Geraniums, Ivy, & The Long & Winding Road
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My red geranium plant has rather odd blooms. They look a bit wrinkled, as though someone has pinched the petals together.
Still, they’re beautiful, as only a flower can be.
I looked in my photos of other geranium blooms to show you. I’m reminded that I had a pink geranium last year.
The white one was from this year. I had two white-blooming plants, and the unrelenting rain killed them both. It was sad because I lost at least half a dozen other plants around that time.
But red geraniums have always been dear to my heart.
The curly shape of the geraniums’ leaves resembles someone cupping their hands as though water is about to be poured into them.
Ivy:
Ivy is gazing at me in that way she has. That “I-am-safe and I-trust-you-to-take-care-of-me” look. That she hasn’t a care in the world.
Ivy turned 6 years old sometime in May. It seems like yesterday that I brought her home from the rescue. She quickly took over the apartment and has owned me ever since.
That first night, she killed crickets and put them in my house shoes. When I put them on in the middle of the night, they crunched between my toes.
I always thought of that as Ivy’s gift to me. I thought I’d worried she wouldn’t adapt to me and Charlie. But she fit into our lives like a hand in a glove.
Ivy’s been entertaining me ever since. Her essence brought me through the grief over Charlie dying. And then little Gracie Mae just after I moved here.
Ivy has been the one constant in my life. My beacon of light.
I’m always telling her that she’s my baby.
Paul McCartney Song:
For some reason, I’ve had the Paul McCartney song, “Maybe I’m Amazed,” in my head all morning. I don’t know why, as I haven’t heard it recently. It just popped into my head and won’t leave.
McCartney wrote this song in 1969, just before the Beatles’ breakup. It was first released on his 1970 debut solo album, McCartney.
It has been said that he wrote this song for his wife, Linda, who died of breast cancer in 1998. ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ was his way of thanking her for pulling him through the split.
I read that Linda gave him a reason to still be happy. He had lost the only constant in his adult life, The Beatles, and he felt that Linda was the only foundation he could rely on.
The Long & Winding Road:
My favorite song that Paul McCartney wrote was “The Long And Winding Road.” That song always ticked off a certain sadness in me. As though I was watching someone walk away.
And the words “don’t leave me waiting here” reminded me of all the people I’d lost. Or who simply walked away.
I envision this long and winding dirt road out in the countryside. It is dark or filled with shadows by the surrounding trees, and that is how I always see it in my mind.
When I listened to him sing it, that mournful tone McCartney had that spoke of sadness made me sad, too. The way he strung out the words like beads on a bracelet. I think I’ll always hear the way he sang it in my mind, the way it always stops me in my tracks.
It evokes so many melancholy feelings and brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it.
The Lyrics:
The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I’ve seen that road before
It always leads me here
Lead me to your door
The wild and windy night
That the rain washed away
Has left a pool of tears
Crying for the day
Why leave me standing here?
Let me know the way
Many times I’ve been alone
And many times I’ve cried
Anyway, you’ll never know
The many ways I’ve tried
And still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long, long time ago
Don’t leave me waiting here
Lead me to your door
But still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long, long time ago
Don’t keep me waiting here
Lead me to your door
Ah, you had an earworm! That happens to me often. A song will pop in my head and I keep hearing it over and over. If it starts bugging me (which it normally does), I put on my Spotify playlist and start listening to other songs.
Sweet Ivy…aren’t pets the best companions? My Clementine is my fur baby. I’m going to be absolutely devastated when she passes, especially since she’s my last one. As you know, she’s in stage 4 kidney disease and just had a scary episode where I was at the ER vet with her on Monday. She’s back to her usual self now, but her prognosis is “fair”. She could either go soon, or still live for awhile longer. I treasure every moment with her.
Ivy is the sweetest. She has turned out to be a steadfast companion and a source of joy for 6 years now. Wow, that went fast!!
I always called those songs stuck in your head on repeat and won’t go away, an earworm. I love the song The Long And Winding Road! But then I love most of the Beatles songs. They’re probably my favorite group, but I pretty much like all the music from the 60s and 70s.
I often wake up with a song in my head. Mostly I wake to songs I enjoy, but sometimes songs that irritate me. I wonder why my brain does this. I’ve watched several amazing Youtube videos on people suffering from dementia who suddenly “awaken” when they hear the music of their youth. You have to wonder how evolving humans started to sing and make music.
Jan, I enjoyed your thoughts. Thank you.
Hopping in to say that I enjoy your blog. I hope you are doing well with your water issues. Please continue to write and know you are making a positive difference!
I love all those songs too. My favorite is by The Moody Blues, Knights in White Satin I always thought that was such a pretty song. They don’t have good music anymore!
The Long and Winding Road is definitely at the top of my favorite songs list. Thank you for reminding me. It’ll be an earworm the rest of the day but one I’ll thoroughly enjoy.
Enjoy your day, Brenda!
What would our life be like if we didn’t have music? I think the baby boomers have lived through some of the greatest times for music. We had part of the “big band” era, post-WWII blends, the great stars from country western music (Patsy Kline and Ray Price are two of my favorites), Patti Page and Guy Mitchell, the beginnings of the be-bop groups, and then individual rockers came along like Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley. I love the music through the 1960s all the way to the 1990s. Now, not so much, but I’ve got decades of great music to listen to. I go to YouTube and look up old songs on play lists. During the winter I will rock around the house to them as I’m house cleaning and other than shoveling snow there’s no exercise going on out doors for this woman. Every now and then, a piece or part of music from a long ago seen movie will pop into my head. I had one some nights ago, the music that was playing in the background as a group of British nuns in an old movie “Black Narcissus.” The music is sensual and seductive, not at all like the seemingly endless strong winds we’ve been experiencing here in SE Wisconsin, but the music sets up the entire theme of the film. There were endless winds in the movie and some natives claimed that the wind drove people insane, which is brought vividly to life at the end of the movie when one nun is wrestling with the Mother Superior (played by Deborah Kerr) trying to throw her over a cliff while the relentless winds are howling around them. The only thing I could think of why that old movie would pop into my mind was because of the seemingly relentless winds we’ve been experiencing here. It’s difficult to work in them. Heck, it’s difficult for me to walk to the bus stop in them or do the half mile walk to the supermarket! So fascinating how our minds work.