No Friggatriskaidekaphobia (Fear of Being Born on Friday the 13th) for the H.F. Clematis! (27 Flowers were Born Today!)

This past Monday, my post attempted to challenge the adage which states, “bad things happen in threes, and today’s date, of Friday the 13th, is one that so many folks have superstitions or fears about that their phobia has been given the name Friggatriskaidekaphobia Day.

Friday the 13th is a date that occurs three times a year, and perhaps that is how the rumor of bad things happening in threes got started—that is if you are someone who thinks that Friday the 13th is a bad thing, and, surprisingly enough, many people do fear this date.

For example, one of my closest friends, whom I love dearly, lives in the building across the courtyard of my apartment. This is the building you can see in the photograph at the top of this blog entry—just behind my SODA sign—and it shows the view of my urban terrace garden when the camera is pointed north. The picture was taken on April 19th 2011, when my garden was shyly coming back to life for another season, after having been safely winterized from December until the third week of April.


In any event,  my friend lives on the Fourteenth Floor of this building; however, if truth be told, he lives on the Thirteenth Floor, because, when the owners of his building were numbering the floors and assigning numbers to the apartment units, they did not want to use the number thirteen. Hence the building’s elevator goes from twelve to fourteen, but, of course, there really is a Thirteenth Floor, disguised with the name Fourteenth Floor—a fact that my friend pointed out “is not too wise” should there be a fire, “particularly if a fire occurred and firemen were counting flights of steps as they ascended them to save a life”.

Another fact related to Friday the 13th is this: When any month begins on a Sunday, the thirteenth of that month will fall on a Friday; and, dear reader, I am sure this piece of information will be useful to you in planning your activities if you suffer from Friggatriskaidekaphobia, but you need not have any more fears about that this year,  because this calendar year of 2011’s Friday the 13th only occurs in May. On the other hand, next year, 2012, there will be three Friday the 13ths (January 2012, April 2012, and July 2012), which is the maximum amount of times Friday the 13th can occur in a calendar year.

But what if one is born on Friday the 13th? Does this mean he/she is destined to a life of bad luck? I have heard an array of answers to that question, and my favorite answer is, “aren’t you lucky just to be born?”

My H. F. Young Clematis apparently thinks this to be the case: its buds have been waiting to give birth and have been basking in the northwest corner of my terrace garden for a few weeks now,

and today, at least twenty-seven magnificent flowers were born. (A few of the new arrivals can be seen in the photographs posted below).

You may recall how this vine just keeps on giving from what I wrote about it last year, which you may reread by clicking here —  a vine that obviously has no qualms about Friday the 13th and whose mission in life is about bringing beauty and joy to anyone fortunate enough to behold it.

If you do not live near such a vine, please consider bringing it to you and your friends by choosing it as an image to be rendered into an invitation that will preserve a moment in time, or for an event program cover that will enhance any occasion, and even to use for a greeting card when you want to reach out to those who are dear (or maybe not so dear) to you by sending a card that goes beyond communication. Although an image of this vine has not been rendered into a card at this time, you may always custom order it by choosing a size and format from selections in the store-front of my web-site.