Honey and onions

When we moved here 13 years ago, I learned an old Arabic saying;

Hayk ad-dunya, marra 'asal wa marra basal.

"This is life, one time honey and one time onions."

I don't want this blog to only be about the bad things that happen here. Sometimes you get bad times, and sometimes good. I love to look at the land and landscapes here, and my garden has been a source of comfort and inspiration for me when times seemed depressing.

I am originally from Western Pennsylvania, where winters are cold and snowy, so I always revel in the fact that I can have flowers here all year. It sometimes snows in late January or February, but there is still usually something blooming quickly when it melts. I miss the mountains full of red and gold leaves in the fall, but I have a plum tree by my kitchen window that turns a lovely red to remind me of home.




The rains last week knocked the last of the pretty leaves to the ground, but they also started the growth of all the weeds. It doesn't rain here in the summer, and most of the native annual plants grow in the winter and spring. I absolutely love wildflowers, and if I keep up with this blog, inshaAllah, I will probably post many pictures of my favorite "weeds". One of the loveliest is the wild cyclamen, which is starting to put out it's pretty variegated leaves. And there is clover all over the place, which will have wonderful yellow flowers in a couple months.

These pretty purple flowers have just started blooming,

And the geraniums and these cheerful yellow flowers whose names I have forgotten are also blooming.

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Bored yet? I have flowers in the house too!

Who is obsessed? There are more, but that is enough for tonight.