A Joyful Noise

One of the few comforting things for me during the power outage was the loud "pop" that signaled the opening of a ripe Thunbergia seed. (You may now roll your eyes.)

Nature geek that I am, I had gathered a great many of these seeds from the vines after the cartoony yellow and orange flowers bloomed. The plant is also known as Black-Eyed Susan Vine and this year, after a slow start, it produced dozens of round, five-petaled flowers with black centers.

This is a small pot full of Thunbergias. I also had a large trellisful. The flowers are just preternaturally cute.

So when I was hiding under the covers with no light or heat, hearing the seed pods snap open in their container made me happy. In the daylight, I packed up the seeds in packets for the summer of 2013. Daydreams of gardening can get a person through practically anything!

--Bernice