"I AM RIGHT WHERE I NEED TO BE TO GET WHERE I'M GOING TOMORROW."
As soon as I read this quote I immediately reflected on my past. I started to hum the lyrics to the theme song from the film Mahogany - "Do You Know Where You're Going To," sung by diva Diana Ross.
Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you?
Where are you going to?
Do you know...?
Do you get
What you're hoping for
When you look behind you
There's no open doors
What are you hoping for?
Do you know...?...
It was a song I often sang and danced to during my time in college. It was one of the theme songs for me then along with "I Am What I Am," "Can't Smile Without You," and other countless songs too distant to remember. I am where I am supposed to be - about 80% of the time. I know I was chosen for my G.O.D. given profession. I love to heal. I know I am good at healing. I (no, I mean WE--Rick and I ) just need one day to be among the trees, plants, water and animals. I really mean to be among nature for the restoration that brings.
There have been whole books written about Opium. It is the only Class II narcotic that can still be bought at a flower shop, enjoyed in your own garden bed, or bought at a nursery. I love Poppies. The Opium Poppy is Papaver somniferum. I do not think the authorities will go after Grandma or me for having poppy plants in the garden. It is a most beautiful flower. I have needle pointed the Poppy as well as the Magnolia several times. These are my favorite plants to stitch.
The history goes way back. It dates to 3400 BC- Homer mentioned it as the name 'nepenthe' that helped Helen of Troy to forget her sorrows.In the seventeenth century is was called landanum. I think we owe much to Hippocrates in medicine, but this was either the best or the worst. In 460 BC he declared opium to be a pain killer. It is the basis for all morphine derivatives (morphine, codeine, percocet etc) today. Can you imagine that today 3.5 million Americans have admitted to using heroin. It is still a popular drug on the streets of NYC. You wouldn't believe this but Afghanistan today supplies 90 percent of the world's opium.
A poppy is one of a group of a flowering plants in the poppy family, many of which are grown in gardens for their colorful flowers. Poppies are sometimes used for symbolic reasons, such as in remembrance of soldiers who have died during wartime. Poppy flowers have 4 to 6 petals. The petals may be almost any color, and some have markings. Before blooming, the petals are crumpled in the bud, and as blooming finishes, the petals often lie flat before falling away. A whorl of stamens is in the center of the flower. The pollen of the oriental poppy, Papaver orientale, is dark blue. The pollen of the field poppy or corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is dark blue to grey. Bees use poppies. This is why I love to grow them.
Opium gives a feeling of euphora but also depresses the respiratory system and can lead to death.
Even the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) sprinkled seeds of Poppies which grew. Dorothy, the Lion and the Scarecrow ran through the field of poppies and slept and slept. If it wasn't for the Good Witch of the North, Glenda, (Billie Burke) causing snow to fall, Dorothy (Judy Garland) would still be asleep. I can still hear the Wicked Witch'es voice saying, "Poppies."
My own Poppy was my grandfather. We called him Poppy and my grandmother, Nanny. My own Poppy was a very special man--hatmaker, butcher, musician, and gardener. He was a quiet man with much serenity and grace. Debonair as Astaire, witty as Chaplin (his best hat client) and close to both my brother and I. Greatly misssed. Yesterday, being Mother's Day, I reflected on not onyl my mother and grandmother but the whole family.
I could write blogs and more blogs on Opium.....
Until tomorrow...
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