No, I'm not talking about something you wear. But it's the perfect time to think about flowers. Here in the pacific northwest, the tulips and daffodils are long wilted. Iris' are at the end of their blooming. But summer flowers are beginning to take their place.Assignment: What do flowers mean to you? What memories do they evoke? What if you see a yellow rose, a pink petunia or even a yellow dandelion (hey, kids think they're flowers!)? Is there a flower that never fails to push a memory to the surface?
I have a few of my own. What are yours? While you're at it, ask your loved one about theirs. There's no time like the present to ask about the past! Do it today.
As always, Write Now - because it's later than you think. ~Karen
4 comments:
Whenever I see hollyhocks, I am reminded of those summer days, growing up on the farm, when my mom and I used to go out and pick some hollyhocks and make hollyhock dolls. She used to do it as a child and she passed on the tradition to me. Sadly, I don't have any hollyhocks now, otherwise I'd show my daughter how to make the dolls. But we still love flowers - just last week we went on a walk and picked a bouquet of wildflowers that is proudly sitting on our kitchen table!
When I was a little girl, I loved to visit my grandparents. They lived a bit north of you, Karen, in Rosalia. My grandma grew peas and carrots, and also batchelor's buttons in the garden out behind their garage (in that amazing Palouse soil!) and I used to go out there with her and -- oh, the batchelor's buttons. I remember how the pink ones were rare and oh-so-special. Fast forward several long decades and this spring my husband planted batchelor's buttons! Today he brought in a handful and stuck them in a drinking glass in the kitchen. Of course you know my favorites--the pink ones! I loved my grandma so much, and even though I'm an old grandma now myself, I still think of her just about every day.
Linda
That is so great, Melissa. If you have any photos or a link to something, I'd love to see the dolls. I can't imagine how you make a doll out of them. I wonder how your mom knew to make them. So interesting!
Linda - What a fabulous memory (and husband)! My grandma too, had a garden. She'd be making a salad and go out to her smallish backyard and come back with tomatoes or carrots or whatever. My mother can't pass a flower...she really can't. No matter where they are, she has to stop to admire them...even in the grocery store. My sister and I joke that if you lose Mom, you can find her where the flowers are!
Thanks for the great comments. It's fun to share, isn't it? ~Karen
One more thing -- the photo was taken in La Conner, Washington. The entire town and surrounding area is one field of tulips after the other,as far as you can see, and is absolutely inspiring. I don't know the little girl in the picture. I wish I did - I'd send her Mama a copy. Obviously they'd done this before; she was ready for the mud puddles with her rain boots! I think it's so cute.
And guess who I went there with? Yep, my mom! ~Karen
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