Beefeater Begonia

When we first moved in to our house a neighbor across the street gave us a cutting of her beefeater begonia.  Twelve years later it is still thriving and produces the most beautiful flowers at the bleakest time of year.  I have always been fascinated by these blooms because they are both tri-lobed and bi-lobed on the same flower.  But the real reason I started this blog entry about the begonia is not because of the flower.

The other day I was doing a rare thing and cleaning the house when I noticed a dead leaf had fallen from the begonia.  When I picked it up to throw it away I happened to glance down as it fell into the garbage can and this is what I saw!  These amazing dessicated pathways were being created as the leaf slowly dried out while laying on the radiator.

How lucky I was to find this leaf at that perfect moment.  And when I looked even closer at the drying leaf, there was a beautiful, warm glow at the heart of it set off perfectly by the silver grey lines.

"Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure."  -Rumi