Sunday, March 01, 2009

Resilience in the face of hardship....


Every year I am blown away to see my Amaryllis belladonna's appear from the dry, dead end-of-summer ground and provide me and my garden with real evidence of the amazing things that nature does. I was almost sure that our weather had beaten the belladonnas this year, they seem to be late and I have looked longingly for those little bursts of life for weeks, with no luck. But, sure enough, even though we have only had ONE day of rainfall since September (fortunately 3 and a half inches at once) and temps of up to 46 degrees.... ensuring anything that had survived the past few years in my garden has nearly given up now.... up came the belladonnas...and with an extra surprise!

I pulled out a heap of dead things in the winter and left one space bare.. (or so I thought). A few years ago I found a bulb amongst fig tree roots near my MIL's and she assured me that there had once been white flowers there before the tree took over, white flowers from over 1oo years ago!! I planted a few, but have never seen results...until the other night.


Now, funny story, I found it going out to lock up the chooks and the next day was to be 40's and high wind, I was so worried it would blow away by morning I took excitement pics in the dark!!

I really love that picture now, but I took a pic the next day for you, with my finished "Fall back in time" table runner as backdrop.
I have talked before about how I am a "glad game" kind of a girl, I prefer to look at positives and silver linings and one door opening as another door closes. I can't honestly say i see positives in a worsening global economy but i am seeing a back to basics mentality that seems to bode well for society as a whole. I suppose in some ways, farmers always have to live with the uncertainty that now surrounds every industry. It is quite common for our income to halve...or worse...just from a night of frost or not getting that vital rain at the right moment-or, quite often, too much rain at once! So we learn to be eternal optimists and get back up and start the whole process all over again..
And making patchwork quilts can help us all get through this....
I can't remember where I once saw this quote from an early pioneer woman saying, "I made quilts quickly enough to stop my family freezing and pretty enough to stop me going mad." But it has stayed with me and is something for all of us to think about. Don't get sad and give up quilting, or blogging, because life is giving you scraps...now's the time to make quilts out of them!! Out of Op shop shirts and old blankets and chenille and garish eiderdowns! Why not??
I feel like starting a new internet group called "Getting through the global crisis one quilt at a time!!" Where economical quilts are once again loud and proud!!
On the ABC radio an expert was talking about this, I think in relation to crafters wanting to make fire victims blankets actually, I found part of what she says here, http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/02/18/2495263.htm?site=melbourne&rotator=true
Very well worth a read.
So, just as my belladonnas can make it through the hard seasons, so can we....perhaps the name for that quilt group should be the Belladonnas...true in more than one sense-doesn't it mean beautiful lady??
I'll finish up there,with some pictures of my pink belladonnas at sunrise the other morning...... Have a great day
...comment prize announced next post...pleased you liked Tag galaxy.....

15 comments:

Jo Hopwood said...

Extremely well said!

Ann J said...

Thanks for the link to the article, Tracey, and very well said about not feeling sorry for ourselves or giving up, but making do with what we have ! If you do start your new group, I'll be one of the first to sign on!.......Luv AJ

trash said...

Baggsie I joining The Belladonnas!

loulee said...

Beautiful flowers, here it is traditional to grow them indoors during our winter months.
The Belladonnas sounds like a very good idea.

Dawn's Daily Journal said...

Your flower is beautiful....it looks like it's glowing in the first picture.
I love what you said and how you said it. Words we can all take to heart.
hugs,
dawn

Chookyblue...... said...

well said........have to be a special kind to live on the land........the ups and downs can happen so quickly........
for me I have not really noticed any changes in my life due to the Global economy.......guess some people need a reality check.......they all want to much to quick and most have to have the best of everything.......
life is what you make it....

....the flowers are beautiful.....they remind me of the lilies that grow in the paddocks after lots of rain..........could have been dry for years and one good fall of rain and up they pop in no time........

Anonymous said...

I'm there if you start a new group......love The Belladonnas.
I have some white ones, they bloom in August here, just when everything is brown and parched......here they are in all their glory.
Have a great day,
Barb

Susan said...

What gorgeous flower pictures ~ love the night blooming one. So, have you started that list yet? =) This must be the crisis for which I bought all that fabric for all those years!

Calidore said...

Well said Tracey. I always tell my kids that in the dictionary "saving" comes before "spending". Perhaps more people should check their dictionaries before they see that "must have" item that they need to buy before they actually have the funds for it. What a fabulous idea for a group too and I love the name. Sign me up if it gets beyond the "thinking of it" stage. My Belladona's are late too and some came from bulbs that I was sure were dead and gone especially since I moved them at the wrong time.

Alice said...

I am on opposite seasons and enjoying my yellow jonquils and freesias on my balcony. I think that bulbs are miracle flowers - so little work and water, yet so beautiful. I am amazed that there aren't more of them out there.
I have an old friend who has moved into a nursing home and I have received some of her old furniture and linens. Some of the fabrics have made their way into my stash or quilts, wending their way with my nieces' baby clothes, and I have been spending hours coaxing the age stains out of the embroidered tablecloths and napkins so that their joyful colours can shine again.
You are right about looking on the bright side - having busy hands really does keep you sane.
Alice

Ruth's Place said...

Love the sentiments in this post, Tracey.

Lily Mulholland said...

Great post Tracey :)

QuiltedSimple said...

Oh how pretty and oh how true!
Kris

YankeeQuilter said...

Belladonna is the name of a local free newspaper that focuses on women's issue's here! I like hearing they are hardy plants...let me know if you start that group!

Carol said...

Oh my goodness, what beautiful photographs of the pink flower. Absolutely exquisite. Off to read the article now.