Stubborn. Defiant. Flourishing where it shouldn’t be. A little piece of the Middle East on my garden raft right here in Seattle:
Sometimes I prune it a little: take off a few slender branches, and hang them by my front door until they brown and dry up. My peace offering to the world. Nobody seems to notice, but that’s okay: how could Pacific Northwesterners know what an olive branch looks like? Lucky people, why would they even need to?
Nice little tree. Nobody notices, but would they even recognize what it is, or be able to explain the origin of the olive branch? Worn by young brides in ancient Greece it later not only symbolized peace but also victory and fraternity.
Must be lovely sitting in the deck chair next to it with a good read or mug of tea…
Yes, I’m lucky to live here. But re the olive tree, maybe I’ll stick with Noah and the dove… I once wrote some thirty pages about olives and olive oil and olive trees, part of the preliminary draft of my biography of Mary. All but a couple of sentences had to come out, of course. Those pages sit somewhere in a dust-covered box full of rejected writerly “darlings.” The tree beats words any time.
looks idyllic! a cuppa and a newspaper!
as for the olive tree, symbolic, but mis-understood….all the best
To be able to extend an Olive Branch, one must know what an olive branch actually looks like !
I deeply admire your work, keep it up.
Nicely put! Thank you — L.
Loved that “stubborn defiant” .. and I’d have noticed it 😉 A middle Eastern knows it’s Middle Eastern’s plants.
Loved that you wrote “The first Muslim” btw , really interesting! and your talk on TED, you’re such an inspiring person!
Great! That idea of stubborn defiance turns up in the new TED talk too (the one soon to be released). — L.
Thank you Lesley for the book “the first muslim”new insights on the way of life that i was born in have once again made me understand what a human is.I am a khoja shia muslim from bangalore- bombay where i was born -kolkata ,where i spent a better part of my life.
My pleasure, my privilege, Niloufer — L.