By any other name...

The rose still smells sweet and its beauty remains regardless of whatever we may call it. In the case of this post, I’m including all flowers. I believe Juliet would approve.

As opposed to “green” my thumb is brown. Decaying, even. Cracking and crumbly. Maybe more of an ashy-gray-brown than merely brown. Nice visual, eh? Just trying to get my point across as firmly as possible. How’s this? Someone once said of me that when I visit a nursery the plants quake in fear that I might actually purchase and take one of them home with me. A death sentence for the plant, to be sure. Not on purpose, mind you. I bear no ill will toward plants of any kind. Mercifully (for the plants sake), I gave up on gardening years ago. Now I stick strictly to taking photos or doodling plants and flowers.

The well-manicured holds little interest for me and my taste runs to wildness or at the very least deliberate unkemptness. As such, rather than receive a flower delivery or cut and arrange them in a vase, I much prefer them in their natural element: growing in gardens (other peoples), waiving delicately from fields, or my favorite springing up unexpectedly by the side of the road and sprouting from cracks in the pavement. I’ve always felt this is Nature’s way of saying “Fu*k you, humans. Think you can restrict me? Hah!” in the nicest and most beautiful way possible. Nature is amazingly resilient and Beauty always finds a way to be expressed in the world. Sadly, ugliness also always manages to have its say, but that’s not what this post is about today.

Due to the sticky, at times unbearable, and generally annoying uncomfortable heat of summer like many others, I’ve taken to hiding indoors. One day I’ll find a lovely cool cave, preferably one located behind a waterfall, and I'll wait out the summer from there, but until then the walls of our home will have to do.

I still take my early (early, early) morning walks; however, the darkness at this time is not brilliant for taking photos. I need to force myself to do things other than (and totally unrelated to) work. Photography generally fills this spot for me. Since the burning sun of summer is not my friend, I’ve been going through and cataloging my prior photo endeavors. A girl has to have some fun, right?

 A couple of years ago my husband and I took a trip to the country he left for me, the UK (I call it the “old country”). For three amazing weeks we traveled by plane, car, bus, train, and foot from London to Edinburgh and quite a few spots in between. I won’t go on and on about it (for now), but I will say that I fell hard for the UK. And ouch, it hurts to be parted from a place that you love so much. Under what (for me) passes as normal circumstances, I take a considerable amount of photos. But in the UK? I went insane(r). If I wasn't stuffing my face with chips or slurping a beer, I pretty much had a camera glued to my face. And because I literally took thousands of images, I’ve been meaning to sit down and catalog them. I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, don’t you just love digital? I could have never taken so many photos with good old 35mm film.

I already had the photos sorted into files by date, but I decided that organizing merely by date or even place isn’t interesting enough, so I’m also creating collections by subject matter. Regardless of the tediousness of the process, I am finding it enjoyable sorting through our memories. And you may find it a relief that I'm finally getting back to the subject of this post by saying that below are a few images from my still-in-the-process-of-cataloging Flower Collection. If wherever you happen to be is also too hot to enjoy being out and about, I hope you’ve found some fun ways to occupy yourself indoors during these summer months. 

Hyde Park, London

Hyde Park, London

Leasowe Promenade, the Wirral

Thurstaton, the Wirral

Thurstaton, the Wirral

West Kirby, the Wirral

West Kirby, the Wirral

Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Ripley Castle Gardens, North Yorkshire

Ripley Castle Gardens, North Yorkshire

Ripley Castle Gardens, North Yorkshire

Ripley Castle Gardens, North Yorkshire