Sunday 13 March 2016

:: rhododendron ::

At the aged care facility where we visited Nana Joy, the gardens are a visual delight - loads of dark green foliage, shiny and lush with hot, bright tropical colours bursting out at every turn - like these beautiful Vireya Rhododendron. I was amazed at the range of beautiful tropical flora and realised just how different the climate is from where we now live. 
It was lovely to appreciate the difference.
My eyes were drawn heavenwards by a couple of tui twittering melodically high above in the boughs of the half a dozen huge, old pohutukawa trees. Reaching up and beyond the third storey of the largest building they tower over all, creating a shady micro-climate for the earthly delights nestled below. Just beautiful and no grass to be seen ie, no noisy mowing to be done, either :-)
It was great to visit with Nana Joy and even though she wasn't up to much, we shared stories, grapes and chocolate brownie morsels very happily for a lovely spell.
Taking a journey is a wonderful way to look at the world differently for a moment and be reminded all at the same time that, actually, I didn't need to go roaming to see things differently at all - just change my perception of what is in front of me right here at home.  I'm thinking of a quote by Marcel Proust:
"The real voyage of discovery consists not of seeking out new landscapes but in having new eyes"
The revelation in itself was refreshing.

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