The garden blooms are having a party.
Who knew?
A celebration of life.
Right there, tucked into each little petal.
Annuals grown right in the garden, from tiny seeds in spring, and now summer.
(except the roses, they are perennial bushes)
I was feeling lazy, you see…
It had been a long hot day, and I had to give myself an extra little push to take all the cut blooms out of one bucket, and put them into lots of different bottles.
The sun was going down.
I took out my camera, whose battery light was flashing, nearly spent.
I looked through the lense.
And, everything morphed.
It became sort of dreamy and aquatic.
A flower celebration.
A flower party.
Roses, zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, dahlias.
I expected to see a mermaid or a seahorse swim by.
I felt bad for almost not taking the photos.
I was so glad that I did.
I got sort of heart-stringy.
I saw each different flower as you and me, and all of us.
A life.
Earth, seeds, water, time, air, warmth, sprouts, stems, leaves, petals, pollen - then, back to seeds.
A cycle.
In America there are 4th of July celebrations underway.
Sometimes, I forget to hug the country I am from, in my mind.
It's easy to think that other places are more magical, better, lovelier.
As I get older I think –
America, I love you…
And, every so often, I get a jolt of luck chills.
Feeling lucky that I was born in a place where I am free to be me.
I used to think about this as a kid.
I would think, boy, I am so lucky.
I could have been born in a scary place.
With a very very hard life.
I still feel so lucky.
Life isn't soooooo easy per se.
But it could be so much more difficult.
We have the luxury to throw fits if our power goes out for a couple of hours.
The luxury to care about trivial things.
At least we have water, and freedom, and safety.
And school, and shoes, and love.
Freedom of religion and way of life.
We are free to chase a dream.
Free to be us.
And so much more.
Many of you live in different countries, where you feel just as lucky to live where you do, as I do to live in America.
And, we are.
Lucky.
Petals, growing from earth.
Beautiful and unique.
You and me, and all of us.
Everyone.
A party of petals.
Happy 4th of JULY!
Be safe.
Have lots of smiles on your faces.
Eat lots of wonderful things.
Sing, dance!
Love, V
ps: In my head the last few days…
Love that girl.
Hello, Miss V
Love your astounding array of flowers and I like your tribute to people and who we are. I am reading ‘Inkheart’ right now (my second time to read the trilogy) and it morphs into another location from the original just from Silvertongue reading out of the book. Yes, we are so very lucky to live in the land of opportunity and may we continue to have the freedoms we have and not take them lightly but cherish everything as ‘the times they are a changin’ Bob Dylan
Have a very Happy Fourth of July! People are already celebrating tonight and I’m sure they will continue tomorrow all day and into the night too!
Hip! Hip! Hurray!
* + * + *
Lovely flowers from your garden V! YES, we are Ssooo Blessed and lucky to bloom in the USA.
Keeping the rhythm, enjoying another year of being Independent and FREE !
Happy 4th of July to you the boys!
Enjoy and Sparklers ON! Ohh Ya! ; )
sigh I LOVE Bjork too, sent her on a CD back in 2001 overseas to Korea to my son in the Army, the first selection of songs, her “Missing YOU” along with the Boss’s “Born In The USA” all kinds of selections, I remember James Brown on it, it’s somewhere in the house waiting to be found once again….your flowers are all sOOOOOoo SWEET, I was just wondering why my zinnias didn’t grow, loving the smell of marigolds, even teasing my husband and almost sticking a bud up his nose, laughter is the best medicine…yes, I feel lucky many times, the news showing bombing, hunger, no freedom, senseless brutal killings in far away places…Happy 4th wherever YOU may be…I’m thinking of YOU and praying for YOU! Happy Day!
i am always thankful for where i live and what i have…and i am thankful to have found little people like you who like to spread the good news every time you blog. xx
rosey
Wonderful post! I share your sentiments. My third son just got back from nine months in Bahrain and my second son is in Afghanistan. It has opened their eyes in a very big way of how lucky we all are. Seeing oppression first hand is so powerful.
Eat some watermelon and run with a sparkler,
Lisa
Have a Happy and Safe 4th of July and everyday to you and your wonderful family.
Beautiful flowers…and wonderous photography.
Dear Vanessa,
I would love those flowers except that I’m deathly allergic to pollen so if I smelled those flowers I would die. You are poisoning our world with your flowery scents. I’m sure others would like them. But you know…I don’t. I hate them. haha just kidding. That was a joke. Laugh, foolish mortal.
Love,
Snow White
For once I agree with Snow White. I hate all life and flowers. Unless they are red. Red is tolerable.
Bye.
Evil Queen
How dare you throw a party in my honor every year, yet not invite me?! I cannot be impersonated or replaced! Besides, your parties are MEDIOCRE at best and do not represent Wonderland. You should go die in a hole. Go fall in the rabbit hole and don’t come back. Just kidding. but seriously, if you continue to throw these ridiculous parties I will be forced to give you an unbirthday you will never forget…
sincerely,
Mad Hatter
Those flowers are simply lovely! However, if you fail to paint them red, I will be forced to cut off your head!
With love,
Queen of Hearts
P.S. Feel free to join me in a little croquet later today!
Flamingos will blossom in June, but pearls only come when you eat your pie. In other words, those flowers of yours should have been created last month so they can be dried and destroyed. I hope that makes sense.
Indubitably,
Cheshire Cat
AAAAAA very merry unbirthday! TO you. To yoU!!!!!!!!!!! Yay! Pie.
Would you like some sugar for those flowers! They would taste quite lovely indeed with your tea!! Spatula.
March Hare
If you don’t remove those flowers from the face of the earth, you shall really be known as the LATE vanessa.
Toodles!!! I’m going to be late for a very important date!
Sincerely,
The White Rabbit
Twinkle twinkle little bat,
How wonder what you’re at.
Up above the world so high
Like a teatray in the sky.
I made a new poem for you. It goes like this:
Twinkle twinkle little flower,
How I wish to kill you every hour.
When I see those horrid petals dangle,
It is you I wish to strangle.
Dormouse
WoW
What a beautiful flower party! ‘Tis a luxury to have so many blooms that you can bring some inside and still probably have dozens and dozens remaining outside to provide ample beauty there as well!
My hubby, son, and I were able to watch fireworks and enjoyed it immensely, but I ended up with my fingers in my ears much of the time. When did they get so loud? Ha! Sensitive ears, ’tis true. ; )
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us, Vanessa! I hope you are having lovely days of color and creating!
Lovely flowers..thanks for sharing..I hope you and your family had a wonderful 4th
I absolutely love your turquoise vanity……and the flowers have such beautiful faces! Beauty always reigns……..over all……
Oh, drat—Jill beat me to it.
I was going to say how pretty the flowers looked against the aqua.
Your flowers are gorgeous and make me über jealous!!!
Oh, the comments are Disney, gone wild 😉
Hahhaaheheee!
What a riotous bunch of flowers! Beautiful, my friend! Enjoy your weekend!
Those are beautiful! tagged you in a game. It’s fine if you don’t want to play. Here’s the link, http://www.coffeeandtheirkisses.com/2012/07/ive-been-tagged.html
when i walk and listen to bjork it’s meditation
What amazing flower photos. You, in fact, are amazing. And inspiring. And so free and free-spirited. And yes, don’t we appreciate that freedom?
Flowers, flowers everywhere! They made me smile…what beauties!!!! 🙂 We are indeed very fortunate to live in this country. I am grateful for all that I have in my life. 🙂 Sometimes it’s easy to forget this. Thanks for sharing the Bjork video – how awesome!