Saturday's Dogwood Flower 03-26-16

Copyright 2016 AJ Horton

Hello and happy Saturday.  Today, the day before Easter, I have for you a Dogwood Flower.  This is the state flower of North Carolina.  The Dogwood Tree is part of an Easter Legend that states:  

  “When Christ was on earth, the dogwood grew

   To a towering size with a lovely hue.
   Its branches were strong and interwoven,
   And for Christ's cross its timbers were chosen.

   “Being distressed at the use of the wood,
   Christ made a promise which still holds good:
   'Never again shall the dogwood grow
   To be large enough for a tree, and so,
   Slender and twisted it shall always be,
   With cross-shaped blossoms for all to see.

   “'The petals shall have bloodstains marked brown,
   And in the blossom's center a thorny crown.
   All who see it will think of me,
   Nailed to a cross from a dogwood tree.
   Protected and cherished this tree shall be,

   A reflection to all of my agony.'”

It's a beautiful poem.  I've heard it all my life and I love looking at the Dogwood Tree and its flowers.  The trouble with legends is that sometimes, they are not true - as is the case here.  Apparently, on all the websites I visited that told of the story, they verified that the Dogwood Tree has never grown in Israel, so the Crucifixion cross could not have come from the Dogwood.  I don't care.  It's still a moving poem and I will continue to think of it every time I see a Dogwood Tree and its flowers.  Maybe the tree will seem a little prettier now that I know the truth.

I hope you had a beautiful Saturday.  Thank you for looking.  See you tomorrow.

if you want to check out the sites I went to for the information, look at http://www.creationtips.com/dogwood.html, and/or http://www.gardenguides.com/93373-history-dogwood-tree.html.  There may be other sites as well.

Sunday's Surprise

Copyright AJ Horton

So, I'm riding around North Carolina today.  It wasn't random rambling, I had some place to be, although no particular time to be there.  While driving I was thinking about what picture to put on today's blog.  Once again, I thought I knew what I would put up and was going over in my head what I was going to say.  And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it - this.  Oh, I kept driving.  I thought it over.  I tried to talk myself out of turning around.  All I kept hearing in my head was "Amber waves of grain", and "I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree".  "Amber waves of grain" is a line in "America the Beautiful" lyrics written by Katherine Lee Bates and "I think I'll shall never see..." is part of a poem written by Joyce Kilmer.  The last sentence of that poem is "Poems are written by fools like me, but only God can make a tree."  

I know I have a lot of favorite things - I like to think of myself as eclectic - smile.  But today, once I saw this, there didn't seem to be anything higher on my "favorite" list than this scene.  And I am grateful to both Ms. Bates and Ms. Kilmer for planting the pictures in my head of both these treasures.  Finding them together is almost ... surreal.  That is why I had to turn  the car around, stop in the median, and cross the highway to photograph a dream.  My only disappointment is that my photograph may not convey to you my comfort and joy in viewing this scene.

I hope you had as great of a Sunday as I have had.  Thank you for looking.  Peace and blessings to you all.  See you tomorrow.