Petunias with ornamental Oregano, “Kent Beauty.”
Have you ever noticed that once you focus on a thought, it takes hold and begins to grow in your consciousness?
The Buddhists say that we become the sum of our thoughts:
“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.”
Our little Eggplant with its first flower.
On a more mundane level, once we begin to think about something, suddenly we begin to notice it again and again around us.
It was full on dusk yesterday evening when I suddenly noticed all of the beautiful eggplant colored Petunias growing in baskets on our deck.
I was perplexed. Why hadn’t I thought to photograph them in the first place?
(And to think that “eggplant” photos might be challenging to find.)
Too dark to photograph them last night, I was up early this morning, waiting for the light.
Fog and light rain cloaked our sunrise, but there was a break long enough to go outside. And then, I saw “eggplant” again and again.
An ornamental pepper with eggplant colored stems. How could I have missed it before?
We magnetize what we think about into our lives.
And it is not always what we desire…. It is what we dwell on mentally that manifests; wanted or unwanted.
That is why it is so important to take control of our own thoughts.
Our thoughts, however fleeting or random, have the power to manifest in the physical.
“Energy flows where our attention goes.”
An important consideration when we choose what to watch, or attend, or listen to…
And so I choose to continue my quest for beauty, harmony, peace, and understanding.
A Native American elder often offers the blessing,
“May you walk in beauty.”
May it be so for us all.
Photos by Woodland Gnome 2014
With appreciation to Jennifer Nichole Wells for her
One Word Photo Challenge: Eggplant
Forest Garden 
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These are so beautiful! You really did find an amazing amount of the color eggplant. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and images 🙂
Dear Jennifer, So glad you liked the photos. Thank you for your kind words. I was moved to scan the spam file this morning, and found several of your comments stuck there. I apologize, and hope that it won’t happen again. Best wishes, WG
No worries at all. That was happening for almost all of my comments for awhile. Askimet fixed it on my end, but I’m sure a lot of comments are stuck in spam folders.
Many posts today! You have some really lovely plants – love the bicolor petunias and the variegated pepper is very nice. Once things really get going and pots are full to bursting, can you take some longer shots of the whole scene? This is a good request for me as well, I tend to take close shots and forget to take in the whole garden. This past winter, someone inquiring about my designing a garden for them requested my “garden portfolio”. I had a hard time finding enough photos because I had so many close-ups!
The Variegated pepper was a gift from a friend back in the fall. It was a seedling in one of her pots, and she gave it to me in late October. It lived all winter in the garage, and now is taking off in the heat. I’ll keep the long shots in mind, Eliza 😉 I get caught up in the beauty of the details so often 😉 Right now I”m not very happy with the “long views.” It will come as the season progresses and things fill in.
I know exactly what you mean about the long views. Do you think we are perfectionists? 😉 Most of my beds have progressions of bloom, so the whole thing rarely looks spectacular all at once. Hence, the short shots. In truth, who cares what the whole thing looks like as long as we are happy with our love of gardening, right?
Well, there are those more interested in the look of the whole than in the individuals. I’m thinking of landscape architects and “garden planners.” I am most interested in the individual plants and what they can offer. I’ve been trying to discipline myself into looking more at the whole- especially in front. Hopefully it will fill in enough to photograph soon. “yes” to perfectionist, by the way…. 😉
LOL, I thought I recognized a sister perfectionist! I am TRYING to ease off, but….;-)
Not happening, here- this addiction is progressive…. the gardening addiction, that is 😉
Lovely photos, WG! Focus and attention and coordination and good timing makes good * happen.
Have you read “Island”, perchance? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_(Huxley_novel)
Alan Watts came to mind as well. I believe I remember this quote cuz of him.
“When a thief comes upon a priest, all he sees is his pockets.”
Familiar with Watts’s quote, not with Island, which looks intriguing. Thank you for the tip. Mind sharing what part of my post made you think of Island? I’d be interested in know the “point of leapage.” 😉 I like your motto- sometimes good * happens, even before one has had one’s morning coffee…. The tree in the next one was there for you 😉 Best wishes, WG
“Attention!” “Attention” the parrots mimicked the loudspeakers,
which kept the islander’s minds comically in focus.
Aldous is one of my favorite novelists – for several good reasons.
🙂 Cheerz to a very cool day here. 75 and sunny!
You’ve just added a title to my “must read” list. I was reading Utopian literature in the early 80s- enjoyed Skinner, etc. but don’t recall this one. Something to look forward to when I finish Bauval. We’ve spent most of the day in the 70s, but tripped up to the 80s for a short time this afternoon. Have you read Don Lattin’s The Harvard Psychedelic Club? http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/harvard-psychedelic-club-don-lattin/1103216413?ean=9780061655944 Speaks to the research and zaniness behind it all and was “In- Lightning.” Best, WG
The stories I’ve yet to tell, WG. Someday, after I’ve grown up, perhaps, I’ll have to spill the beans. Yes, even in Nebraska, “it” happens, we’re just like 10 years behind the coasts. 😉 Research I did aplenty in my day. Had to, I felt. Entheogens paved the way for the food of the gods are Mother Nature’s method – with just a touch of madness. One endures and survives to tell the story in a post about eggplants. 😉 He-he.
He He- always did like a nice bit of shrooms in the ratatouille. Was Mother Nature’s way and also the way of all the “Father” figures, back when, too. Talk about “missing links.” Hope to be around to hear those stories, Uncle Tree. 😉 Lots of pressure out there to keep folks from finding what they seek. Take care now, WG
Cue the Twilight Zone music….I had an in-depth discussion with some girlfriends over lunch today on this very topic. Photography, as usual, is beautiful but my real question is how on earth do you get Kent Beauty to live. I’ve killed two and am not prepared to try for number three without some expert advice. Thanks, WG!
Dear Barbara,
Love the TZ music ! Nice touch 😉 I teased a clerk at Trader Joes who was stocking the lower shelf in the cold case Tuesday. I was getting a plastic tub of olives from over his head, and promised him I wouldn’t drop them on him. So what do I do between counter and refrigerator an hour later? You guessed it- and the plastic cracked so olive juice went everywhere. There is a very short interval between “cause and effect” these days.
O. “Kent Beauty” is such fun to grow, but definitely likes to be hot and mostly dry. I have 2 this season, both in full sun. The one in the photo is in a hanging basket. When the weather is humid they can mildew and rot pretty quickly. I mulch with pea gravel so the stems never sit on the soil. That seems to do the trick, and they thrive all summer. I’ve never kept one over winter, though.
Hope you’re enjoying the rain today, and no more storms! Best wishes, WG
I’ll check my calendar shortly and let you know how the next two weeks look for me. I may give the Kent one more try….both times I had in the ground and maybe containers are the remedy.Thanks. Love the olives story as misery loves company these days.
We’re still enjoying the olives 😉
I’ve never tried the Kent in the ground, Barbara. May still do well, if you have it in full sun and mulch with gravel. I learned that trick after losing lots of Lavender in summer heat and humidity. The gravel reflects the sun back up through the plant, and helps keep the foliage clean and dry. I’ll watch for an email- Emily has a standing Monday engagement, so I know it will need to be mid-week for us. Best, E