"Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love and to be loved is the greatest happiness of existence." -Sydney Smith

My beautiful flowers from a wonderful friend. :)









And to zoom out a bit to see what I really put such pretty flowers in... my favorite vase on earth. Purchased when I was living in London years ago, at a kooky little shop in Covent Garden. =D

Listen.

Listening to your heart, finding out who you are, is not simple.
It takes time for the chatter to quiet down.
In the silence of “not doing,” we begin to know how we feel.
If we listen - and hear - what is being offered then anything in life can be our guide.
Listen.
(Author unknown)









Received that quote in a weekly HR EAP email at work today... thought it was interesting enough to share. =)

(Do you sense a theme? Completely and totally bizarre that all my recent flower photos have all been PURPLE. =) I guess when you really like something, it's what your eye constantly gravitates to.)

So I did my reseach for this one...

I'm mortified by my inability to recognize plants and flowers. Trees I thought were dogwoods are potentially not. I don't know which end is up anymore. =)

But I found this teeny little daffodil in the middle of my yard today, all by itself. It's super tiny (though I know it doesn't look it in this photo) and completely out of place. So I did some googling... it's a Narcissus Poeticus! =) Woo!

Flower doofus.

Are you all just too nice to point out that the lovely pink tree blossoms I photographed below are NOT "cherry blossoms" as I indicated, but indeed magnolia blossoms?!

I've noticed lots of people photographing them lately, and it occurred to me that I've completely mis-identified them, and no one has whacked me upside the head to tell me. =) Duh.

I'm so confused... it is a magnolia tree, right? Can you tell I have the worst green thumb ever?

For years (again, going back to how gullible I am) my dad had me convinced that the dogwood tree by the garage "woofed". He'd tell me to go listen to it, and he'd quietly bark. It was a long time before I put 2 and 2 together.

Those white ones below ARE dogwoods, aren't they? LOL...

My Little Ray of Sunshine...

I'm getting him used to wearing it, prepping him for some good "flower" shots outside this Spring. ;) My little sunshine...

And just typing that, I was reminded of a funny story. Everyone knows the song "You Are My Sunshine," yes? My mom and grandmother always used to sing it to me. As you all probably know, the lyrics go:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.

The other night dear as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms.
When I awoke dear I was mistaken...

And here, up until I was in college, I was under the impression the lyrics were "So I went right back to sleep." =D Hey, it fit the rhythm and it made perfect sense! I never had reason to doubt it... haha.

Turns out, my Pollyanna grandmother and mom felt the actual lyric "And I hung my head and I cried" was just unnecessary and took a little "mom" poetic license. Hee hee!!! Going back to sleep was much better than crying!!

Annnnnd there you have a little more insight into my quirky, ever-the-optimist personality. ;)

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. ~ABradstreet

I adore this time of year for all the cherry blossoms and dogwoods on my street. =)

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." -Bernard Meltzer

These lovely calla lilies were just delivered by my FedEx man, from my dear friend, to celebrate my birthday today! Aren't they just gorgeous?! I cannot thank her enough for the love and kindness she has given me over the years. Even if I am a weird egg. ;)









SOMEBODY didn't like not being the "subject" of the photoshoot though...