We need to properly celebrate it - with a blog hop.
Rita from Toltec Jewels / Jewel School Friends set up a nice and easy blog hop, called 'Summer Elements'. We are to share something summer-related and it can be anything. Can't get any easier than this, can it?
Well - since we just returned from a trip I was so buried under the emails that I missed her prompt (we were still away) and... Sunday came and went without me posting anything (head falls in shame...).
I apologize to both Rita and all the blog hop participants and I promised I will rectify this unimaginable err on my side. So here I am.
I don't know about you, but when I think of summer there are a few things that spell it more than flowers - so you'll have a few flowers coming your way :)
A bouquet we picked at from the farmer's market - bright and sunny and very refreshing.
.JPG "Summer Elements: sunny flowers :: All pretty Things")
One of the peonies in the backyard (it is a neat pink, somehow the camera distorted it). Peonies are forever equal to end of school in my mind. Back when I was a kid we would get out of school middle of June. Peonies were in full bloom and I would pick up some from friend's garden and present them to the teacher :)
In a strange way the rhubarb is also firmly linked to summer - while not widely used in the area we lived, it was grown and made into yummy jams and sauces a 100 km west of our town, where the German people live :) I had good friends from the heart of Transylvania and many jars of rhubarb jam ended up in my possession :)
We can hardly go without mentioning strawberries! These have been freshly picked up this morning and they're patiently waiting to be made into jam and its delicious sister, 'dulceata' (I cannot find a proper translation for it... it's like a clear jam, more sugar is used, and it has a clear syrup, also the fruits stay in one piece).
And we circle back to peonies - freshly picked from the market too :) I didn't have the heart to pick the ones in the backyard, I know, I am strange that way!
Thank you, Rita - and sorry again for being late to the party!
Thank you, my friends for getting through my ideas of summer!
And because this is a blog hop - we need to hop and see what others made of the Elements of Summer.
Toltec Jewels (Hostess)
Marlene Cupo
Cheri Reed
Ailsa Cordner
Robin Reed
Nan Smith
Sherri Stokey
Christie (Charis Designs)
Carolyn Lawson
Andrea Glick-Zenith
Melissa Trudinger
Dini Bruinsma
Kathy Lindemer
Cory Tompkins
Gina Hockett
Karen Martinez
Liz
Jasvanti Patel
Solange Collin
Gerda
Karla Morgan
Alicia Marinache <- you are here
Dyanne Everett-Cantrell
Mischelle Fanucchi
Tanty Sri Hartanti
Shaiha Williams
Mary Govaars
Becca Sirevaag
Lennis Carrier
Regina Wood
Susie Harris
Nelly May
Anindita Basu
Andrea Trank
Alicia - you brought back some Summer memories for me! I used to take peonies to my teacher at the end of the school year also! Strawberry picking was another June favorite.
ReplyDeleteSo pretty Alicia! peonies are one of my favorites, it is just too bad the blooms don't last long in my yard! and strawberries - especially freshly picked .. YUM! now that is summer!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alicia for the beautiful pictures, they remind me of the peonies we had in our garden when I was a child :-) Now I have some in a vase, love them! Last weekend I had ice-cream with rhubarb sauce... So yesssss, this is SUMMER♥ Enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful flowers! I posted flowers, too! :) I didn't have time to make anything for the blog hop, unfortunately. But Father's Day weekend, I took a plethora of flower pictures at my to-be mother-in-law's home!
ReplyDelete<3,
Andrea
mmm, strawberries, and mmmm, rhubarb! Two of my favourite summer fruits! And they make a lovely jam together too! Thanks for sharing your favourite parts of summer!
ReplyDeleteHi Alicia,
ReplyDeleteHappy Summer to you! Love all of the flowers. When I was a girl my Mom, who is of German decent, would make Strawberry Rubarb jelly and it was awesome. I think I will ask her to teach me how to make it.
Therese
beautifull photos & flowers... :)
ReplyDeleteAlicia,
ReplyDeleteGardening and flowers are so special to me also -- and truly ARE summer! Your pink peonies are lovely -- for years, I wished for them, remembering the beautiful blooms at my grandmother's home. Now, I have Peonies of my own, and they are blooming right now! Like you, I can't pick them from my yard. They seem so content in their beauty, happily living next to the pretty green abundant buds, ready for their turn to bloom.
The colors of your market bouquet -- the yellow and orange arrangement -- are so vibrant and warm. I love arrangements, and sometimes have market flowers each week, and in jewelry photos. I could enjoy flowers all day!
Rhubarb! Strawberries! Suddenly, I'm a little girl again, in my sweet Hungarian Grandmother's kitchen, on the farm. My grandmother makes wonderful rhubarb pie, and I think she adds strawberries. My mother loved rhubarb pie too, and like my grandmother, made the most wonderful summer deserts with the cool fruit too. We grew the rhubarb out behind our garage in full sun, and I loved watching the rich red stalks grow.
Rhubarb, strawberries, peonies all make me feel so safe, and loved. I think of my lovely mom and my grandmother, how hard they worked always creating the most wonderful foods from scratch, Hungarian goulash or stuffed green peppers and rhubarb pie, green beans from the garden, corn from the fields, Kool-aid made at the "well-water" sink. There were two sinks; one with city water and one from the well. My grandma insisted well water was good for us... crinkling my nose still..lol!
The memories of summer come one after another, filling my heart with happy summer events: dancing around the mulberry bush with my sister, holding hands and singing, round and round to turn our feet purple! The smell of the lilac trees drifting into the house in the evening on the breeze, late summer canning, huge family get-togethers in the summer, all of us meeting for family portraits or lake picnics or Mass :)
Gracias, sweet Alicia! The blooms fill my mind, the memories sing out in my soul, love goes on and grows.
Love, Rita
I just love peonies, they are one of the prettiest flowers! When you mentioned picking them at the end of the school year it reminded me of me and my brother picking lilacs for my Mom when they were in bloom. They have always been her favorite.
ReplyDeleteI have never tasted rhubarb! One of these days I will have to try it!
Hi Alicia, I was late too!!! I love the pictures and I used to pick peonies too!!! Lovely. Thanks for sharing and have a Blessed day!!!
ReplyDeleteYour beautiful pictures really capture the bright warmth of summer for me. Warmed up my chilly winter's day they did!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers! I loved your cheerful post =)
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