Dotty Parker

ambrosia, dahlings

The goddess Flora!

Sweet, perfect Florette has written to enlighten this mortal of the location of the nectar!

Dear Dotty,
I'm afraid to tell you that you will have to gather many flowers to drink nectar as though it were tea. You see, your portion size expectation is a bit bigger than most flowers can accommodate. You were looking in the right place for the nectar, but alas there was probably only a tiny droplet or two of nectar to be found. Why? do you ask, well according to one of my oh-so scientific books…..
“for their assistance in plant reproduction, pollinating animals are rewarded with food – nutriments upon which flower visitors become dependent….[s]pecial glands (nectarines) at the base of the petals, pistil, and stamens exude droplets of a nutritious liquid, called nectar….[for some flowers] the nectar is clearly visible as a shiny drop in the bottom of the opened flowers….other species typically conceal the nectar at the bottom of deep, cup-shaped or trumpet-like flowers Or the food may be even more difficult to reach in the bottom of tubular, floral projections.” I could go on here in much more detail about the craziness of plants and the cunning way they conceal nectar and make the pollinators do a lot of work to get those tiny droplets of nectar – although for them the droplets may seem massive, maybe not which may be why they go from plant to plant to plant, which I guess is what you’ll have to do to quench your nectar thirst. You may get tired, but at least you’ll be helping plants reproduce!
Yours in nectar,
Florette

Don't you just love her?!

I tried to find a good picture of her, but could only find paintings of women said to be the goddess Flora.

I will share them with you, but they do not capture the true connection and power that Florette shares with us in her letter.

Oh! To gaze upon her and her straw hat! To see the large garbage can filled with potting soil! To be favored with plants from her abundant gardens!

Oh!

And here, my darlings, do look for the woman pictured here. She walks among us. As I say, they do not truly define her. As a wee lassie worshiping at the tootsies of a resplendent goddess...here's my best. (They started to freak me out, so I stopped tweaking them. There's just no way to make an image as perfect as she is. Sigh.)

Oh, you sassy girl. And goddess. Among the lemon trees and coconut palms and birds of paradise. Ooo la la. You never told me how brazen you are! Look out, Tex. She may have a large number of suitors at the door. You know how they love coconuts.

Posted by dotty at August 18, 2004 11:40 PM