Magic of the Day

Today something very magical and beautiful happened that I want to share....

There has been a small bunny that lives by the front door, as soon as I reach for my camera,  it hops away quickly. Today I was able to follow it into the bushes and take its portrait. It was so sweet and lovely and trusting of me, it even looked at me when I took its picture.

Rabbit medicine is symbolic of good luck and magic. It is also symbolic of humility, owning one's fears and strengthening one's intuition. They also remind us to be gentle with ourselves. When rabbits appear we are reminded to be optimistic, to move forward and enter the energy of creativity and  transformation.

In Chinese astrology they are the most fortuitous sign. 

We named this bunny who lives in the ferns, 'Twinkle Toes'.

The Last of the Precious Pansies

The Pansies are finally saying 'adieu' as the heat of summer is upon us. It is always a bittersweet parting because I love them so much. They are symbolic of so many things, in my experience,  they represent Spring and new beginings.
Pansies are the sister to the violet.
In Italy they are known as 'flammola' or 'little flame'.
The words 'pansy' comes from the French word 'pensee' which translates as 'thought'. This name was given to the flowers because they were believed to have the appearance of a human face.
According to the language of flowers, if a male companion leaves behind a pansy for his female friend, he is thinking of forbidden love.
They are also symbolic of time spent together and sweet memories.
In the late 1800's the American Secular Union adopted the image of the Pansy as the symbol for free thought.



These are the last of my Pansies....until next Spring sweet Pansies!

When I was in Madrid this past winter, I came across an old book store that sold reproduction prints of engravings of the flower devas. This one looks like a Violet or a Pansy. The back of the cards reads 'Las Flores Animadas Grabados XIX Granville'. It came from M B De Pablos, Madrid. She is so sweet, I just had to share her in this post. 

The smaller pictures were taken with my iPhone and edited on Instagram.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Solstice!

Peonies and Roses

This has been the best year to date for peonies here in the garden. I am having another love affair with all the different peonies. After the tree peonies finished blooming they leave behind their seed pods. I wait all year long for these pods to appear. I like to cut and dry them and keep them in my office over the winter for decoration. They remind me of the flowers and seem to have a magic all their own. 

In the collage at the bottom of the entry I included one of these amazing peony pods. 

 One of my dear friends sent me gifts from her Persian homeland of rose petals, rose oil and the most incredible rose drops for internal use, this use of rose oil is not one that I am familiar with, but I am interested to learn more about how this remedy is prescribed in traditional  Persian medicine. 

Another present of deep red rose petals came to me this week so it has been the week of rose gifts!

I have been reading about the history of peony cultivation and recently learned that Chinese horticulturalists were the first peony breeders. During the T'ang dynasty peony plants were often included in dowery settlements as they were considered so valuable to royal families. 

This beautiful flower, below, was so delicate, I was able to photograph it before the rains came and took the nearly transparent light pink petals away. I have also been photographing the leaves of the peony bushes because I find them to be very elegant. I included them in the collage above.

In this entry,  the pictures of roses and peonies are from the garden,  and of the gifts that I received this week. Thank you friends for all of the pretty offerings, you know me so well! Love, Mia