In the Pink

Can you believe it? January is winding down.  It's been a tough month for me; one full of frustration.  I had such plans for the newly turned page in the book of life.  Instead of moving forward and acting upon my word for 2012, imagine, I've mostly been nursing a painful back. My plans to have a go at 365 just couldn't get off the ground, so I'm filing that one away for another year.  As we head into the final days of January, things are looking up and I'm in the pink!

Frustration and yes, pain, are part of life, but that doesn't mean we must accept it lying down.  Oh no...when life seems too dull and too cloudy there are pink roses...

 
With soft swirls and a deep center that invites us to imagine...

And bouquets in jars filled with conversation hearts because it's always time for a little romance.

Hey...just so you know

Thanks for the comments and well-wishes through this mean, nasty, no-good, awful, horrible start to 2012!

Pink Roses or Undies?

"Flowers really do intoxicate me." ~Vita Sackville-West

When money is tight, which is too often the case, tough decisions must be made. Like any red-blooded lady I love lingerie…pretty, lacy, satiny or utilitarian white cotton, when what lies beneath is new I’m giddy. Sure, I love the sweet confections Victoria Secret displays. Nothing says girlie like sheer pastel panties edged in frothy lace. Who doesn’t want a matching bra with just a touch of push ‘em up function? However, if I have to choose between new undies or roses, I’ll choose roses.

"Flowers are the sweetest thing God ever made and forgot to put a soul in." 

                                                                             ~Harriet Beecher Stowe

Over the years I’ve heard all the reasons why I should not spend money on fresh flowers. Flowers are a waste of money…They’re going to die in a few days…Flowers are frivolous and self-indulgent. If I can’t eat a plant, I don’t grow it or buy it. I wince every time I hear one of these joyless reasons why I should not sprinkle my life with flowers. Ok…point taken, but not entirely understood and I’m not planning to take any of these reasons to heart in the near future and probably not ever.

 “A flowerless room is a soulless room, to my way of thinking; but even a solitary little vase of a living flower may redeem it.” ~Vita Sackville-West

To counterpoint reasons offered I suggest a small experiment. Anyone who feels flowers on the table or desk where you spend your day are not worth the money, take a crowbar and pry open your purse for one small bouquet of flowers or even a single stem. Place the flowers where you can see them and enjoy them all day. Take them home with you in the evening so you can continue to observe the beauty. Did your spirits lift each time you noticed the colors? Did you wrinkle your nose with pleasure each time a breeze from unknown sources stirred the air, swirling fragrance about you? After a few days, tell me if you didn’t find even a shred of joy in that single rose.

“The Amen! Of nature is always a flower.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

It’s that shred of joy that awakens my spirit and causes a sigh that makes purchasing fresh flowers worthwhile. I wonder why fresh flowers are so important to one and not another. I wonder what gene pulsates through my body making something so beautiful, so ephemeral so important to me. Each time I walk past a bouquet of flowers I stop for a moment and I feel blessed to be in the presence of such splendor. I am overwhelmed by the miracle of such perfect imperfections of nature. Something stirs in my soul and I know without flowers that a little piece of my heart would die and fall into oblivion.

A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring.”

~William Carlos Williams

I have no answers as to the why’s and perhaps it’s a waste of time to question, so I’ll continue to live as I always have under the mantra…I’d rather buy one single pink rose than a dozen pairs of pink silk undies.

"You love roses - so do I.  I wish the sky would rain down roses, as they rain from the shaken bush.  Why will it not?  Then all the valley would be pink and white and soft to tread on.  They would fall as light as feathers, smelling sweet, and it would be like sleeping and like walking all at once!"

~ George Eliot

A Legacy of Pink

My mother inspired me beyond any other person who walked the face of the earth. With a gentle spirit she taught me to cook with love, garden with beauty, and embrace family with jubilant wonder. Her mother taught her and it is the legacy of a grandmother I never knew that I ponder today.
My oldest sister remembers Grandma B as a wiry, spirited soul who scurried into the yard to grab a chicken, chop off it’s head and prepare it for supper the same night. I know through stories she planted a garden, but what she planted is lost. Many of the recipes that my family treasure came from Grandma B’s kitchen. Her soft, spicy gingerbread men visit every holiday. An old recipe for grape juice, written in her hand, is a recipe yet to be tried, but I imagine rows of purple grape juice lining a pantry shelf some day.
I know so little of this woman, who bore and raised my mother and aunt. A few years before I was born, Grandma B succumbed to breast cancer. She was only 48 years old. It was with great fear and trepidation that my mom approached her 48th birthday, but she breezed by it until cancer took her away from us at the age of 74.
I like to think of my mom in a beautiful garden, sitting in a rocking chair cuddling a baby, whispering softly to the fuzzy headed cherub while fragrance from pink roses waft around her. Close by my grandmother rests in a vegetable garden with chickens scratching at fertile earth.

These two women left me a legacy of pink…pink flowers, pink toes, pink ribbons, and so much more that reminds me that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I remember each, grandmother and mother, with a sprig of rosemary and a pink rose tied with a satiny pink ribbon.

Seven Things

A week or so ago, I was tagged by Kylee at Our Little Acre who was tagged by May Dreams Gardens blog for a meme. I’ve been fighting an allergy and I caught a bug so I’ve not been around the cyber world much lately, but what the heck, now that I’m feeling better…I’ll give it a go and reveal 7 things about me you may not know.

1. What’s a Meme?
I had no idea what a meme was, so I checked out the other blogs Kylee tagged to see what all the fuss was about. A meme reveals seven things about you that others may not know. After being tagged you reveal and link back to the person who tagged you. Boy, I hope I got that right.

2. Judging Flowers
I spent 3 years heading to Columbus for OAGC judging school twice a year. Recognizing plant leaves, buds, and blossoms, learning the correct botanical name, and spelling it correctly was part of the course study. Lucky for me…I can spell. I hate to admit though, lack of use dimmed the light on botanical names and I don’t remember things like rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) that well.

3. A Love for Tuna
I’m sure you’re thinking seared tuna or grilled tuna steaks, but I’m talking good old tuna fish right of the can. Yes, canned tuna turned into tuna salad with Miracle Whip dressing is a great love of mine carried over from childhood. I’d rather eat a tuna sandwich than just about anything else.

4. Pink and Blue
In my idyllic world, fragrant, pink, heirloom or David Austin roses, sky blue delphiniums, and lavender would grow everywhere…over my doorway, over arches and arbors, and along fences. I adore pink flowers from ‘Angelique’ tulips to ‘Lilliput’ zinnias.
5. Writing beneath the Covers
When I was a little girl, I’d wait until everyone fell asleep and then I’d reach for my tablet and pen that I kept on the night stand and write stories. Since I shared a room with my sister Nancy, I’d pull the lamp to the edge of the stand and try to put a blanket over it, giving me enough light to see while keeping the room darkened.

6. Lullaby
In my most humble opinion, lullaby is the most beautiful word in the English language. It not only rolls off the tongue with eloquence, it conjures up sweet images that touches hearts and brings smiles.

7. Private Teresa
I value my privacy more than the average person, sometimes to the point of it rendering me immobile. My irrational need for privacy made completing this meme a difficult task.

So, there you have seven things about me you may or may not have known. I’m guessing my siblings knew some, my kids knew a couple, but no one knew all. Uh-oh…that need for privacy is kicking in and I must post before I delete.