Ya know that Rumi quote “You are not a drop in the ocean, you are an entire ocean in a drop?” I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. So many friends have been posting stunning morning dewdrop and raindrop photos onto their social media pages. I’ve become a little obsessed. They are like tiny little crystal balls; shimmering diamonds of nature! (Thanks, friends, for letting me share your snaps!)
I’ve read a great deal about the molecules of water and the qualities of water droplets. Do you know how water drops keep their shape? Surface tension!
Dan Farmer posted these from his garden in Los Angeles. So beautiful!
Droplets of water can take on any shape and deformity, but most often they take on a uniform spherical shape because of their own cohesive forces. The molecules in the liquid attract to one another (cohesion) and they pull together to form a strong surface. I find that miraculous.
Not to be vague, but I’m still waiting on answers and test results, so I can only BE vague, but I’ve recently been in front of a lot of doctors. (I’m fine!) I’ve even included my own water drop image of my IV drip from a recent ER visit. I even found that beautiful, that my body was being hydrated and medicated by these single little drops traveling through a tube into my veins. Also miraculous.
The water droplets bringing life at Harlem Hospital.
Every new office I go in I’m weighed, vitals are taken, blood drawn, etc. There’s always a little interview, “What is your stress level? How are your moods? Do you suffer from depression? Luckily, I can supply good answers to these queries.
I tell the doctors I am chronically optimistic, mostly happy, and that I carry no stress. Similarly, the common denominator of all these visits is that I have perfect blood pressure. The nurses and doctors are always so impressed that I’m an unstressed New Yorker who doesn’t suffer from high blood pressure.
It makes me think about my own ‘surface tension’ as a human being. Do my molecules, (perhaps my good qualities,) attach themselves to each other cohesively to form a strong surface? Ya know what? I think they do.
If every molecule of water contains three atoms, one being oxygen and two of hydrogen (H
2O), then what are we made up of? Well, in the 1800’s the English poet Robert Southey wrote the children’s nursery rhyme suggesting that girls were made up of ‘sugar and spice and everything nice.’ And of course boys are comprised of ‘snips and snails and puppy dog tails!’ Ewww!
According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry 158, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%.
Elizabeth Ryerson shared this from her garden in Toronto, Canada! Regal dew drops!
We are our own walking little oceans. All unique. Swami Sivananda says, “A mountain is composed of tiny grains of earth. The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water. Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts. And the consequences, whether good or bad, or even the least of them are far-reaching.”
May we all have strong surface tension and be mindful of our thoughts, words, and actions.
My dear friend Margaret Curry shared this from the Bronx! I think it could be entered into a photography contest and WIN!
No recipe this week, instead I’m offering you an opportunity to fill up your water bottle or take a stroll to the water fountain and hydrate! Give some thanks for your abundance of clean fresh, water and please raise a virtual glass of water to my health. Wishing you all good things!
My own capture of my ‘Gloria” plant in Harlem -originally a cutting from a spider plant from Gloria Steinem! I watered her 3 days before this photo was taken. She was holding onto that drop of water like it was a precious jewel -strong surface tension!