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)