Colorblast Bouquets

Shopping for my DH's birthday party and couldn't resist an on-the-fly snapshot of these bursts of color. How beautiful this grouping of bouquets were -- you almost wonder -- are they real? Do you care? NO! They're a feast for the eyes.

Then I had to grab this shot of an arrangment just finished by the shopkeeper... the island on which they are sitting was directly under a skylight and the rays of the sun were fabulously highlighting their spiky heads...
And then, amongst a slew of Mirror, Mirror Challenge possiblities for August, I captured this blurry, Monet-inspired collage of color:

All photos were taken at my all time favorite Marin florist -- Hearts and Flowers -- in Tiburon...celebrating 30 years of providing the locals with flower candy!

Roses, Roses, Roses

Aaaaaah -- finally the roses are appearing...and appearing...and appearing! You know there is a God because of the vast variety of roses: their abundant shapes, sizes, smells are an intoxicating kaleidoscope. They say that Cleopatra had rose petals spread on her bed -- nightly -- and this is something secretly I am drawn to try! We have a waterfall of roses on the back of our house; they frame the kitchen windows...
...and create a beautiful painting that I will be viewing all summer long. They are also creeping up and over the back deck railing, and falling onto the table and chairs. Only two rose plants have created this abundance of blooms -- fiery and incendiary in the mid-morning and early afternoon light: Don Juan and Blaze. How perfect -- they titillate the senses with an explosion of red! And make me sleepy with their promise of perfection!

Happy Spring and rose-filled dreams to you!

Remembering, Celebration, Transformation

Angel by the Sea

Because it is Easter (which is often associated with spiritual rebirth and transformation), my mind turns to thinking about Mexico's Day of the Dead celebration. If I walk down the dirt and rock driveway leading from our B & B, La Casa de los Amigos, there is a little Mexican cemetery right across the street facing the sea.

Walking Down from La Casa to the Local Cemetery

It is right next to the beach and I am always pulled to go visit it. Morbid? Well, maybe -- but not here in Mexico. The cemetery has a raw beauty and handmade craftmanship that appeals to me.

Open Air Crypt Surrounded by Vines with Hand-Painted Vines on Pillars

The cementary is always filled to the brim with plastic flowers, with an occasional surprise such as these luminescent beauties I found this year...

Purposeful Luminescence

and impromptu shrines to the departed...

Blue Cross and Red and White Tulip Shrine

The dead are remembered on this religious holiday (mid-November). Entire families flock to the local cemeteries and bring flowers and presents and food. They sweep up trash, clean up the graves, repaint and then sit down to eat, drink, remember, and honor.

Turquoise Chair Locked Away Until Next Year

Goal Setting Failures and Lilies of the Valley

Well, OK. I don't have a journal page today. I am a very bad person. Nothing creative made. I failed to attain my goal. I am a very, very bad person. Excuse me while I slip into a funk. Failed again.

HAH! Who established such perfectionism? Who set such a high criteria? Who, indeed!

Here is a photo I took yesterday. I was at Trader Joe's and was walking by their flower section and caught out of the corner of my eye...Lilies of the Valley. My all time favorite flower growing up! As a child I used to go out to my grandmother's side yard and inhale the scent of hundreds of Lilies of the Valley that grew under her two maple trees. Every spring they would pop up their little bells and bring a sense of enchantment to a rather plain Kentucky yard. And as a teenager, I would douse myself in the perfume of "Muguet de Bois" by Cote. When I wore it, I would feel a bit of the magic from that early childhood experience. And even yesterday, in the middle of the grocery store, I stuck my nose into the nearest Lily, inhaling the scent and seeing the broad dark green leaves and delicate white bells of my Kentucky childhood. So I brought one home.