I am not a girly-girl. I’ve never treated myself to a manicure, I have less interest in shoes than most men, and my blow dryer last saw action several months ago when I removed one those flashy stickers some companies like to plaster all over their products. And yet.
And yet I am all about rainbows and butterflies and chirping birds and, yes, flowers. Not on t-shirts or binders or anything plastic and decorative, you understand. Just in reality, in this dimension.
Which is why I’m loving this summer so very much. Flowers are everywhere, blatantly growing and spreading and blooming. Three volunteer rosebushes sprouted in my vegetable garden, globe mallows are sweeping up and down the hillsides, and wild irises are grinning like lunatics in the mountain sunshine. It’s an obscene rainbow of blossoms carpeting everything outside of town except the rocks and asphalt. It’s like the Disney Channel, except no princesses.
What’s great about flowers, beyond the fact that they are nice-looking and they usually smell good and they stand still when I try to take pictures of them, is that they make no pretense whatsoever. They are all about the pollination, their petals and perfumes and colors brashly yelling, “Come and get it!” to any passing insects. It’s hard not to admire such honesty, especially when packaged so prettily.
Alas (if one can use such a word in 2009) this year the ridiculous abundance that overtook the local flowership completely skipped every fruit tree I know and love. Our neighbor’s apricot, which hangs halfway into our backyard, always produces enough to make any self-respecting fruit-lover sick to her stomach. This year, though? Only leaves. The plum tree? Nothing. Peaches? Not a one.
Only the Bing cherry in our front yard deigned to bring forth anything remotely edible – lots and lots of gorgeous cherries, swinging merrily in the early summer breeze. No doubt they were delicious, too. I wouldn’t actually know, you see, since the birds cleaned off the branches exactly one day before I planned my harvest. They did look yummy, though, plump and juicy and deep, sweet red.
Hrm. Now that I think about it, I take back what I said above about liking birds. Greedy little suckers. Flowers, though. Those I still adore. And rainbows and butterflies, of course. And once our trees start making fruit the way God and the garden center that sold them intended, I’m sure I’ll start liking them again, too. Check back next July, and I’ll let you know.
Obligatory flower photo. This one’s in our front yard.
Ooo! I’m envious of your flower bonanza. My garden is only so so this year. Producing blooms then going dormant fast. I had daylilies for like a week!
And weird about the fruit trees, my nectarines came in abundance. But as you mentioned, my tangerines did not produce a single fruit and the lemons were like lame-ns.
Somethin’s up… ; )
I’m sorry to hear about the lack of fruit! I love flowers too. Sadly I only get to see them in all their glory for about 2 months before our Canadian climate (AKA winter) sets in.
Wow, that picture is lovely! I especially love the little dew drop.
@Suzanne – Really? Nectarines in abundance? I’m jealous. I think ours were killed by frost. Oh, and LOL at “lame-ns”!
@Natalie – Oh, wow- two months!?! Hope you like snow more than you like flowers!
@Hilarie – Thanks! I got it right after a rainfall, and positioned myself just so because I wanted the raindrop in the photo.
Hah hah sadly no. It can be pretty for the first day or so… but after that? Brown slush. Cold brown slush.
Such a great photo! Down the street (OK, way down the street) there’s this huge flower garden (so big they host tours) on these small hills where they create art with their flowers–the American flag is the most recent. I really enjoy driving past and seeing all of the beautiful flowers!
Lovely photo. I think it’s the vivid colours of flowers that get us in, plus their lovely fragrance. I’m also a bit of a girly girl. But can be a tom boy at times. 🙂
At present I have pawpaws growing in my backyard but no flowers. Winter is so cold if I was a flower I wouldn’t bloom either.
Did you take the photo with a noraml camera, or is it a pentax etc?
@Natalie – I remember those days. We had them when I lived in Ohio. Seemed like that ugly brown slush/snow combo could last an entire winter like that.
@Jessica – That flower garden sounds gorgeous! I would probably drive by all the time just to see what they’ve done next – even when the garden isn’t on the way!
@Suzanne – Thanks so much! As fo the camera, it’s a Nikon d60 DSLR. I used a Sigma macro lens for this photo – it’s my favorite for closeups. I think I used a tripod for this particular one, too, since the light was getting low. Oh, yes – and I was huddled under a broken umbrella the whole time because it was still spitting rain and I didn’t want my camera to get wet. One of my less comfortable photography experiences, but I was happy with the results!
Sorry to hear about the lack of fruit. My miniature horses got to our fruit trees and I don’t think the trees survived.
I would love to have you review my book, Alvor. Drop me a line.
You decorated your blog with flowers. 😉 Very tasteful, though, and understated. Summer is coming slowly, here. I’m still wearing a sweatshirt, LOL.