First up, Happy Spring everyone. Here in NE Texas spring is popping up all over.
These pansies are in a large pot in my front yard, and they will soon give way to other flowers that are happier in the heat of summer that will come our way in a couple of months. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy their happy smiling faces, as I have for several months. They are a cold-weather flower, and I was only in Texas for a few years before I learned to plant them in October instead of May, which is when I always planted them in Michigan.
Every year, they were a Mother’s Day present for my mother. My sister and I would buy the plants and put them in the ground on either side of the front porch steps, not knowing at the time about fertilizer or compost or any of the other things that would help plants thrive.
Still the pansies did.
Mother loved to sit on the top step in the early evenings, which is when the neighborhood was alive with neighbors calling back and forth and children playing. She’d tell me how the flowers always made her think of smiling, happy faces. She called them her people flowers. It was always a bright spot in our lives that were too often shadowed with anger and frustration on her part and uncertainty on my part.
The yearly gift of pansies told her I loved her, and her appreciation of them told me she loved me.
This despite a turbulent relationship.
Well, this is what I get when I come to the blog with no definite plan of what to write about. Words and thoughts just flow from one to the other, without a map, sort of like what happens when writing fiction.
At least for me.
Perhaps my mind took me down this path of remembrance because my mother has been on my mind. She died 7 years ago on March 28. I’ve written a lot about her here on the blog, and, of course, in the book, Evelyn Evolving, which is a story based on her life. If you care to read more of what I’ve shared in blogposts, here’s one called Remembering. It has links to others, so you can go down a rabbit hole of my making. š
Something else on my mind is the start of the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on the neck of George Floyd for close to ten minutes until Floyd suffocated to death last May. Chauvin is charged with third degree murder, second degree murder and second degree manslaughter. I hope the jury in this case doesn’t let Chauvin walk free.
The acquittal of officers who beat Rodney King in March 1991, breaking his right leg and leaving numerous bruises and cuts on his face, arms and body, was not justice. It was just another example of some white folks thinking it’s okay to beat a black man who is only a few generations removed from the slaves who were routinely beaten for the slightest infraction.
We who live in our comfortable white lives don’t like to look at that fact, or think about it too much. It might disrupt the status quo if we let it move us to speak out.
I guess I’m old enough that I don’t care about fallout. Let’s disrupt the status quo.
Are you brave enough?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-police. Far from it. I have the highest respect for officers who put their lives on the line every day that they put on the badge and go out on patrol. I once wrote a feature article about them, calling officers a modern-day knight, slaying dragons and protecting damsels in distress. They do a hard and dangerous job because they want to “protect and serve.”
At least most of them do. And most of them are not racist. It’s only some of them. And some of them who have let the power of the badge and gun consume them.
Those are the officers who need to turn in their guns and badges.
Okay. End of rant.
To brighten the mood before leaving, here’s a bit of fun from Tracy Farr, a writer who used to share posts with the readers of WinnsboroToday.com, the online community magazine where I was managing editor. After the magazine ceased, like Slim Randles, Tracy let me use some posts on my blog. This is his short piece about Pinterest:
Iām really not interested in “finding” my favorite things and pinning them onto some digital board via Pinterest. But I might give THESE a second look:
Bunterest ā Dedicated to your favorite sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, donuts, and whatnot. And I’ll have a small coffee with that, thank you very much.
Finterest ā It’s all about the fish you like to catch, skin, filet, and devour. But watch out for the bones.
Ginterest ā Got a favorite drink? Well, pin the recipe to your Ginterest Board. Not limited to just gin-induced concoctions.
Henterest ā For all those chicken farmers out there. And can I borrow a few eggs? Thanks.
Linterest ā See what kind of animals you can make out of clothes dryer lint. Great fun for the entire family.
Pinterest ā A new version. As in “Give me another pint, barkeep, and keep ’em comin.'” For beer lovers, of course.
Sinterest ā There are seven deadly sins to choose from. Maybe even more. C’mon, we know you want to share YOUR sins with the rest of us. Don’t be bashful.
That’s all for today, folks. I hope your week has started off well. Other than my weird Monday Musing, I think it’s a good start for me. The sun is shining, the breeze is cool, and my people flowers are dancing in that breeze.
Be safe. Be happy.