I like that quote - I always have. I remember Lady Bird Johnson. I loved her for her respect of nature, and wildflowers. I vividly remember the war we watched on tv, how can anyone my age forget it? Death and destruction brought to us nightly as we ate our supper, our minds digesting the body count as our body digested our dinner. I guess I loved her for the focus she brought to something that so simple, so beautiful and was not the horror we saw on the nightly television news.
Every fall, as I prepare my yard for the winter I begin anticipating the wonders of joy and beauty it will give the next spring. The hope for something better, more beautiful and spectacular as each small petal unfurls itself, producing a miracle that nothing created by mankind can compare with.
I have always joked that gardening is my prozac, playing in the dirt brings me down to earth and keeps me grounded and brings me a sense of joy. But really it is nature of nature itself, I find it humbling. It is the delicate nature of a small simple flower, when one takes a moment to appreciate the beauty, the beauty we so often walk right by, that brings me down to earth.
So on a day filled with controversy and conflict I hope you take a moment to enjoy the flowers from my recent walk in the woods of Oregon and a stroll through my garden.
A small flowered buttercup - not perfect, often lacking petals, but see how it glows in the morning sun? A moment of simplistic beauty!
Take the time to see a yellow flower right after sunset in the summer. These flowers capture the sunlight from a bright summer day saving the glow until the darkness settles in, and then as the day dwindles into night, they releases the energy, glowing in the early evening. Try it, I be you will like it.
Stinging nettle, something most consider a weed. Look at it in a different light, it is delicate and I believe, beautiful.
Have you taken the time to see the sun shining through a devil's club, emphasizing the complexity of those devilish thorns?
Let your eyes take in the simple beauty of the delicate texture of a wild orchid.
And take a moment to really look at the great bearded iris in your grandmother's front yard. They are stunning in their complexity and form.
Or a dutch iris, the variation of colors are breath taking!
They are so photogenic!
And the simple symmetry of a simple seedum. Beauty is found all around us.
And when we can take a moment to appreciate the beauty of a flower, maybe we can learn to take a moment and appreciate the beauty, goodness and complexity in that person next to us, the person we never took the time to speak to before.
So in my life I will continue my "flowoerian" philosophy - where flowers bloom there will always be hope.