The loveliest of the garden . . .

 

How Pansies or Hearts-Ease Came First

by Robert Herrick

Frolic virgins once there were,

Over loving, living here;

 Being here their ends denied

Ran for sweet-hearts mad, and died.

Love, in pity of their tears,

And their loss in blooming years,

For their restless here-spent hours,

Gave them hearts-ease turn’d to flowers.

The loveliest of garden flowers, well to me at any rate, is the pansy. I have always loved them, even as a child. With their gorgeous colours and imagined pretty upturned faces, it’s as if we greet a row of well-loved friends every time we stroll along the garden path.

The pansy gets its name from the French word pensée meaning "thought". It was so named because the flower resembles a human face and in August it nods forward as if deep in thought.

“And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts,” said Shakespeare’s Ophelia, for it is the emblem of love and kind thoughts. In his play “Mid-Summer Night’s Dream”, the juice of a pansy blossom ("before, milk-white, now purple with love's wound, And maidens call it love-in-idleness") is a love potion:

"the juice of it, on sleeping eyelids laid, will make a man or woman madly dote upon the next live creature that it sees."

In days gone by, if a maiden found a honey flower and a pansy left for her by an admirer, it would mean "I am thinking of our forbidden love" in symbol rather than in writing. How romantic it all seems . . .

It was once believed that an infusion of it’s leaves would cure a broken heart . . .

Pansies are known by a number of other names such as Heartsease, Two-faces-under-the-sun and Face-and-Hood. Sometimes they are called Herb Trinity, for they often have three colours and three petals to remind us of the Holy Trinity.

In flower language the pansy symbolises contentment, and that is how I feel when I gaze upon them, all contented and somehow happy inside. It’s weird how just the sight of a flower can do that to you. I don’t know how it works, I only know that it does . . . the sight of a pansy has always brought a smile to my heart.

 

So I have to have my blood tests repeated in three months time. I have already made the appointment.  Something to do with having th FBC repeating. Not sure what that's all about. 

I also need to lose weight and bring my cholesterol down. Everything else is okay. My sugars are good. My blood pressure also. My liver, my kidneys, etc. All good. Losing weight is the hard part and a battle I've been fighting  (and losing) since my mid to late thirties.  I can lose it alright, but then it always comes back with a vengeance, and I end up fatter.  For me, diets are un-sustainable. I need to figure out a better way.

And with that I will leave you with a thought for the day  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *Happiness is not about

the trophy or the finish line.

It's the journey.  

If you can enjoy your journey,

you can enjoy your life.

~Pharrell Williams•。★★ 。*

 

 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Creamy Roasted New Potato Salad. Yum, yum! 

Have a wonderful Wednesday. It is cool this morning but dry thus far. We shall see!  Don't forget! 

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And I do too!     Stay safe!