"Never make your home in a place"

"Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You'll find what you need to furnish it - memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey." Tad Williams

My parents spent a lot of time traveling throughout our childhood, they took us to the the eastern bloc and third world, something they continue to this day. It gave me an appreciation and a world view that is far broader than what it might have been if I had stayed in this little corner of Oregon's Willamette Valley my whole life. The memories from those childhood travels will be with me forever. 

Mystery Bulb in the Greenhouse

Friends, some have come and gone and some have stayed right by my side through the years. The ones you can trust are the ones that matter most. Human nature is regressing, or perhaps never was really good to begin with, and is only sliding backwards from zero, but when you find a solid friend you can trust you keep that one in your life.

Another Mystery bulb?

Love of learning is something that I wasn't born with. I hated high school and it's been interesting to watch my daughter as she finishes her senior year and preps for the University years. She loves the learning and won't even skip a single day of class. I wanted out of high school so bad,  I never challenged myself at all. I was lucky to have been gifted with the ability to read and retain at a high level. Stuff I found interesting stuck, and whatever didn't was cast aside. But it was a botany class at a local community college and a blue haired, grandmother lady who had to be well into her late 70's as a professor that taught me how to key out native plants using the Gilkey and Dennis. That unlocked a passion for learning that never stopped and actually continues to grow to this day. Something clicked in that class that combined a bit of science, analysis, mathematics, reading, observing and art that all came together to unlock a passion for science and learning that just won't stop in me. I can't remember her name but I think about her every day as I realize what an amazing journey she sent me on.  

One of the mystery bulbs, I thought maybe a Sparaxis or ixia?

The other such things part of the quote above could really be anything, and you don't want to get me started on the 'other such things' that take up space in my head. Suffice it to say it's a full place, Maria kando would not approve of such clutter that one can put in a place they call home, but my head is full of it, although the little anecdotes, appreciations, observations, all these memories that never stop filling that void, don't seem to be clutter, but more like grains of sand that one can't count. 

Calochortus season is just beginning stay tuned for a fun ride on this one, I've been starting mad seeds of these beauties.

A bunch of the flower bulbs photo's on this post are from a wonderful offering that a member of the Pacific Bulb Society put up entitled Mystery Bulbs, it's been so fun to watch them come into bloom and try to figure them out. I don't have great resources in print form to the South African flora, but I'm hoping someday I'll get to visit and see these native treasures in the habitat they occupy on this big ball of water and molten iron we spin across the universe on everyday. 

Moraea bellendenii

New chapters coming in this book I call life, on to new adventures and time to make new friends and cherish the memories of the experiences I have made through these 44 years. It's been a pretty good ride so far and It seems to only be getting to the part of the roller coaster where we are about to plunge into the exciting loops and spins, the climb has been fantastic and the view from my perspective has been incredible. 

I cut the mop top off, but for documentation sakes, this is what a year and a half of the covid 19 Pandemic did to my hair do. 

Stupid amounts of sun and dry weather for an April in Oregon. Bad juju probably brewing for the summer and fire season, the sun worshipers no doubt rejoice and the climatologists cringe. The flower grower in me wonders when will the  well will run dry?

And the journey continues..........

Mark