Songs

Sing unto the Lord a new song:
Sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
Sing unto the Lord, bless his name;
Show forth his salvation from day to day.

Psalm 96 vs 1-2.
Pictures by Chinwe Enemchukwu

SPLENDOR

I saw this crawling plant by an intersection, near a drainage. The white flowers caught my attention and I pulled over and walked over to the patch of grass, several different weeds and shrubs among which the light green wild plant crawled and sprinkled the beautiful cup and trumpet shaped flowers. The flowers were in various stages of opening their petals and were shaped like cups, trumpets and saucers. These flowers had the most beautiful purplish centers, style, stigma and the base of the petals. The petals have the most beautiful raised lines on them, running from the base to the tips of the petals. The flowers were in clusters in various stages of development. I was worried about snakes and as such, I took quick snapshots and picked a few to take home.
At home I posed the flowers and took several snapshots and the images blew my mind. They had so many messages and I sketched a number of them. I will share a few snapshots here. I still do not know the name of this wild flower, but I will find out. I picked a few seeds which look like the morning glory seeds, only bigger. In the future, images displayed by this flowers may come on the blog. In the meantime, enjoy these and have a great weekend.

Nwada Chinwe Enemchukwu
Pictures by Chinwe Enemchukwu

Angelic petals

This is the last of the flower figures I will share. The rest will wait. This one is a picture of a Periwinkle flower, purple petals photographed early in the morning, covered with dew droplets. The flash gave the flower a hazy glow.
The picture threw back an image which looks like a baby angel coming down on a foggy morning, with purplish hues around the head,with that wet haze found in fogs.

Chinwe Enemchukwu
10/25/11
Picture and sketch by
Chinwe Enemchukwu

Pom-pom parade or ----

I have been trying to find out the name of this plant/flower. I have two of them, one on each side of my front door for more than ten years. I keep promising myself to do some research and find out the name of this plant. Every summer through the fall, they make the most beautiful red or is it pink (?) flowers which look like pom-poms. In the middle of the day, they look like fireworks, just exploded, only they do not burn out. They stay exploded all day, a sight to behold. The thin branches spread out around the base, almost like a bamboo bush.

I take pictures of them almost daily, then the other day, I brought the branches together with one hand, bringing the flowers together and then took pictures, different shots and I had a number of spectacular characters emerge from the snapshots.
This snapshot of a woman with pom poms, as in a parade.

Chinwe Enemchukwu
10/24/11
Picture and sketch by Chinwe Enemchukwu

All in the eyes of the Beholder

A bright red Hibiscus flower or a young lady in a beautiful flared gown, are the two images posted here.
A first glance at the picture of the flower throws back at the beholder, a young lady in a red and green gown, with ribbons in her hair. A little adjustment places a hat with a bow and feathers on her head, and some stripes on her dress, as she walks to her destination.

Chinwe Enemchukwu
Picture and sketch by
Chinwe Enemchukwu.

"Cherish"

In the eighties, precisely, 1985, Kool and the gang had a hit song titled "Cherish" which stayed on the charts for a long time and was a special for many people. The song remains a favorite for many and the lyrics are very special, rendering great counsel to people for the fleeting time spent on earth.
It has always been known that humans seldom appreciate what they have. Many things can come in and be obstacles to the opportunity to cherish and enjoy God's numerous blessings. Blessings come in different shapes and sizes, in different areas of life and blessings can be easily missed or ignored. Many people miss out totally at great opportunities to fulfill their God given destiny, and also fail to be blessings to others who would have benefited from the fulfilling of their destiny.
Appreciating and cherishing all the blessings along the journey of life, which like a long country road, may go down valleys and then up mountains, with scrubland or beautiful meadows by the roadside, meandering rivers, dusty dry roads, muddy patches, which if well navigated come together to create the picture of a beautiful journey at the end of it all. By cherishing the good times and working through the hard times with the gifts placed around by the almighty, one can navigate through life prepared to transition into the next phase, eternity, without worries. Cherishing family and friends and helping people placed around, can wrap up into a fulfilled life.

My father went home to his maker last month. Having a few days to wish him farewell
has been one of the most humbling blessings in my life. He was aware of the crowd surrounding him, physically and electronically, as he got ready to appear in God's presence,he acknowledged it and I am sure he must have remembered the days, many years ago, daily, morning and night,when he led morning and evening prayers, with his family around him.
A few months ago, in late spring, when he and my mother were with me, he continued the same practice, leading in morning and evening prayers. If I was home, I joined them, if not, he prayed with my mother, after songs and scripture reading. I would come home to see them sitting side by side having fellowship. Even when he woke up late, the morning fellowship happened then. Then followed the preparation for his citizenship test. She quizzed him and he answered. Some of the questions, at least one of them, I did not know the answer the first time I heard it. Day after day, he was quizzed and he got the information packed in. Sometimes, he would miss giving the right answer and she would get impatient and ask how many times she would remind him of the right answer. I thought it was incredible, that he was answering the questions at all, with his poor hearing and age, but to her, he was still prince charming, age, wrinkles, hard of hearing and all.
One day at the park, to which we went often to stroll,sit around to relax and take in the views, I sat on a park bench with him, to let him rest, while my mother continued to walk around to see the park and to exercise, I was surprised when, after about five minutes, which must have seemed very long to him, he turned and asked me " Where is Mercy?" I was taken aback, because I had never heard him call her by her name before. It would have been, "where is your mother?" We found her and we went home not long after that. I reflected on that for a while, wondering what would happen if by any chance she went before him. I quickly dismissed that thought, believing that when the time came, there must be a way to take whatever happened in stride, a debt which every human being must pay someday.

Upon returning to the Northeast, he went for his interview and passed with flying colors and was sworn in in July as a citizen of the United States of America. When I called to congratulate him, he chuckled happily and reminded to thank "your mother" for helping him prepare.
While going through old pictures being compiled for the celebration of his life, I came across a picture from the early seventies,after the Biafran war,of my parents, who I thought were really old then. I was so surprised at the picture, which must have caught them of guard, I guess, because although it was obvious how they felt about each other, which showed in subtle ways, they hardly ever let us see it. In this picture, it looks like he complimented her dress and she looked a little bit bashful and inclined her head at a compliment.
He is gone now. It has been up and down, good days and not so good days. Constantly reminding her of other people in her shoes, people much younger, with less blessings than her, had helped in bringing her through a journey into the future without him. Sixty five years plus, are many years. It must feel like an amputation. However, life must go on, by " leaning on the everlasting arm" on a daily basis as they did together,alone now,cherishing memories.

Nwada Chinwe Enemchuwku
Picture courtesy of Mrs Chioma Okafor

Harvest

Farmers are born, and not made.
They love the soil and nature.
The rivers, the streams, the sun
and the shade
made by trees, big and small
By palms, bamboos,climbers.
They love the mountains and the valleys.
They study nature closely.
Even from childhood
They work hard to nurture
All of God's creation.
Both plant and animal,
Closely paying attention
To their needs.
As they provide for man,
Food and clothing,
And shelter.
The farmer sees God's hand
Even in the little things of life.

Planting brings so much joy
As new life starts before his very eyes
And explodes into an adventure
For both farmer and plant
And all the creatures involved
In the great production of
The drama of life.
The tree goes through the years of growth,
The tuber rots,and then starts
A brand new tuber in its place.
The tree grows and flowers
Then fruits and seeds come.
The new tuber grows and matures
Into a fresh robust food source.

Then comes harvest time,a joyful time
For the farmer.
Anticipation.
All the hard work and nurture,
fighting off pests,
bad weather, too much rain,
drought,
and other possibilities
in the nature of the work.

When the harvest is bountiful,
The farmer strives, thankful
To the Almighty, the giver
Of all good things.
When the harvest is bad, or not so good,
The farmer takes it in stride.
And gives thanks
Knowing that better days are ahead.
Even in strife,
As long as there is life.
And life eternal.
The greater gift is
Enjoying
Bountiful harvest here,
For all the toil,
and at last the greatest gift,
Eternal life.
What a harvest!

Nwada Chinwe Enemchukwu
October 19 2011
Picture by Joseph A. Odunukwe,
Ihiala about (1946)

Brev-ity

Brev-ity:
Shortness of time and duration; briefness: the brevity of human life. 2. Conciseness; the quality of expressing much in a few words---
--- The Random House Dictionary of the English Language.





In childhood days I tried to keep journals, also known as daily diary entries, as it was called in Nigeria. I was not successful at it. I always ended up losing my dairy after a few weeks, or missed entries because of procrastination. I would put off writing in my diary and before I got around to it, days would have passed and I would finally give it up. I was trying to copy my father, who kept diaries and made entries every night before he retired to bed. He would do his breathing exercise and while kneeling there, he would write in his dairy. He kept diaries until poor vision made it hard for him to continue, and had diaries dating back to his younger days.

During the Biafran war,when we unknowingly attacked and depleted his saved copies of the West African pilot and the Nigerian outlook and used them for fuel, his diaries were spared. Short,to the point records of the daily events and activities, he carefully documented day after day. One of the initial problems I had with diary keeping was the ability to put all the happenings of one day into a short but detailed note. I asked for help and my father taught me how to squeeze the information into concise sentences, the fewer the better. Easier said than done. With my procrastination problem, and misplacing of my diary, I gave up on diary keeping, but the lesson on brevity remained. One or two word sentences, like a packed punch, which explodes to release information packed into them. Playing with words and finding the most appropriate one became the game.

In High school, there was a dedicated English teacher, who took interest in helping her students get the best out of her teaching. She stressed on the importance of the short sentence, and how they were much better than the long sequence of useless words. Picking out a few words which would convey the same meaning as the long verbose sentences, became a skill to be mastered, and a fun game. Comprehension exercises were used to sharpen the skill. She would give students assignments to condense pages of a narrative into a page or two page report and still keep the gist of the story.

As life progresses and I still find myself here on earth, thank God, I have looked back to see what I had done with more than half a century I have been blessed with. Putting it in brief, I tried to asses my life, or to put it in other words, to take stock. The passing of Steve Jobs last week, against the backdrop of all his accomplishments, makes the duty of taking stock of life even more important. At age fifty six, it would be right to say his life was brief, when held against his numerous accomplishments. He was rich enough to ward off any disease, if it worked that way. But life does not work that way. Life and death are no respecter of persons. He could have lived into his seventies or even eighties, but that was not to be. His biological father, at eighty, has a lot to reflect on in his long life. Human curiosity may make people wonder what could have become of Steve's life, had he not been adopted by his parents. Who knows? Could he have lived longer? Could he have accomplished so much? Nobody will ever have answers. He lived his life, made his mark and was done in fifty six years and made his exit with a bang. From my belief standpoint, I really hope he is having the kind of success he had in this world where he is now. The brevity of his life compared to eternity is staggering. Into his fifty six years, he packed so much and impacted the world so much. As if he knew he did not have too many years on earth, he packed the accomplishments of many lifetimes into his lifetime. It is always good to put the life-after into consideration as we run the race of life. That will be very helpful and will make all the trouble we go through in life worthwhile.
I looked up the word "bitch" one more time before using it here. It is not really a bad word, when used in the right context-- the context here being------Something that is extremely difficult or unpleasant--. There was this bumper sticker in the 1980s which read as follows----- Life is a bitch and then you die. To that I will add-----And then what?
Have a blessed week.

Nwada Chinwe Enemchukwu
Onye Uwa Oma
na
Orlando, Florida.
10/09/2011.
Pictures by Chinwe Enemchukwu

The wine tapper

The wine tapper climbs up the palm tree
Like one going up a steep cliff
Like one climbing up a set of stairs,
Vertically in the air.
He holds a round hoop, reminiscent of
A hula hoop, around his waist, also
Looped around the palm tree, and
Firmly secured.
Like a rough leather tube,
Carefully procured, strong
Product of the palm frond.

Grabbing the rough hoop with both hands,
Udo nkwu, the name in Igbo,
The wine tapper moves up the palm tree.
Moving the hoop up, then
One foot up, then the other.
Then the hoop moves up again
One notch,
Then the foot, then the other.
Over and over again, like a
vertical hula hoop game, he goes
Up the palm tree.

He leans back for balance
Upon arrival to the top,
Palm fronds hanging overhead
In a welcome bow.
Like a wood pecker poised to
Start his tapping,
The wine tapper taps for palm wine,
In gourds,carefully secured.

Done, he begins stepping
Backwards and downwards
over and over again,
Hula hooping all the way down.
Vertically.
On the ground, hoop undone,
he hangs the hoop from his shoulder,
For the next hula hoop game,
Up the next designated palm tree,
And down.
Risky game, all the same.

Chinwe Enemchukwu
October 4TH 2011
Picture courtesy of Wouter ten Broek

Shadows

The word shadow brings to mind different pictures. One thing common to all the possibilities that flood the mind about shadow, remains the fact that an image of the object in question, displays somewhere, and is exaggerated or diminished depending on the light source. I researched on shadow and all the sources I looked at agreed that a shadow is formed when an opaque object gets in the way of, or blocks a path of light. Since light travels in straight lines and cannot bend around the object, a shadow forms. The size and length of the shadow depends on the direction and position of the source of light. Shadows sometimes follow the opaque object, which maybe a person, or the shadow may lead ahead of the object or move alongside the object. Whenever a person gets in the way of light, a shadow is cast and the shapes of the shadow are different and interesting.
Before I start repeating myself in an attempt to clarify what I am trying to say, I will get to the point I am trying to make.

Two days ago, I stepped outside when the morning chill finally lifted and it was sunny and bright. It was about ten o'clock in the morning and I finally went out with the puppy to give him run around time. Living by the highway, though not directly on it, leaving the puppy unattended even for a little while can be fatal. While he ran around, I would take pictures with my cell phone, pictures of the puppy, pictures of flowers in various stages of development, a lone bee or two bees buzzing around busily doing their job, butterflies, even pigeons flying in packs, in circles or swoops. Regular birds are very suspicious and will take off for dear life.
I have learned a lot from observing the busy bees doing their work. They stay focused and mean business. They don't play around. The butterflies on the other hand, happily float around, as if with no care in the world. They float around from one flower to another doing their work, which seems insignificant, but is really very useful. Their floating around, just as the buzzing around of the bees accomplish the bearing fruits by plants and harvests.

As I waited for the butterflies and bees to settle down, I have to be still and not scare them away or make them feel threatened. My camera accidentally took shots and I knew I pictures of my foot or of the grass. The delete option would take care of the error, I thought. As I looked at the picture to delete it, I noticed I had taken a picture of my shadow, larger than life, but surely my shadow. That got me thinking about life in general, our lives, the shadows we cast when we get in the way of light, the marks we leave in the sand when we are done with our earthly work. Every week I read on the forums, obituary announcements for people in various stages of life, some very young, some middle aged, some old, some really old, who answered the call to eternity, which every human being must answer. Every human must one day fade away and be in the past and be referred to in the past tense. The memories left behind are really what matters and what counts and should motivate me I believe, to live life to the fullest, to enjoy what God has placed around me, family, friends,strangers, even when they become obstacles or stumbling blocks, one must get around the obstacles and focus on impacting the world in a positive way, changing lives, helping others, making the world a better place. Although it sounds easier said then done, it is possible to rise above ugliness and get to that point when nothing is worth getting angry about. At that point, one has really learned the truth realized by the psalmist in Psalm 91.1---1He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
If my shadow was that big, how big is the shadow of the Almighty? I deliberately took a few extra shots of my shadow and they were very different depending on the source of light. I learned something that morning and I am still learning. I am sharing this morning, a few more of my pictures, thank God for a good cell phone, I am slowly becoming an amateur nature photographer and getting better everyday. To God be all glory.
Chinwe Enemchukwu
Orlando, Florida
Pictures by Chinwe Enemchukwu

DILEMMA

I don't believe in using insecticides in my garden. So I use mechanical means, hand picking of the pests when possible, knocking them off with a stick, or using soap, oil and water mix to spray on the plants. The bugs continued getting an upper hand and I was getting frustrated. The weather has changed this weekend, and a chill is in the air this morning, making it a little cooler than the mornings this past weekend. This morning, it is so cold that my morning glory flowers did not open, have not opened. They used to open up early and would be fully open with sunrise. Yesterday, they opened around ten o'clock, after the sun warmed up the air, chasing away the chill. The grass is turning brown and the plants have slowed down and on their way out. Earlier in the summer, I took pictures of some of the flowers and plants, as the war with the bugs raged. I could understand why farmers use insecticides on their crops. I used to complain about insecticides until I experienced the frustration of watching critters destroy crops and render all the effort in planting and caring for them useless.
The caterpillars, aphids and some other creatures whose names I don't even know descended on the tomatoes, squash, pepper, egg plant, corn, and spiders made egg pouches with the leaves of the bitter leaf and nchu-anwu plants, and when they hatched, there would be dozens of tiny green spiders crawling all over the place. The spiders would eat the caterpillars and grasshoppers, but they did not do the job fast enough and after I read somewhere that the green spiders were dangerous, I became afraid of them and had to spray them with a vegetable-safe insecticide.

My son thought it was hilarious that I was carrying on a physical war with the bugs, knocking them off with sticks, while they moved quickly from plant to plant or actually, the butterflies laid their eggs faster than I could get the caterpillars off and some of them were huge. The moth caterpillars, I knew from before, were the fuzzy, hairy ones and the butterfly caterpillars were bigger, bright colored and not hairy. There was this particular green caterpillar specie with a single horn on the head that grew very fat and could take a plant down in forty eight hours. After they won the battle on a tomato plant, I decided to let them have that plant and I started taking pictures of them as they developed. I focused on that one plant and within a few days, I realized that these creatures were actually helping me in other ways. I saw a yellow butterfly hanging on a twig, drying its wings after emerging from the cocoon. Not long after that, it joined other butterflies just like it, in sitting on my okra flowers drinking nectar. I caught a few snapshots of the show.
When the flowers fell off and the small okra pods came through and grew into the long pods, I saw the usefulness of the caterpillars and butterflies after all. At a time there was so much okra harvest that I chopped them and stored them in the freezer. Having harvested a lot of tomatoes also, I stopped fighting the caterpillars and within days, they shaved the tomato plants of their leaves and I let them have fun, while I had fun with the bright yellow butterflies with specks of colors on their wings. I started taking photographs of them hovering over the flowers. That became a morning routine that I look forward to. Then I took pictures of the bees too as they buzz around, one or two of them with the butterflies. Getting close enough to get a good shot got better with each passing day. Allowing them to settle down before trying to take pictures of them worked. Letting the bees crawl into the morning glory flowers before getting close and focusing, and getting a shot as they crawled out, worked. I enjoyed doing this every chance I got, until this weekend when the cool mornings arrived and the plants are slowing down, and flowers are not opening up. It has been fun and very relaxing.
I had taken over four hundred pictures with my cell phone over the weeks and have loaded them to my computer this weekend. I will share them as time allows.
My dilemma was whether to kill the caterpillars or not--- To kill or not to kill--- until I saw a bright yellow butterfly sitting on a matching bright yellow okra flower. The sight was too beautiful, and took care of my dilemma. I left the caterpillars alone. By God's mercy, if I have a garden next season, I may leave a few crops to the critters and pick them off some, to get my share. I think that will be fair enough.
Enjoy the pictures attached and have a nice day.

Nwada Chinwe Enemchukwu
Onye Uwa Oma
na Orlando, Florida
Pictures by Chinwe Enemchukwu