Thursday, August 31, 2006

Mornin' Glory

Happy Birthday Cuz . . . This one's for you.


Mornin' Glories Lookin' West


“Mornin’ Glory”

MORNING: the first or early part of the day, from midnight, or especially dawn to noon

GLORY: great honor and admiration; fame; renown; worship; adoration; condition of highest
achievement

MORNING GLORY: a twining plant with heart-shaped leaves and trumpet-shaped flowers of
lavender, blue, pink, or white

“MORNIN' GLORY”: when I was a little girl, what my dad said to me every morning.



The favorite part of my day is morning. I love to watch the “sun-rise,” smell the fresh air, listen to the birds, play with my dogs, drink my coffee, and look at my morning glories. I especially love it when we have had a rain that gives everything a bath and fresh outlook for the day. Where I live, those rains are called ‘5-inch rains’ . . . one drop every 5 inches.

I do not have a green thumb. I do love to dig in the dirt, plant seeds, and watch something grow. When I first moved here, I watered anything that looked green. That year, I had a huge crop of tumbleweeds. They were the only things that were green around my house, and I didn’t know what they were. Twelve years later, I’m still chopping at the tumbleweeds. When they die and turn brown, they produce millions of stickers (seeds) for next year’s crop. If you light them with a match, they explode with a fury. I know, my neighbor called the fire department on me one year as I was ridding my yard of the pest. But enough about tumbleweeds and my neighbor. Using those two words in the same sentence makes it a little redundant. (I HAD a burn permit ! )


My morning glories are my shining glory as far as vegetation goes. I can grow them. They have wrapped their tender tendrils around my heart. And everything else in my backyard. Morning glories originated in the warmth of the tropics, where they grow rangy and scrappy enough to be considered pests. Morning glories are twiners; they reach out, pirouetting in their predetermined, typically clockwise direction, seeking something to grab hold of. The plants are genetically programmed to grow and unfurl in one direction only. The rabbits love the tender new shoots and it is difficult to protect them from being nibbled on.


Every morning I enjoy a rainbow of color in my backyard. Some say that each flower unfurls only once, then closes and dies, quickly being replaced by another. The flowers are at their peak this week, and I know it’s only a matter of time when the foliage will begin to turn yellow and the colorful blooms will disappear. I will be left with many dead vines, but hanging from them are little pods full of life. Tiny black seeds, to be planted next year, to paint another rainbow of colors, to greet me in the morning.

“Mornin’ glory,” he would gently say.

12 Comments:

Blogger Malinda777 said...

Beautiful flowers, could fool me you "don't" have a green thumb :)

Thanks for coming by my blog. You're getting the hang of all this nicely. It takes time. I bought one of those yellow "dummy" books when I started. "HTML For Dummies" it's called. That's where I learned how to post and do links, etc. It's a great how to manual...

Keep On Bloggin'

8/31/2006 06:45:00 PM  
Blogger SongBird said...

I love mornin' glories and yours are beautiful!! Enjoyed your musings, too. I'll be back!

8/31/2006 07:25:00 PM  
Blogger Shauna said...

Gorgeous morning glories. . .
Where about in Colorado are you? I lived there 17 years before we moved to the great state of Oklahoma. . .

8/31/2006 09:02:00 PM  
Blogger Another Chance Ranch said...

Don't have a green thumb? Whatever!! I love the photos!! I love mornin' glories! I loved seeing that your Dad gently said, "Mornin' Glory" to you. That is just too sweet. Love it!

By the way, I finished my story. You will have to check it out. I did it tonight in case I am running behind in the morning. Headed to your part of the world bright and early!

8/31/2006 09:03:00 PM  
Blogger Karmyn R said...

I am quite jealous. For some reason, I cannot get morning glories to grow at my house.

I've soaked the seeds before planting, knicked the seeds before planting, watered regularly (planted them at the end of my bean row, hoping they'd grow up the sides of the poles), planted them in pots, planted them along the fencepost. I gave up this year. (So, I can grow anything but morning glories and clematis.)

8/31/2006 09:52:00 PM  
Blogger willowtree said...

That first photo is spectacular. I love the skull and rocky outcrop in the distance (I couldn't decide on bluff, butte or mesa, none sounded right so I went with outcrop). Anyway a very nice evocative photo.

8/31/2006 09:55:00 PM  
Blogger Malinda777 said...

So cool you're coming to Reno. I'll buy cocktails after work :)

8/31/2006 10:33:00 PM  
Blogger Silly Hily said...

Your thumb is greener (is that a word?) than mine, that's for sure.
And look at you with the pictures in the same post and where they are supposed to be IN that post. Have you been doing homework?

9/01/2006 05:51:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey there, KellonKid.
You touched my heart with this one. Smiles and a tear or two. Thanks for these absolutely beautiful photos! and sweet way to wake up on my birthday. Happy, happy brithday to me.
Hey, ma, look at me.. I'm blogging! Have a great day and know how much we all love you.
Love from your Okie Cuz and the fam

9/01/2006 06:03:00 AM  
Blogger Debs said...

Beautifl Pics :) I LOVE Morning Glories :)

9/01/2006 07:53:00 AM  
Blogger Swampwitch said...

MALINDA777: Thanks for the suggestion. I'm headed to the DUMMY section of the bookstore today. I'll take you up on the after-dinner drink in Reno.

SONGBIRD: After reading your story today, I decided to post a couple of sunrises for you. Can't seem to get the captions positioned, but you GET THE PICTURE. (no pun intended)

SHAUNA: I moved from the great state of Oklahoma after living there 40 years to the Western Slope of Colorado, and have been in The State of Confusion all my life. Oklahoma: cut off panhandle and give it to someone...left with semblance of rectangle...divide into fourths...person in one part calls neighbor and says," You alls cow is in my garden"... another person in next quadrant, "Ya'lls cow is in my garden"... third person, "You-een-zees (ya'll + 3) cow is in my garden"...where I was from, "I just shot your cow, come on over for BarBeeQue."

JULIE: Congrats on winning GLOB of the day...you deserve it. For you new GLOBBERS, click on "aviator" (avatar -new word for me - little pic) and like magic, you're in someone else's world.

KARMYNR: You're doing everything just right with the mornin' glories..could be soil, sunshine...I have places where mine are prolific and others, not a sprout...

WILLOWTREE: Thanks for the compliment. Rock outcropping, bluff, butte all correct and it's part of Colorado National Monument.Have copied Link Directions and plan to have mastered sooner than later.

SILLYHILLY: Yes, I'm doing my homework...but have a long way to go...captions positioned correctly, locating previous stories on my post, putting categories on side of GLOB, linking, etc. Thanks for hangin' in there with me.

ANONOKIECUZ: Have a beautiful day. Give yourself a hug and hug all the fam for me. Miss you guys.

KATIET: You are welcome and in response to your story about Lemon Face (Now Hear This -GLOB) how could he not smile back if you're flashing your pretty smile at him?

9/01/2006 08:42:00 AM  
Blogger Pioneer Woman said...

Ugh, that first one is so beautiful. So many glorious things going on. Love it, love it.

9/02/2006 11:04:00 AM  

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