Thursday 1 September 2011

Day 274-275-Heaven In A Wild Flower

28th August, Late Evening

Dear Diary,

Last night, after a very silent dinner, Papa took me aside and told me to prepare for a trip to the hills early in the morning. We were to set off before dawn and we, meaning I, was not to tell anyone, especially Mama. Papa then sent me off to pack a basket of gardening tools and to bring another empty one for our trip. 


Our day started so early, I was still bleary eyed and woozy as I stumbled closely behind Papa, mostly in the dark. I was therefore totally unprepared for what was before me as we approached the hills. 


My dear Diary, I wish you have eyes so you can see it for yourself this magical, most beautiful garden that God has created for us.  A whole mountain covered in blue! When we got closer, we had a chance to examine these flowers up close and they really were quite magnificent. According to Papa, these flowers were called kurinji and that they bloomed only once in 12 years.


Papa told me that he had never missed a trip to the hills every time the kurinji bloomed. His first trip was with his own father and it was so special that he wanted each of his child's first experience with the kurinji mountain to be with him. I have no words to describe the beauty of what I saw. I just know that when I turn 21, I will be back there, when the kurinji next flower. Hopefully, I will have learnt enough words by then.


Both of us spent some time harvesting enough kurinji to fill the empty basket I was carrying. Papa planned to plant these in our garden. A peace offering to Mama, he said. 


Papa taught me how to pick the ones that could flower again without having to wait twelve years for the next bloom. With careful tending, our kurinji may very well grace our porch again when I turn 10 next year. 


Mama was out at the neighbour's when we got back so we quickly went to work, going without lunch. Papa let me use the blue spade which he said had been in the family for three generations. I was so proud I worked harder than usual. 




We made very good progress at first and finished the 1st part of the garden fairly quickly. This was where I spent the most time in, mainly with vegetables. I think this is going to be my favourite spot from now on.




The later part did not go quite as smoothly. I think the blazing sun and our hunger slowed us down because before we could finish, Mama had returned.


Oh my, you should have heard Mama! She made both Papa and I jumped out of our skins with her screams. Screams of delight, of course. I think her tears were streaming down her face when she ran to hug us. She kept saying "So beautiful, so wonderful, you brought the miracle kurinji home! I cannot believe it, I cannot believe it..so beautiful, so wonderful.." and on and on.


And then she asked if we had eaten and when we shook our heads, she hurried us into the house so she could prepare some lunch for us. She hushed us when we told her we had not finished with the planting.


As Mama prepared the food, I slipped out to watch our garden again. 


And as I walked back and peeped through our kitchen window, I thought I saw Mama hugging Papa and kissing him. It was hard to see through the broken blinds. But I definitely heard her say to him " I am so lucky I have you." 

I don't think they will be quarrelling about bottles for a while. 

67 comments:

Kim said...

Sans- how wonderful! Lucky Mama :) I love the shot of the entire house- the roof is incredible! As a gardener myself I can imagine the joy at seeing these flowers and I covet the blue spade ♥

The Old Maid said...

Again you surprised me, dear Friend - because of your photos that show so many beautiful, colorful, tiny detiles and things to be seen I completely forgot how small this house really is! Now I am in awe about your photos and miniatures even more than before, dear Sans!No matter what you wrote last time I hope you will show more of your photos to us! Just get some rest and go back to photo taking with the new strengh and will.;)
And thank you for telling us about Kurinji Flowers. I know there are flowers that bloom once their lifetime but I have never heard of these before.

Maria Ireland said...

I love your story. Its always such a pleasure to read. The flowers are fantastic and that little blue spade wow.You are a wonderful artist. Hugs Maria

Drora's minimundo said...

A lovely story. The house is beautiful and the flowers my special kind of blue. Hugs

cockerina said...

San, you believe me if I say to you, that I cried? you know to make the stories so well! you should write a book of short stories for children!
These flowers are a miracle of nature, so beautiful and delicate .. and bloom only every 12 years? I had never seen anything more beautiful, until now, and you have made them beautifully, I found it hard to believe to see paper flowers, in your great photos!
you are great San, you're a fairy, I know ... and you would be able to do a little magic? you believe that a small plant these flowers, could come up in Italy, along with the basket? I hope so:)))
in return, I found a wonderful book for you ...
kisses, Caterina

Kikka N said...

Sans, this was really touching story... Thee photos with the colours of flowers made it more than perfect.
Thank you my Friend!

Susanne said...

Beautiful story, Sans, with beautiful pictures, and wonderful colors.
(funny enough, I just made hand showls too, they are all rusty though (of course ;-)
Love, Susanne

Piikko said...

Dear Sans, what a beautiful story again!♥ Also this time I have to look photos again and again. I understand Mama very well. I would jump and scream of delight too if I got this kind of amazing flowers in my garden.:)
Hugs, piikko

Lataina said...

Oh, how I love stopping by! I just adore this house and every single detail about it. You're such an artist! I loved seeing the pic of the whole house front. =)

Daydreamer said...

Dear Sans! I DO LOVE a Happy Ending! And Especially if it is about Flowers... and even MORE Especially if it is about BLUE Flowers! Because they are the Rarer kind... and BLUE is my Favorite Color!
This little girl is so Lucky to have a Papa who knows where and when these flowers will bloom.... and knows to bring her to see them...!
And WE are so Lucky to have YOU to tell us about it and show such Beautiful photos of all the tiny details! You have put your baskets to good use .... and the lovely trowel and scissors!
I agree with Ewa.... it is sometimes hard to remember how small this house is... except I am sure it is about the same size as my Folly... so I should know.... but you have filled it with SO MUCH Life.... it seems so big! But that is like viewing the World through the eyes of the child... it is her Entire World... so it cannot be small at all!

Rosamargarita said...

Una historia realmente deliciosa Sans! Las flores que brotan cada 12 años y que tu papá te llevara a verlas!
La alegría de mamá, que bien que se olviden de las botellas (yo también lo haría)

;)
Un abrazo

Las pequeñas cosas de Victoria said...

¡¡ Me ha gustado muchisimo la casita y todos los preciosos detalles que hay en ella !!
La acompaña tambien una historia fantastica !!
¡¡ es envidiable el trabajo que has hecho con esta pequeña casa !!
¡¡ mi mas sincera enhorabuena !!

.. * . (\ *** /) * Un besito
.* . * ( \(_)/ ) * * . cielo
.* . * (_ /|\ _) . * . que tengas
.* . * . /___\ * . . un buen dia

malu2 said...

La historía preciosa, que termina como a mi me gusta, con un beso!!!
fantastico!!!! la escena es muy bonita y dile a mamá que quedan muy bien las botellas en la ventana, con el jardín,jejeje.Besos de las Malu´s.
MªLuisa.

Eliana said...

Beautiful, Sans! I love your minis as well as history.
Hugs

Sans! said...

Caterina, I had to come in to dispel any notion that I made those flowers :). They are real flowers . These are statice or sea lavender. I use them a lot because they last. With hair spray especially. I have some in my artists' studio (the same dollhouse) since about a year ago and they still look fairly good.

I will gladly send you some . I will start weaving your basket tonight :). And those suitcases in the weekend.

I am swarmed with work at the moment and will probably really relax only after 7/9.

Then there's a rat who's been coming to my dollhouse eating my cucumbers and chillis and other green vegetable and I am pulling my hair out trying to catch it. Sigh...

How wonderful it is that I have your sweet words to comfort me.

Kathy said...

I love your home!! It's so cute!!

carmen said...

que bien queda el kurinji en tu jardín!!

Katrina said...

I like your rustic, dark style. And your colors are perfect. Minihugs Kati

Ana Anselmo said...

First thing in the morning i like to do is to look into your blog and see if there is a new post...when that happens I am happy!
Thanks Sans for your beautiful posts

CWPoppets said...

What a wonderful story! Thank you!
Christine

cockerina said...

San ... a mouse in the house ??????? AAAAAAARGHHH!!
pity that he has eaten your cucumbers, but evidently they were so realistic and he thought to try .. :))
your flowers are beautiful, that's why they were so real ... because they ARE real .. ha ha! dear friend, do not you never stop surprising me ...
It will be nice to have the flowers, from afar and fascinating East, in the hut in the Dolomites :)))
thank you, fairy!
I'm also doing my mini for you, I hope to ship soon!

kisses from far away geographically, but close to the heart, Italy!
xxx Caterina

Unknown said...

Well, I would definitely forgive my husband if he worked so hard to line my house in beautiful blue! Deeds over words, Papa has that right!

Such lovely work, such beautiful photographs, Sans, and another loving story. I want this to be a book so badly, I can see it passed down from mother to daughter, it's so timeless and detailed and full of love..

Kim said...

ah- I agree with Amy! What a wonderful book your blog would make- I would buy a copy for sure!!! Have a wonderful weekend Sans ♥

Norma Soulet (AZArtist) said...

Hi Sans,

What a lovely story! Love all the details of the house and the beautiful blue of the flowers.
Hugs

BiWuBär said...

I'm like the little narrator, I lack the words to describe the beauty of this post... What a fantastic story - and what a wonderful way to bring the battle of the bottles to an end. Thank you for widening my horizon, I've never heard of that beautiful flower only blooming after 12 years - nature really is a magician!

Greetings
Birgit

Jollie said...

Hi my dear Sans :-)
I am so sorry that I have been too busy lately... so lazy because of the during heat here...
I loved your story about these wonderful flowers and the planting :-)

Hugs Jollie

Plushpussycat said...

So sweet, Sans! I love your stories!

Sylvia said...

Very nice story and beautifull house,fantastic!

Ascension said...

Preciosa historia con final feliz, no podia ser de otro modo escribiendola tu.
Se ve todo tan real.
En un video y con tu voz narrando la historia seria fantastico, seria como ver un cuento.
Que bonita musica para el post de lo mas apropiada, me encanta.
Otro fantastico ratito paseando por tu blog.
besitos ascension

Sans! said...

Kim, both the spades and the pair of scissors are silver metal pieces which I painted :).

Have you made a mini garden yet? If you have, will you show it to me? If not, let me know when you do because I know exactly what I can send as a garden-warming present :)

Sans! said...

Ewa, the kuringji mountain must be as breathtaking as my little diarist described. I hope I can see something like that one day.

Whenever I think of a mountain covered in flowers, I remember Heidi :). When I was a young girl, I had always thought only European mountains were spectacular that way. The tropical mountains, the kind I am used to, are hardly anything but green. Imagine my surprise when I found out about the blue Kurinji mountain in India.

Once in 12 years and I believe the last time it bloomed was 2006. It can only be found in 1 place in this whole world, at the Western Ghats in India. But as with many unusual species, they are being squeezed out of existence by one of nature's greatest enemy, human :).

Do you know the members of one tribe even calculate their ages according to how many of the spectacular mass flowerings they've witnessed? :)

Sans! said...

Maria Ireland, thank you for your kind words :) . I love it when you are here :).

Sans! said...

Drora, I like this shade very much too but what is this kind of blue anyway ? It's a cross between purple and blue and when I looked it up online, the suggestions are so varied that I give up. It ranges from Violet Blue to Cobalt Violet to Indigo (?) to Hyacinth to Han .

Blue can be quite controversial and definitely confusing :)

Sans! said...

Kikka, it's always such a pleasure to see you here :)

Sans! said...

Teehee Susanne, my spades were all rusty too, at first:). But I changed my mind :). I hope you will show us your shovels soon :).

Sans! said...

Piiko, I have just seen the flowers in your summer garden. I wish I have your fingers. I think you can make anything grow :)

Sans! said...

Lataina, I wish I can offer you some cucumber juice or potato puree (hehe) everytime you visit :). You are so sweet. When can we see your dollhouse? Or your miniatures? I am sure it will be quite wonderful . I know because you have a good eye ;p!

Sans! said...

Bets, there are times when I think my tribal house is too big :) especially when I was shopping for a bell jar (not seriously) or acrylic box big enough to protect it from rats :).

It is probably the size of your Folly. Mine is a Real Good Toys Victorian Cottage Jr http://www.hobbymasters.com/realgoodtoysdollhousefinishedvictoriancottagejr.builtup.aspx , the smallest of all my houses. I added a base so that I could build a decent garden , pond, yard, outdoor kitchen etc . The sides of the house too have trees.

Maybe my house looks big because I love to enlarge my photos :). Easier to suspend your disbelief with larger than life size than when I am staring at my dollhouse. :)

Sans! said...

Jajaja rosam:). Gracias:).

A veces, creo que es muy fácil de complacer y tranquilizar a una mujer, no está de acuerdo?

un abrazo

Kim said...

Sans- I have not made a mini garden yet- but it is funny you ask because I have an entire garden all planned out in my head and I have been collecting minis for it-but I have promised myself and my hubby that I will finish the Candy House before I start constructing it :) I can clearly see it all in my head- does that ever happen to you? I think it is even starting to invade my dreams :)

Sans! said...

Victoria, le doy las gracias desde el fondo de mi corazón por su aliento tipo. Espero que nunca va a dejar de visitar:)

Me gusta mucho tu angelito:)

.. * . (\ *** /) * Un besito
.* . * ( \(_)/ ) * * . cielo
.* . * (_ /|\ _) . * . que tengas
.* . * . /___\ * . . un buen dia

Virginia isabel said...

de verdad que esto enemorada de tus cestas. a ver si me animo ha hacer una.
besujis!!!!

Sans! said...

Kim, in a way I know what you are saying. I have been planning a firefly park for a while now, and in my head it is such a perfect little place and I know exactly the kind of lights I will use, the types of vegetation and all the creatures I want in that park :). But in reality, I take a while to figure out how it is to be done. And often ,the more vivid the scene in my head, the longer I take to realise it. :)

It was how I had visualised my kitchen as well. I knew what I wanted in my kitchen from Day 1 but it was the last room to complete :).

I really look forward to seeing your garden.

Sans! said...

M ª Luisa, me encantan los finales felices:) y me encanta que os améis los finales felices también:)

besos

Sans! said...

Thank you , dear Eliana :), for always visiting and leaving kind words :)

Sans! said...

I like cute too, Kathy O-O :). Thank you !

Sans! said...

Jeje, Carmen, yo también creo que el limonium parece Kurinji!

Sans! said...

Kati, I realise too that mine is not the usual bright and sunshine kind of dollhouses and perhaps not so generally accepted. That's why I really appreciate my friends here who continually encourages me. :)

I have just visited you and am really happy I found your blog.

Sans! said...

O Ana, if only you can see the big big smile on my face when I read your comment! Thank you, my dear friend.

Sans! said...

No, thank YOU, Christine!

Sans! said...

Caterina! I promise by this weekend, I will work on your minis :):). But I won't send them until I am satisfied with the results, ok?

I wanted to work on them last weekend but I forgot I had a 1/2 marathon on Sunday and it started at 5.15am. So Saturday , I spent time with family and tried to sleep early. On Sunday, I was completely tired after the race so I was in bed the whole day ..haha :)

By the way, 3 pest control guys came to the house and we laid 7-8 traps including our own. We finally caught the rat 3 days ago.It was a huge roof rat. To be frank, I wouldn't be so vigilant if he didn't attack my dollhouse. I have Kiva and Cindy's food in there but he didn't touch them so I think polymer clay is the way to go. Don't use food base material like dough if you don't want pests in your dollhouse.

Sans! said...

Amy, I will be lying if I say I haven't thought about a book, especially since I started this diary series. It's all the encouraging comments from my friends here that help contribute to this delusion that I can..haha.

Seriously though, getting a Singapore publisher interested in a book about dollhouses is like , I don't know, climbing Mt Everest? Not impossible but very, very hard. My sister once met a local publisher (the boss, I think) who does mainly educational or children's books and you know what she told my sis? I will publish your book when you are famous! Maybe she's talking about a book about my sis but that's how it is over here. People only bet on winners! Of course, I can always get private funding but it won't be the same.

Anyway, I still harbour this dream and one day, when, ;p, it comes true, I have all of you to thank.:) Remember, will you, that you are here when this idea germinates and that you have contributed to this dream in a big, big way.

Sans! said...

Kim, you don't know how much what you said meant to me (about the book) :). Hand on heart and with a deep bow, I thank you. :)

Sans! said...

(((((((((((Norma S)))))))))))

Thank you!

Sans! said...

Birgit, do you know you have become a dear dear blog friend? I am thanking you 59 times, one "thank you" for every word you wrote in your comment. So see ? You do have the words ..teehee :)

Sans! said...

Jollie, thank you for visiting :). It's always such a pleasure to see you here.

Sans! said...

Thank you Jen! *muah muah :)

Sans! said...

Sylvia, thank you for your sweet words.

Sans! said...

Ascensión! ¡Qué idea! Un video? hahaha:). Creo que será un dolor de cabeza viendo mi video hecho con cámara en mano:). Querida, ¿cómo vamos a traducir al español la voz? teehee. Tal vez Eva?

Gracias, Ascensión dulce.

Por cierto, su trabajo se está haciendo tan bien, que puede ser un fabricante de muñecas profesional ahora. Lo digo de verdad.

abrazos y besos

Sans! said...

Ir a hacer una, Virginia. Estoy seguro de que la cesta será maravilloso!

Unknown said...

ahhahaha ok ok no water in bottles (re: last post) i love your new series of baskets! those flowers bring colour and life to the scenery!

dalesdreams said...

I thought for sure I had commented here. :(

Are the blue flowers status?

The Old Maid said...

If the flowers really bloom every 12 years it's easy to count how many years somebody is, but what if due to climat changes the flowers bloom more often? ;)
This is funny about the mountains, every time I watch any TV programms about far Asia I wonder how come this green is so splendid green, not like over here....;)

Sans! said...

Cindy, I hope in our meet this Saturday, we explore how the basket covers can be made. My mum just gave me a life size basket with a double flip cover, exactly the kind that I want to try and miniaturise.

Can't wait ! :)

Sans! said...

Dale, the blue flowers are statice flowers or sea lavender. I will send you some together with the basket. :)

Sans! said...

You are so right, Ewa. Using the blooming of certain flowers to calculate your age seems a little unreliable. On the other hand, I wonder sometime about how accurate really is the conventional way of calculating time. We use the revolution of earth around the sun (Roman calendar), or the moon (Chinese/ Islamic) or the burning of incense / candles (churches/ temples) to calculate time too. Surely all these methods are also subject in some form to the forces of nature?

Recently, I read this quote on Birgit's blog - Time is really the distance between two event, propounded by none other than Einstein himself. So maybe saying I am now between 3-4 Kurinji year isn't so wrong after all? Sure makes me sound younger ..haha!

You know, I have met people who has a dash across the box in their birth certificate that says "Date of Birth", not many of course. It is unfathomable to us now but in those days, it was common that people did not even know when they were born and how old they truly are :) all because there was no such thing as the Registry of Births. Imagine that! :)

Sans! said...

Ok , that really made me sound like someone who's been watching too much sci fi channel ! Sorry Ewa!

By the way, one of my fav series is Eureka ..teehee :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_(TV_series)

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