoms of the papaya tree implies a future. Next week, more flowers will have opened. The week after the first flowers will drop to the ground. After a month, on a different tree, the papaya fruit will start to grow, pollinated by this flower.
A world without a future is unthinkable to me. Look at these flowers. Who wants a world without a future, even if it is a perfect world?
Awesome wonder 