A Few Flowers

A lot of the annuals are just getting going out in the garden.  I planted so many seeds this year and maybe about 50% of them have taken off.  Not the best success, but I do think I'll have quite a few to enjoy. 

Time slipped away from posting here as we went on a full seven day vacation.  That's the longest we've been gone and everyone was still talking to each other when we got home!  It's been years since I've been to the Black Hills and wow, I almost forgot how beautiful it is out there! We stayed in a beautiful cabin and hiked and took in so much history at different sites. 

Now, we've been doing a little bit of this and that of summer time activities.  Our son is home also helping out with some really big projects that needed doing, so hopefully our summer will prove to be productive for the project list.  (And, there is a list!  I'm not a list maker anymore, but my son has a big one going for us, so I'm trying it again!)

Have a great week everyone!

Fallen

Kim Klassen's Studio includes a monthly prompt or as she calls it a "spark" to inspire your still life photos. This month's spark is "fallen".  As the Western Salsify wildflowers or weeds are beginning to go to seed, this prompt came to mind.

So I took a few seed heads on a photo shoot.  

The float so beautifully when the breeze takes them!  (Or when your son walks by and you ask him to toss some in the air while you take a picture!!)

I needed a fast shutter speed to capture the falling seeds a little better, but I was out of time to take pictures so decided I would just like the blur showing the movement, ha!

Then I switched it up a bit so the delicacy of these seeds could be appreciated even more.

We've been madly working on gardening and house projects here.  I hope your summer is off to a good start. :) 

Scene and Story

It was Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day and I went out to the cemetery to pick up a live plant my Mother in Law had left at Jim's grave.  This is a yearly tradition.  She leaves a plant for a few days with the instructions for me to go pick it up and hang it in our yard later.

♦•♦

The cemetery is mostly quiet, but filled with the evidence of many visitors over the holiday weekend.

As I approach the small path to turn my car onto, I see a tall thin bearded man watering a grave site with a watering can that has a large sprinkling head.  I presume that there is newly seeded grass on the site and that the loss has been fairly recent as there is no headstone, just a number of artificial posies pushed in the ground where a stone would set,  the new grass evidence, and it's in the new addition of the cemetery. Just a couple of years ago, corn grew where his loved one is now buried.  He stand just across the path and about 25 feet North of my destination.  His long beard and hair are graying, About 50 percent salt and 50 percent pepper I'd say.  It's had to remember exactly because I didn't want to look too long.  You know, can't stare and all.  Except my mind was staring.  Staring at the thought of loss.  Wishing there was something I could call out to him that would be profound.  Hopeful.  Encouraging.  Even though I have no idea who he is, it's like he represented all who have recently lost someone.

But, I have nothing to say.   Not one word would come to me.

We exchanged looks briefly when I went to the back of my car.  After I tidied up the flower situation at Jim's headstone, I thought I'd take a picture.  Maybe I'd text it to the kids.  It's been a long time since I've done that and my oldest hasn't been able to come out here in awhile.

I walked to get back in the car, and realized he was looking my way.  I gave him a nod. 

As I took a quick look at the pictures I took, I once again realized that the real words of hope come from our Savior.  Which is why I put them on the headstone.  I knew I wanted the headstone to not just be a monument to Jim, but to be a monument of hope.

♦•♦

I'm joining Sarah at Paisley Rain Boots for this month's Scene and Story