When I first moved to Oklahoma, I kept seeing these round, green balls in some of the trees. It seemed very strange to me -- no leaves on the trees, but sometimes lots of these green balls! I took a guess that it was Mistletoe, and finally found I was right!
So, the dark objects you see on these trees are in fact Mistletoe balls (for lack of something better to call them).
This is on a smaller tree, but is closer so you can see it better. And it was the only one on this tree.
And this is a piece we picked off the small tree. Looks exactly like what you buy in the store around Christmas time. It's amazing!! I don't know if they preserve it with something or not, but I don't care........I'll use fresh stuff!!
Mistletoe is a hemi-parasitic plant that grows attached to and within the branches of a wide range of host trees and/or shrubs. They first sprout from bird droppings (poop) on the trunk of the tree. The droppings contain the seed of the plant. Mistletoe was the floral emblem of Oklahoma for quite sometime; and in 2004 the Oklahoma Rose became the State flower, so I don't know what distinction the Mistletoe hold here now, but it sure is plentiful in our area.
Besides the tradition of kissing someone standing under a branch of Mistletoe, it is also a tradition to keep a branch/bundle in the house throughout the year to save/protect your house from lightening and/or fire. You replace the bundle each year on Christmas Eve. I believe all these traditions started in Europe.
It amazes me the new things I learn about Oklahoma. It's truly an interesting place; as I'm sure every state is, it's just more so to me since I'm a new comer!
NOW! For the good news......when I came home from working at the church Closet on Saturday afternoon, Salli came bouncing into the driveway to greet me! I was sooooo
surprised! And grateful that God had answered my prayers - again! Note to Carolina Nana: when we leave the place now we put one of the dogs in the house in the crate so they won't be lead astray again! During the day all we can do is keep an eye on them and if we see them wandering off we call them back. Other than that, I don't know what you could do - short of tying them up, and I WILL NOT do that. Anyway, she was very hungry, is a little slimmer, and very happy to be home. And so was I.
That's all I know. Take care and God Bless.
1 comment:
So glad Sallie made it back home. I'm at my wits end with my 2 dogs and I won't have a dog if I have to keep it tied up either. So I'm just leaving it up to the Lord to guide them and keep them out of the road,maybe they'll listen to Him !!
We have mistletoe balls in our trees but it is usually so high we shot it out with a shot gun. You loose a lot of the berries that way too. Yours looks beautiful.
HAve a blessed day
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