Apr 28, 2014

Little Blue Smiles


"Look what I just picked for you!' exclaimed my daughter as she walked in the front door yesterday after a short bike ride down to the river that flows below us. In her hand was a bunch of my very favorite flowers...Virginia Bluebells.

This small ephemeral plant native to my area, was unknown to me until I moved to the property where I now live. Each spring it surprisingly pops up along the banks of the creeks near us for a short couple of weeks, brightening my neighborhood with its soft, temporary beauty. For me, part of its appeal is the gorgeous soft bluish-indigo color with delicate yellow filaments, part, is its short lived display and part, is its fragility. When these blooms are chosen, they need immediate water and frequent trimming to keep looking pleasant in an arrangement and thrives in a home only with continued tender and loving care. Kind of like us humans when in a loving relationship, I suppose.

Although I have tried several times to bring them into my world here and to transplant this into my yard, I have never had any success, which I attribute to not having a creek flowing through it, Even though I have a pond, I must not have a proper soil/moister/shade ratio as I discovered it grows at the same level in the woods across my street where there is always running water.

I have tried many times also to make a good photograph of these little flowers in the wild, but they elude me in doing so and I have never quite 'captured' them with my lens with the feeling they present in the woods to me. The closest I came was an image I made specifically to text last spring with a cell phone of all things, when picking some for a dinner table display, but with a real camera, they escape me. This week, I first noticed them while en route in the morning to the hospital for surgery and knew then, I would not have a chance this year. The image above is one I (painfully) made of Morgen's bouquet on my mantle piece and the photo below she took of her whole arrangement she placed along side of my French Horn.

Every year is a reason to celebrate their arrival as one of the many 'small things' in life that opens our eyes to see the beauty around us, but this year, what makes them special for me is that each and every bloom from her is like a tiny smile and hug to cheer up my long days at home alone recuperating. Friends inquiries so far to my health outcome have been very few and mostly from folks I have not seen in years. It seems those that I know the best and have invested my daily life these past years with have decided I need solitude, which make these little spots of blue even more welcome and precious... as hand picked flowers presented in love always should be.

I hope you enjoy them too.