5.5 Years and 5 Petal Flowers

I try not to assign too much importance to numbers, especially the ones I have no control over- like age and height. But the number ‘5’ – this year it just begs to be noticed and celebrated! It popped up on my radar in January with the calendar of 2015. Then in April (a month with 5 letters) I observed my 65th birthday.

The day has long passed when my mom would have made a big deal out of my birthday, especially one with the number ‘5’ in it. The photo below is my 5th birthday party. My mom let me invite 5X2  friends and she wisely baked 2 cakes to feed them all.

My 5th Birthday Party (scanned photo with pencil filter.)

More ‘5’s – the Car Guy and I have been married for 45 years! I started this blog 5.5 years ago. This is my 500th post.

The number ‘5’ – while it is maddeningly unequal when you try to divide it evenly, it is pleasantly symmetrical in many ways. Perhaps that is why we draw stars with 5 points, and the design of The Pentagon was retained, even when a new site was chosen and the need for that shape was no longer a factor.

Five sided shapes are not nearly as easy to make as 4 sided ones – except in the world of flowers, where 5 petals are numerous. (See Five Petals: The Mysterious Number “5” Hidden In Nature by Yutaka Nishiyama).

Photos of my gardens confirm how numerous 5 petals are:

Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium caeruleum) – Alberta

Wild Blue Flax (Linum lewisii) – Alberta

Blue Potato Bush (Lycianthes rantonnei) – Arizona

Shooting Star (Dodecatheon) – Alberta

Unidentified – Alberta

I’d like to end this post with a pun or quotation, but I can’t find one. I’ve become stuck on the last photo, because I can’t figure out what the plant is.

Normally, I would just put this post on the back burner for a while and post something else, but I can’t. This, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, till death us do part, is my Anniversary Post for 5.5 years.