Images & Words: Seasons

© Photo: Riihele. All rights reserved

This week’s theme on the IMAGES & WORDS is SEASONS and as our season right now is SUMMER, hence this photo taken a couple summers ago. Tis the season of no night and endless sunlight … Aaaah.

JANE AUSTEN quote with my photograph suit so well together, methinks.

Picture Perfect: Up close ‘n Personal

© Photo: By Riihele. All rights reserved.

HYDRANGEA or as it is known in many countries: HORTENSIA

Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman, English, Spanish
Feminine form of the Roman family name Hortensius, possibly derived from Latin hortus “garden“.

This photo was taken some good while ago in a garden in Finland and i  still like it very much.  Sorry for not taking part in the PP for such a long time.

The photo is totally untouched, not a thing added, nothing taken away.


Tis for now. Rii xx

Tender Moments – before the sunset

© Photo: Riihele. All rights reserved.

I do not wish to think of snow, that we have by the bucket load!
I do not wish to think of cold, it is only freeezing!
I do not wish to think of winter …

So hence, this

TENDER MOMENTS – before the sunset –
taken in Jerusalem a couple summers ago.

Do you feel the warmth and glorious glow of the hot day that was?

Aaah… those were them days, i say.

P.S.
The photo is totally untouched even though it looks like watercolour painting.

Picture Perfect: Favourite

This photograph, taken in the Powerscourt Gardens (Ireland) in July 2008, is my current favourite of all the photos that i have.

The water lilies in this picture are rather Monet-isque, methinks.

“Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.”Claude Monet


© Photos: By Riihele. All rights reserved.
Here are some links to one of my absolutely favourite artists, Claude Monet and his water lilies. The site has most beautiful links to further explore this genius of a painter.

Picture Perfect: WET

Riihele.  All rights reserved

The yellow shines so much brighter
— no matter the rain,
nor gloom or doom!

The oil extracted from lilies has healing and softening properties. Especially, when the lily fragrance oil is mixed with that of Calendula aka Pot Marigold works wonderful for very sensitive skin. One can use this oil for massage, in a bath, after a bath, for babies, dry cuticles, and elbows, as a facial moisturizer, under-eye oil and hot-oil treatment.

Some of the lilies are edible even such as Lilium bulbiferous ’Orange lily’ — its bulbs are edible tasting sweet and mealy; these lilies make very fair eating and can be used as a substitute to potato!! Other lilies have medicinal properties such as Lilium candidum ’Madonna lily’ — its bulb is employed for medicinal purposes, having highly demulcent and also astringent properties.

Lilium henryi ’Henry’s lily’ or as it is also known Tiger lily relieve congestion, and the nausea and vomiting of pregnancy  and also, Lilium japonicum ’Krameri’ is  nourishing and useful in diseases of the chest. Lilium martagon ’Martagon lily’ or as it is also called, ’Turk’s cap lily’ their bulb has diuretic, emmenagogue, emollient and expectorant properties. They are used to relieve heart diseases, pain in the cardiac region and angina pectoris.*

These fine wet yellow lilies are my contribution for the Picture Perfect theme WET.

Keep so grand and safe. Rii :))

* Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily
http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/mostpopularflowers/lilies
http://www.thelilygarden.com/pages_lilies/asiatic_yellow_2.html
http://www.thelilygarden.com/
The Lily Garden is a most marvellous site for all things Lilies.

Mum You Are …

MUM YOU ARE...

Someone who cares
when others care less,

Someone who encourages
when others ridicule,

Someone who defends
when others condemn,

Someone with patience
when others are impatient,

Someone who appreciates
when others fail to notice,

Someone who gives security
in a world of insecurity,

You are a friend
for all time,
to cherish
and
protect,
and your achievements
will linger
for generations.

I LOVE YOU.

© All Photos: Riihele. All rights reserved.

These very moving and so poignant words are taken from a card Becki gave me one year for the Mothers Day in Ireland. I have kept it in my wallet ever since through all these years, through all the countries and places it has travelled with me. Heli gave me a most beautifully worded handwritten letter and a note which have also been doing the same ‘travelling’.

It is one of the greatest privileges in life to be a mum.

NOTICE THIS: that in the wide world there is a mother dying every few seconds – the Unicef article of 2003 states that 1400 mothers die every day because of the complications of the pregnancy and the birth. Here is what the UNICEF says about it all. It is nigh impossible to fathom for us in the west and in the parts of the world where the antenatal and the postnatal care are taken for granted.

That to me is the Pandemic Catastrophe of giant proportions and not the other things at the moment that are marketed for us as such worldwide.

I do feel very strongly for these mothers who die each day, for these babies and other children of these mothers who are left orphans for it was most, most difficult and dangerous for me to have children. Each time I faced the more than the likelihood of a miscarriage during the entire nine months. There was no certainty at all – will there or will there not to be a baby at the end of the pregnancy. It was nerve-racking to the hilt! Then the births – they were the riskiest of all, every time, I and the babies were at each birth face to face with death for both of us.

So, for the mothers – all the mothers in the world –

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Tis for now. Riihele xx.

Tomorrow will be my Mothers Day Take 2 for in Ireland it was already celebrated in March and tomorrow it is the Finnish one. Double the prezzies and double the blessings of being an international mum!

FRAGILE …

© Riihele. All rights reserved

Beauty is a fragile gift.
Ovid

***********

Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis)

Commonly known as the Lily of the Valley or Lily-of-the-Valley, is the only species in the genus Convallaria in the flowering plant family Ruscaceae, formerly placed in the lily family Liliaceae or in its own family called Convallariaceae.

Lily of the Valley is highly poisonous, by the way; but very beautiful, methinks. I took a series of photos on the LoV last summer and this is one of them. Fragile, to me it says. This flower is the national flower of FInland.

LILIES …

Remember
that the most beautiful things
in the world are
the most useless;
peacocks and lilies
for instance.

John Ruskin (1819-1900)

The genus Lilium are herbaceous flowering plants normally growing from bulbs, comprising a genus of about 110 species in the lily family, Liliaceae. They are important as large showy flowering garden plants, and in literature. Some of the bulbs have been consumed by people. The species in this genus are the true lilies, while other plants with lily in the common name are related to other groups of plants.

Some facts about Lilies:

• Lilies are one of the most beautiful, and graceful of all summer-blooming flowers.
• Lilies belong to the Lilium genus consisting of less than 100 known species, occurring in all parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
• Lilies are believed to have been under cultivation longer than any other ornamental flower, having existed in gardens 3,000 years ago.
• Floral designs, particularly of Lilies, made their appearance and became very popular in the 18th dynasty of Egypt.

All Photos: Riihele. © All rights reserved.

The oil extracted from lilies has healing and softening properties. Especially, when the lily fragrance oil is mixed with that of Calendula aka Pot Marigold works wonderful for very sensitive skin. One can use this oil for massage, in a bath, after a bath, for babies, dry cuticles, and elbows, as a facial moisturizer, under-eye oil and hot-oil treatment.

Some of the lilies are edible even such as Lilium bulbiferous ’Orange lily’ — its bulbs are edible tasting sweet and mealy; these lilies make very fair eating and can be used as a substitute to potato!! Other lilies have medicinal properties such as Lilium candidum ’Madonna lily’ — its bulb is employed for medicinal purposes, having highly demulcent and also astringent properties.

Lilium henryi ’Henry’s lily’ or as it is also known Tiger lily relieve congestion, and the nausea and vomiting of pregnancy and also, Lilium japonicum ’Krameri’ is nourishing and useful in diseases of the chest. Lilium martagon ’Martagon lily’ or as it is also called, ’Turk’s cap lily’ their bulb has diuretic, emmenagogue, emollient and expectorant properties. They are used to relieve heart diseases, pain in the cardiac region and angina pectoris.

Kingdom Plantae
Division Magnoliophyta
Class Liliopsida
Order Liliales
Family Liliaceae
Genus Lilium

Fun Flower Quizz in ere for ye.

Lilies on the menu today, for the weather is only miserable over here in Finland these past few days, being more autumn-like than spring,
I so need to think of the time when these bright yellow lilies were in full bloom in July last summer.
Although, the rain came down in buckets, it did not stop their cheerful and vibrant colours showing off at their best!

Do take good care and good cheer. Rii :))
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily
http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/mostpopularflowers/lilies
http://www.thelilygarden.com/pages_lilies/asiatic_yellow_2.html
http://www.thelilygarden.com/
The Lily Garden is a most marvellous site for all things Lilies.

Coming or Going …

Our weather does not know whether it is coming or going presently; that is to say if the winter is finally at its end as in the photo underneath

or if the spring has finally sprung on us and staying?!! Every other day it is winter and then the next day it is spring; and so it goes round and round week after week this year!

© Photos Riihele. All rights reserved

Boulevard of Plants — ALHAMBRA

Just want to remind us all that there is summer somewhere…

Tis for now, Rii xx

Photo: Taken by Becki – my daughter. All rights reserved.

Link to Alhambra.

 The plant in the photo is Oleander. Oleander (Nerium oleander), is a evergreen shrub or small tree in the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Nerium. It is native to a broad area from Morocco and Portugal eastward through the Mediterranean region and southern Asia to Yunnan in southern parts of China.

Oleander grows well in warm subtropical regions, where it is extensively used as an ornamental plant in landscapes, parks, and along roadsides. It is drought tolerant and will tolerate occasional light frost down to -10°C. Oleander is one of the most poisonous plants and contains numerous toxic compounds, many of which can be deadly to people, especially young children. (Wikipedia)