Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Night blooming cereus

First of all, I want to thank you all so much for your kind, encouraging comments. You all have been such a blessing to me since losing my dear husband. You’ve helped me in more ways than you can imagine.

Someone asked me if anyone had ever said anything rude to me about my grieving and I have to say no. I did have one person/customer at work say something like, “Well, it’s been awhile now hasn’t it?”, meaning I should be over it by now, when I mentioned missing my husband.  That hurt my feelings, especially since it was all so raw and deep back then.

Some people don’t know what to say when I say I lost my husband and seem embarrassed, but for the most part, people have been kind, like you all.

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Now, on with the night blooming cereus. When I headed out the other morning to go visit Bella and Max, I was walking up the driveway to go to parking area, and saw that the cactus was loaded with blooms I almost missed. I ran in for the camera and took some pictures before leaving. These were taken around 6:45 a.m. They are not the best quality, but at least it gives you an idea of more from this tropical haven here.

This cactus grew from a piece, maybe 12-18 inches long, that a customer at work gave me several years back.

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At the end of July 2012, dear husband and I took a series of photos of a bloom at our front gate where I had stuck another piece of cactus and this was it’s first bloom. We got up a couple of times during the night in order to get the cycle of it opening.

I made a little video of it in Sept. of that year, it did have music, but you-tube took the music off for a technical reason and I’ve just not added any more to it.

You can view the video here.

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Today was our ladies potluck meeting and we had a good time. Always plenty to eat. We played a couple of rounds of bingo.  The second one was where you had to get all the numbers down the B line and down the O line, and I and another lady won! I got a nice little pump bottle of softsoap aloe vera soap as my prize. Smile

The other day I got a delightful little book from an author widow friend of mine, Barbara, who lives in GA. She lives with 6 rescue dogs.

You can read about Sweet April on Amazon, ‘A Dog Dreams of Paris’. A portion of all book sales will be donated to animal rescue.

I got damaged this afternoon when I pulled a big palm frond off the screened porch roof. Part of the frond that connects to the tree, connected with my arm and gave me a 1 1/2 inch slice which bled like the dickens. I washed it, then put on some ‘pan-away’ essential oil blend on it.  The blend has the essential oil, helichrysum in it which is very good for pain and healing. It doesn’t hurt and I will keep putting this oil on for a day or two. I’m thankful it wasn’t any worse.

I’ll close with another picture of Miss Tork. This basket is in the bedroom and she hasn’t used it in quite awhile, so when I spied her in it the other morning I had to grab the camera. This basket was delivered to us filled with goodies for our 25th wedding anniversary from my husband’s family, so it has sentimental value to me.

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Encouragement doesn't cost anything,

but it means something.

It's one of the greatest gifts we can give.
Dr. L. D. Buckingham

***

Thank you all again for your encouragement.

FlowerLady

14 comments:

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Good Morning Rainey
I have never seen anything like your Cereus. It's quite an amazing cactus!! Your garden is a Wonderland! I'm so glad you have a group of ladies to get together with. I have never had large groups of friends. I have had one or two best friends over the years that have passed on. I miss having a friend to have lunch with or go to a movie with. Terry is a great bestie, but sometimes you need a woman to bounce thoughts off of. Terry always wants to fix my problems when sometimes I just need to talk.

Have a wonderful day!!
xx, Carol

tina said...

That NBC is the coolest!! I have one plant of it here and do you know for many, many years I had no idea what it was? I learned on a blog somewhere-maybe even yours. Mine has been blooming its heart out but it is in a pot. This one is SO cool!! Goodness I wish I could grow it like that.

Jane said...

"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and good for the bones."
~Proverbs 16:24~

I enjoyed your video Rainey, and I checked out your other one while on YouTube. Beautiful! You live in such a different world than mine, I get to enjoy yours vicariously. Thank you for sharing it.

Hugs
Jane

Buttons Thoughts said...

Dr. L. D. Buckingham says it perfectly. I have just found you and am so sorry about your husband. I do know that grieving takes as long as it takes and everyone is different.
That is a big cactus, I am from Canada so it is something I have never seen before, incredible. Please take care of your arm and be careful:). Happy you left a comment so I could find you. Take care and if you do not mind I am sending you a hug. HUG B

Janice said...


What a gorgeous flower! I'm assuming from what I've heard of them, that it's just a one day show. I also watched your video, good work.

Ruth Hiebert said...

WOW! That cactus is amazing.

lil red hen said...

Now that is one BIG plant! The blooms are certainly pretty! I like the picture of the tree top with the moon to one side.

Karen @ Beatrice Euphemie said...

I've never seen the night blooming cereus before - it is really beautiful! So nice to get out with friends for a nice pot-luck and Bingo. Your kitty looks very cozy in her basket. Cats always find the best places to nap! (Mine seem to like my pillow which gives me a mouth full of hair at night if I don't catch them!) Glad you are finding more kindness than rudeness. There are always a few sour grapes, but the sweet ones make up for it! <3 Hugs xo Karen

KathyB. said...

Wow, that cactus is huge and the blossoms are so amazing. Are they fragrant ? Do the flowers attract bees or hummingbirds ?

I hope your cut is healing well, be careful, it's a jungle in your yard ! A jungle of plants and trees showing lush evidence of your marriage and love . So many memories are planted in your gardens, of course they are blooming sweetly.

Congratulations on your win at Bingo.

Maryann said...

I have never heard of this flower before, I enjoyed watching the video. Your cactus is huge with tons of flowers, you must really enjoy your little oasis. Blessings to you

Deborah Montgomery said...

wow, that's a large cactus; so great you noticed the flowers and got the pictures. I like the one with the moon. Yes, be careful with those plants! And I love your kitty, looking so sweet there.
I'm glad too that you have a group of women friends; they're a blessing.

Dewena said...

Oh dear, just a flick of my finger and I lost my comment here! But I am sorry that you got that painful cut.

And the night blooming -- here's where I lost my first comment, by trying to go back and see how you spelled that lovely yellow blooming plant, so I'll just say that it is stunning!

Leslie Kimel said...

The night-blooming cereus looks so magical and crazy and beautiful. Neat! I enjoyed your video! Eudora Welty (my favorite writer) often mentions this plant in her books, so I've always been fascinated by it, though I have never seen one in real life. I didn't know they grew so tall!

M.K. said...

I was looking at that first photo, trying hard to find the cactus - haha! I'm not used to a cactus as tall as a tree! Very pretty. Your sweet kitty looks restful. Glad you had a lovely luncheon with your lady friends. I still remember the photos of one of your lunches and all the good-looking dishes!