Vision of the Violet (10MC member writing)

Vision of the Violet

In the northwest corner of the solarium sits the battered bamboo bookshelf and an equally battered bamboo tea caddy, both acquired for a song when scouting yard sales or garbage day castoffs. The two could be siblings, they have the same curious decorative coils. Mute witness to their separate heritage, however, is their racial contrast: the tea caddy long hence submitted to a dark stain, while the bookcase is bright blonde.

The furniture is not where our message lies, however, but in its occupant.  On the middle shelf of the bookcase is an African Violet, venerable for its kind as the bookcase and tea caddy are for theirs. The violet has traveled many a mile with me, uncomplaining and usually neglected, yet more and more frequently these days it erupts in a mass of deep purple double flowers. From a tiny cutting barely a few inches across, it has slowly grown over the years to take command of the entire bookshelf. Read more