Happy Birthday...

... To Me :-)

Thank y'all for your kind words, good wishes and prayers. I still have the headache. It is less severe if I forgo the computer. So I still am not able to visit each of your blogs.

My mother tells me it was extremely hot when I was born. The hospital was but a house made into a hospital. There was no air conditioning.... just a metal fan blowing the hot air around. Mama's kidneys failed. At one time my Daddy was told that Mama and I were dead. I often wonder how that mix-up happened. Somehow Mama and me survived. I became number four of 5 Zs :-)

August's flower is the gladiola.



The gladiola is one of those rare plants that is most commonly referred to by a variant of its botanical/Latin name gladiolus.

The common names for the gladiola are glad, corn-flag, corn iris, and sword-lily. The term corn-flag and corn iris refer to the fact that they are unwelcome pests in corn and grain fields. The name sword-lily is a reference to their Latin name.

The Latin term gladiolus is rich in meaning. The Roman sword was a gladius and a diminutive sword was a gladiolus. Linnaeus is attributed with naming the gladiolus and it is suggested that he borrowed from Pliny’s writings which referred to the plant’s sword-shaped leaves. The same word is the root for the word gladiator who was a soldier who “lived or died by the sword.” It seems natural that a plant that shares its name with warriors would be a symbol for ‘strength of character.’

Like many flowers that figure in Greek mythology, the gladiola is said to have sprung up from the blood of a person who died violently. When Hyacinthus was killed by Apollo’s reckless discus toss, Ovid said that the flowers that sprang up from his body were hyacinths. However, some argue that Ovid was wrong and that the blossoms were actually gladiolas.

The gladiola represents strength of character, sincerity, and generosity.

Thanks to Mildred at Nalley Valley I will have more glads next year.

I plan on having a nice quiet birthday at home.... doing laundry. A nice chicken soup is for dinner. I have such a great sweetheart.