Flowers and Fairytales

Summer arrives early in Albuquerque. By June first the softness of spring is all but gone. Only the hardiest of blooms survive unprotected in the heat. Ninety-nine degrees today.

It's nice to see roses bloom in the garden, but unless they are cut soon after blooming they shrivel in the sun at these temperatures. And since I have posted so many roses lately, I'm featuring flowers in pink from the florist this time.

My favorite hue of pink is found in the palest shades. I used to have a good supply of cheery floral tea and luncheon plates with pinks, but now mostly traffic in the occasional stray pattern. It will be nice to get back to garden parties! Maybe for just one or two guests.

Peonies are uncommon to grow in our zone (7), and are crazy expensive to buy. Trader Joes sometimes has them at a great price when they first come into season. At Whole Foods this week they were five for fifteen dollars. Not TOO bad. But still....

There were vibrant pink sweet peas from the garden this year. Bunches and bunches. But I never did get any shots of them. They dried to the loveliest shade of lavender blue.

I enjoy all dried flower petals as they wane, only tossing them when it finally makes good sense to do. (That's the sad part about most cut flowers.)

But Gladiolas live up well to their nickname. Glads! I could never have enough! I'll bet it's a good time to be in the flower business the way it is to be in the nursery business right now. Anyway, I hope so.

I am also sharing a snippet from an article titled "Flowers and Fairytales" by Allison Toepperwein: single mom, blogger, motivational speaker, and Parkinsons fighter, among other laudable things.

She says: "Life is about writing your own unique fairy tale, not that of make believe. It's about savoring every moment, including the ones you wish to turn the page on. In order to live a fulfilled life, you must take those paragraphs and chapters and grow. You must continue to write and hope it's filled with adventure and insight."

Who knows how long these days will last? The ones we are anxious to turn the page on. For now they are what we have. As for savoring, fulfilling, growing. That part is up to us.

But I have to admit. Some days I do lay my head on the pillow at night and say to myself (sometimes out loud), "You couldn't make this stuff up!" 

Thank you so much for your visits! It's wonderful to have a word from you. I am so sorry to say that my stats still are showing that many of you have tried to leave me a message that never posts. So thanks to you in Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, Idaho, N.Y., Washington, Switzerland, Poland and wherever else you are in the world. I appreciate you too! 

Happy days ahead to you!

Jacqueline