Dear Reader:

Almost a century ago (91 years to be exact) on February 1, 1924 the State General Assembly voted unanimously for the “yellow jessamine” to become our state flower.

The yellow jessamine is indigenous to every part of the state. It is a climbing woody vine with evergreen leaves and blooms small, yellow, tubular, fragrant clusters.

One characteristic separates it from all the other state flowers and that is its wonderful fragrance. It is the sweetest smelling flower/vine of all the early spring flowers.

It blooms in very late winter or early spring, offering the first hope of warm weather to come! This flower loves sun and can grow quite fast given plenty of space and moist, well-drained soil.

When the US Mint decided to release quarters for each of the states, it was decided that Yellow Jessamine would appear on South Carolina quarter, along with the palmetto tree and the Carolina Wren (our state bird).

Unfortunately….the sweet fragrance of the vine lures wildlife and small children to taste it (they mistake it for honeysuckle)…it is extremely poisonous and life threatening.

This last piece of information became the backdrop for my story on the state flower that I wrote two years ago this February…“The Gift of the Yellow Jessamine.”  As Donald David, one of my favorite storytellers, always said…“If you have a problem…you’ve got a story.” (If you don’t have a problem..you’re dead.)

Yesterday when I went out to check my yellow jessamine vines…I could see the tiny buds just starting to open and was so excited. Immediately I thought of my three main characters in the story….Sally, Sukie, and Old Boy…the Scottish border dog.

When I asked Joan to create the cover for the story…I had no idea that a God’s Wink was forming. Using only my description of Sally from the outline… she captured her precisely as if she had plucked Sally from my imagination /visualization and plopped her right down on the cover.

Joan said it was easy….because she was Sally. She, basically, drew herself growing up on a farm in Alabama… since she, as a little girl,  matched my description of Sally precisely.

Joan, also,  came up with the idea of adding a dog to the mix…because she couldn’t imagine children in the post-Civil War period not having a dog in a rural area… (like where they supposedly lived in the lowcountry of South Carolina.)

Last year Tim found these old planks from a  fence that had been torn down when my neighbor replaced a section…so he moved it and propped it up against the outside garage wall/potting shed these days.) We planted the yellow jessamine close enough to the boards so hopefully it would start climbing.

I remember watering it a lot during the hot summer months and hoping it would make it. It grew outward but not upward on the piece of fence and I was kinda disappointed.

But when I checked it yesterday that sneaky yellow jessamine had crawled through the open slats and climbed to the top of the fence from behind. It was now starting to drop over and start down the front.

Isn’t life like our state flower? It’s the old paradox of good versus evil, beautiful versus ugly, truth versus lies and so on. The yellow jessamine is beautiful and sweet smelling but quite poisonous if ingested.

It is one of those things in life that is better to admire from afar…can’t we all remember other such situations?

A few days of sunny weather and in a blink Summerville will be consumed by this lovely little vine….don’t we love living in this amazing town?

Here is an update of new additions to the garden and life popping out on top of the ground.

 During one of the last windy winter storms my “Hope” pieces of cloth were blown away. I found one stuck to a tree trunk…one under the deck and two rolled up in a planter.

I washed them and put them back up yesterday…because we can never let “Hope” disappear. (You know you are a teacher when you “pin” them back up to the deck rail with colored stick pins!)

So until tomorrow..remember nature/ our state flower/ is offering us…the “hope” of warm weather to come.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Mandy sent me this picture…Jakie’s toes can finally reach the floor and for the first time he can bounce…isn’t life exciting when learning becomes a daily delight?

Right after she sent this picture she called me to come have dinner at their house…and off I went…delicious supper and fun with the grands….Jake had his first rice tonight…gulped it all down…the boy is an eater!

 John and I decided precious Jakie might not be an Auburn War Hawk…but definitely a “Bald” Eagle! We love him so…too  adorable!

Before I turn in…Sunday is February 1…so you know what that means…we must all say “Rabbit” first thing this morning…so we will have good luck all month! (Old Irish tradition)

This is a rabbit (statue) from Doodle’s yard…if any of you have picture/painted rabbits, stuffed rabbits, garden rabbits…you name it…send me the photo and I will save it to use on the first of each upcoming month!