Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime is hosting a year long challenge which is... sublime... as you'd expect with such a studio name. The challenge is named 'Focusing on Life' and every week Sally is sending a prompt on what should we focus the following week.
Her prompt this week was about memories:
Have you ever been in the middle of a busy day and all of a sudden you run across a certain baked good, candy, flower or an object catches your attention and you are sent right back to your childhood?
This week capture what takes you back to moments past and reminisce a little.
I paused and thought hard and realized something very interesting about myself. I don't reminisce a lot! I started to try to explain why, but it won't be fair unless I can explain the context well enough - and I can't :)
Suffice to say that I chose a new life for me and my family, and thinking about the 'old time' is not always easy, so I prefer not to.
That being said - I wanted to choose something for this week, so I looked around myself all week.
And one day (the hardest of all this week) I looked on my desk and found it:
.JPG "Lilly-of-the-Valley :: All Pretty Things")
I have tried for years to grow Lily-of-the-Valley (we call them by another name, meaning more or less 'little tear'): I love their graceful appearance and their absolutely heavenly fragrance. When I see / smell them it's an instant go-back to my grandfather's garden: full of Lily-of-the-Valley, roses, Imperial Lilies, raspberries, and bee hives!
I can vividly see his garden: a square patch of vegetables in the middle: the tomatoes climbing the vines, onions, herbs, beans and probably more, but that's all I can recall now. On the sides - on the left it was a tree of some sort, the back had a water pipe and the bee hives, and on the right there were the flowers. The fence around the backyard was all full of raspberries - and another tree in the middle (an apple tree?!)
.JPG "Lilly-of-the-Valley :: All Pretty Things")
The lilacs don't remind me of my grandfather - it just reminds me of the place I grew up in, which was full of lilac blooms this time of the year (well, earlier, since it's warmer there).
.JPG "Lilac :: All Pretty Things")
And now I once again come to the same conclusion: after a while we all complete the circle full! The neighbourhood we live in is an almost perfect copy of certain neighbourhoods back there - and subconsciously we picked the familiar, the place that reminds us of where we started from. Funny, isn't it?
Please make sure you visit the rest of the group - we are gathered at Ms Sally's to share memories!
And one day (the hardest of all this week) I looked on my desk and found it:
.JPG "Lilly-of-the-Valley :: All Pretty Things")
I have tried for years to grow Lily-of-the-Valley (we call them by another name, meaning more or less 'little tear'): I love their graceful appearance and their absolutely heavenly fragrance. When I see / smell them it's an instant go-back to my grandfather's garden: full of Lily-of-the-Valley, roses, Imperial Lilies, raspberries, and bee hives!
I can vividly see his garden: a square patch of vegetables in the middle: the tomatoes climbing the vines, onions, herbs, beans and probably more, but that's all I can recall now. On the sides - on the left it was a tree of some sort, the back had a water pipe and the bee hives, and on the right there were the flowers. The fence around the backyard was all full of raspberries - and another tree in the middle (an apple tree?!)
.JPG "Lilly-of-the-Valley :: All Pretty Things")
The lilacs don't remind me of my grandfather - it just reminds me of the place I grew up in, which was full of lilac blooms this time of the year (well, earlier, since it's warmer there).
.JPG "Lilac :: All Pretty Things")
And now I once again come to the same conclusion: after a while we all complete the circle full! The neighbourhood we live in is an almost perfect copy of certain neighbourhoods back there - and subconsciously we picked the familiar, the place that reminds us of where we started from. Funny, isn't it?
Please make sure you visit the rest of the group - we are gathered at Ms Sally's to share memories!
Your grandfather's garden sounds so lovely--a special place, and one that stirs up memories. My grandmother grew Lily of the Valley too and when I had my first very own garden I found myself planting these fragrant flowers.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorites, too. It makes me sad that our lily of the valley bed was ripped up to make way for a road widening.
ReplyDeleteAseară, târziu, am văzut cele două texte, de pe 25 şi 26 mai, dar era prea târziu pentru mine să mai citesc şi să scriu.
ReplyDeleteŞi bine am făcut că n-am cedat ispitei --de a citi măcar puţin--, cele scrise pe 26 îmi provoacă amintiri amestecate : unele frumoase, plăcute, iar altele, prin natura lucrurilor, sunt nostalgic -triste-uşor amare.
Aşa că azi am putut să "mă adun" şi să mă bucur .
Şi , ca să completez , în mini gradina aceea mai erau : un corcoduş galben, un măr, un piersic, cu nişte piersici extraordinare !, un vişin, ba la un moment dat a fost un cireş--o să-ţi spun altă dată povestea lui--, un prun, un crin imperial o minune !, yucca , trandafiri vreo 4-5 soiuri, flox roz şi mov, zmeură, primule, încă vreo câteva flori ale căror denumiri nu le ştiu, o minunată clematita mov, adusă cu mare grijă de la Buşteni, de la Unchiul Victor ,zorele roz şi albastre, crizanteme--puţine , nu-mă-uita,napi--pentru care am insistat mult, atât pentru tuberculi cât şi pentru frumoasele flori--şi, o Doamne ! câţiva butuci de viţă de vie nobilă!
Or mai fi fost şi altele , dar pe astea mi le amintesc acum.
Şi, desigur , câteva legume şi zarzavaturi : salată verde,lobodă--neapărat roşie, mărar , pătrunjel, fasole verde, pitică şi căţărătoare, asta din urmă pe câteva fire de porumb, castraveţi, hrean, izmă.
Nu ştiu unde încăpeau toate, dar , peste toate, cei doi stupi, au fost micul meu (nostru) --Rai, în nişte vremuri foarte rar senine pentru noi.
Mulţumesc din nou că ai scris acest text şi sper să fie şi pentru alţii un motiv de bucurie şi, eventual, placută nostalgie.
mama.
Alicia, Lily of the Valley flowers are one of my all time favorite flowers! When I lived at home with my parents they use to grow in between the fence.
ReplyDelete