Killing a Fly with a Ukulele: Calandiva

I am the Mum.
If life was a circus, I would be the plate-juggling lady with monkeys on her shoulders who stands on one leg on a horse's back as it canters around the ring.

I am the Writer.
I use too many commas, dashes and dot-dot-dots, and I often start sentences with conjunctions because I like my blog to look the way it sounds in my mind.

I am the Hero.
Life is a bit like a superhero action comic, except that the superheroes are tiny children dressed in super-suits who possess no actual powers, while I just get them food, break up fights and clean their super-suits.

13 September 2009

Calandiva

A long time ago, a very long time ago, I was sad. I can't remember why I was sad, but I remember that I was.

One night back then, there was a ring at the doorbell. I went downstairs, opened the door and there was Swift Jan. She'd bought me a little plant (a calandiva in a pot) and written a sweet card to cheer me up. Swift Jan is good at that. She will bless her friends when they need it, and she will also bless them when everything is fine - just because.

The calandiva was flowering. It flowered and flowered and flowered ... and flowered.

I'm good at killing sweet little plants in pots. But the calandiva was having none of that.

It is determined to cheer me up. It keeps on surviving, despite being owned by me. It keeps flowering and it keeps cheering me up.

And it keeps reminding me of Swift Jan and all my friends in my previous town.

Thanks for this lovely calandiva, Swift Jan. I love you guys.

5 comments:

Sassy Britches said...: Friends like that are few and far between. Bless you, Swift Jan.; 13 September, 2009 13:38
Swift Jan said...: Oh WOW!! HOw gorgeous does it look! I had totally forgotten that I had given you that plant... When I bought it for you I didn't even realise it was a plant, I just thought it was a pretty flower LOL

So glad it brings you joy often :D; 13 September, 2009 16:12
Femina said...: Ooh, pretty. Swift Jan is a gem.; 13 September, 2009 19:37
Joy said...: That is a beautiful plant and glad it has such sweet meaning to you when you look at it.
♥
Joy; 14 September, 2009 05:00
sewfunbymonique said...: beautiful flowers, beautiful friends= a great day!!; 14 September, 2009 23:10

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This is the story of me, Givinya de Elba, and my adventures with Mr de Elba, my children Buzz, Jessie, and Woody and our dog, Bullseye. We have plenty of good times, some weird times and a huge dose of drama.

Some of my posts are sad, lots are funny and sometimes I subject you to my pondering. We have our celebrations, when I write a decent poem I share it with you and when I'm held hostage, I do the occasional meme.

Other people who are special to me feature here too, some of them being my Dad, my Mum, my Crazy Sister (her blog), my Wee Brother and my good friend Hippomanic Jen (her blog).

I am a part-time speech pathologist, and try to cook, keep a garden alive and take photos that don’t make us look like we are pharmaceutically affected or dangerously homicidal.

I often suffer from Mumfail but I keep hanging on to the One who picks me up when I fall. If you email me, I’ll answer.

And if all that is too much, just read my “Best Of."

No, they didn't.

They called me Katherine.

I go by Kate.

I came up with the pseudonym Givinya de Elba in highschool and it was based on a joke from an episode of Dad's Army called 'A Soldier's Farewell.'

In the episode, after eating too much toasted cheese, Captain Mainwaring dreams he is Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. I don't remember much about the episode other than Mainwaring telling his loyal men (Jones, Pike and Godfrey) that he has been exiled to the island of Elba.

Jones quips, "Hence the expression - Givin' ya the Elber!" (giving you the elbow, i.e., pushing you around.) I thought that Givinya de Elba was a half-decent pseudonym for someone who likes to joke and push people around, and I stuck with that.

My sweet niece ...

13 September 2009

Calandiva

5 comments: