Flower (173/365)

TIME:  8:02 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Heliopsis “Ballerina”

Deep cleaned the carpet in my Miata and napped today.  This is all I got.

Reach For The Sky (194/365)

“Your flames are spreading... which are great and are like embodiments of truths. Your rays are reaching the sky.”

Rig Veda (collection of over 1,000 hymns, which contain the mythology of the Hindu gods, considered to be one of the foundations of the Hindu religion)

TIME:  7:57 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Underside of a Heliopsis “Ballerina”

Worked; came home; left for physical therapy; grocery store; came home; went out to eat; came home; took a “it-feels-like-I’m-cheating-whenever-I-take-a-flower-photo” picture for the day.  Now heading for bed.

Flower No More (281/365)

 
“Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.”

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892), British poet. The Princess (l. 164-168). . . Tennyson; a Selected Edition. Christopher Ricks, ed. (1989) University of California Press.

TIME:  6:16 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Dried, dead flower

Autumn is my favorite season ~ I love the colors, the cool, crisp air, the celebrations of Halloween and Thanksgiving ~ but Autumn also brings out the melancholy in me.  Autumn days seem to bring about more reminiscing than any of the other seasons do.  The death of the plants, flowers and the leaves on the trees very much reminds me of my own mortality.  I think about how we are not here on this earth for a long period of time and how stuff I think is very important really does not amount to much in the grand scheme of things.  No matter what happens in my life, the earth will still turn; the sun will still rise in the east and set in the west and the cycle of the seasons will still continue.

Stamens And Stigmas (165/365)

 
“The flower is the poetry of reproduction.  It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.”

Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright, 1882–1944)

TIME:  7:50 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Stamens and stigmas of a Heliopsis “Ballerina”

I rode my bicycle this afternoon with my dad after he got home from work.  It was hot and steamy and it felt difficult to do and it took a lot of effort on my part.  My legs felt like rubber bands when I dismounted and put the bike away in the garage.  But I’m glad I did it.  Today’s animal count:  4 rabbits and 4 groundhogs – a tie!  I was completely whooped from riding, but still needed to take a photo.  I decided a flower photo would be good enough today, so I wandered into the front yard and wearily sat down on my brick pavers lining the flower beds.  I do like this shot…the middle reminds me of a birthday cake (or cupcake) with candles.

Nina, Pretty Ballerina (234/365)

“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.”

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (Spanish painter, draughtsman, and sculptor, 1881–1973)

TIME:  6:43 PM
PLACE:  The front yard
SUBJECT:  Heliopsis “Ballerina”

Another Saturday has past.  There was football and cheerleading practice from 10am to noon.  Home for lunch, then I went to the garden center to pick up plants for our front flower beds.  I had a printout of a plan I found on the internet for inspiration, but was still not too sure what I wanted to do.  One of the employees was familiar with my layout and quickly sketched a plan for me.  So now I have Little Fontaine Dwarf Maiden Grass, salvia, Sedum “Autumn Joy”, Perovskia “Little Spires” (Russian Sage), Salvia n. “Caradonna” (Meadow sage), Moonbeam Coreopsis and the Heliopsis.  I LOVE purple and yellow flowers.  The owner then threw in a large purple fountain grass and 3(!!!) flats of various annuals - “For more pops of color in your flower beds.” he said.  Talk about service - that’s one of the reasons I patronize locally owned businesses as much as possible.  I spent the rest of the afternoon, digging holes, planting and watering.  Dinner was Chinese take-out - no way was I cooking after all that!