Nine Dragons Pouring Tea

A pink hydrangea means, "You are the beat of my heart."  Or so google tells me.  We have five of these giant ornamentals in our yard.  Often they don't bloom because we and they live in the shade of the forest.  Sometimes I think they are just hiding away.  Minds of their own.  They were first found in Alaska 40-65 million yeas ago. Long before the beat of a human heart.  This year we have two plants that are nearly dead.  The plant consultant told us, "Yep they kept the deer alive last winter."  They are all leggy and leafless right up to deer-head height.  I honor the offering.  But one plant out in the wild garden, the garden I just watch grow, no mulch, no weeding, is already revealing blossoms the color of ripe raspberries in the summertime.  But, I won't be taking a bite since all parts of this pinkness contain cyanide. Apparently the deer don't mind.  Some people smoke Hydrangea as an intoxicant.  Now that I might try.  And in April on the day thought to be Buddha's birthday, a tea, Ama-cha, made of hydrangea leaves is poured over a Buddha statue.  Ama-cha is a substitute for Amrita, the beverage of immorality, which nine dragons poured over Buddha on the day of his birth.  THAT I'd love to see.  Or dream about tonight after I gaze out my bedroom window at white-tail deer smoking hydrangea leaves as the moon rises.