Tulips and their beautiful demise

Tulips a friend brought from her yard for a party, a week before I got around to photographing them. They were amazing when fresh and by the time I remembered (read: got unlazy) to get some shots, they were well past their prime. I like the photos almost better here than if I had taken them when the flowers were in their prime. That's when most flower photos are probably taken. I could go on and on, but these strike me as having a depth I would not have guessed would have been there. blah blah blah.

I implore you to linger awhile on these photos though. Really check out the shapes and the configuration and the coloring and the intense complexity and raw beauty. I wish I could come up with another word for beautiful, but right now, all words escape me. Even if I did take these pics.

I love these so much I'm going to set the second one from the top as my desktop as soon as I'm done posting here.

Bleeding Hearts

I really like the leaf shape and pattern on these bleeding hearts.

Top and Bottom - which is which

So, the wind was blowing when I took these. The columbine are still amazing even if a bit blurry. I like to think of it as art.

Tulips

There's just something about yellow flowers and especially yellow tulips. At least for me.

Hello from Firenze, Italia (Florence, Italy)

I'm copying someone who is in Ireland right now who posted on her blog while on vacation. I have nothing much to say though, shame. Mister and I spent my bday in Paris, lovely. Walked for hours and did our best not to get food poisoning from the airport, more on that later. Walked under the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Walked through the Louvre, sadly not enough time to even go inside, still beautiful from the outside and in the gardens. Much wine, inexpensive and very good wine. MUCH walking, I love it. Today, after several plane rides, train rides, boat rides and days of being on my feet, my back finally said enough. I believe I would have not had any issues, but, I'm going into my girlie cycle (is that TMI?) and my lower back has had enough, until tomorrow when we start again. Venice and the Grand Canal, stinky but beautiful. Some food, amaZing@! Some food, not so much. The cafe is really great when you pick it up as espresso or americano in little shops. The drip in the hotel for breakfast, nasty and cold. Just my opinion. Museums in Florence, wow. A bit much, I mean seriously, renaiisance overload, but I've gotten to see amazing art in and amongst the art I don't personally care for. Photos when I get home. This isn't my laptop and I'm not comfortable taking up too much time on it. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Will chat at you soon enough. Ciao bellas!

Parsley Sage Rosemary and Primrose

Rosemary: I love our rosemary bush, it smells divine, you brush up against it in the yard and hours later, you'll get a faint whiff of rosemary on your sleeve. That is so great. And the bees love it, too. I had never really taken much time looking at the blooms though. They are pretty and purple and well, whatever, its rosemary, nice scent, move on with life. One day, don't ask me why, I can even remember, but I happened to be sitting very near the bush and notice the blooms. They are some of the most intense and creative and complex blooms I've ever notice. They are, at least it seemed to me at the time, akin to orchids. You know how orchids are so wildly shaped....... anyway. I couldn't quite capture what I saw, but I tried. Primroses: Are great. You plant them and they just keep coming back each year. You pinch back the dead blooms and they just keep in blooming. A bit of water and a wonderful planter of lively color greets you in the yard.

Almost done with the Clematis, for now

Clematis - don't you love them!

Today is a new beginning - A wonderful new beginning

I am 41 today. I am in Paris. I can't believe I am going to share this picture with you. Its me and my sister-in-law, last summer (?) and we'd had a couple (read: more than a couple) glasses of wine. My pupils actually frighten me here. But, I'm over 40 now and just don't give a rip whether I am the beauty queen I wish I was. I'm me. Love me or leave me. I hope your day is as fabulous as I plan mine to be.

Just Watched: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Yes, you should probably watch this, if only for the creative makeup and effects. The storyline was a bit slow and the movie a bit long and there were times when the main character in her 'present day' rendition was a tad difficult to understand. Lots of (probably) inuendo and cosmic references that I didn't necessarily 'get'. Cate Blanchett is a fav of mine, Brad Pitt, not so much ever since he hooked up with Angie. I know, I know, what do I know? Nothing, its just, well, you know, even though I don't follow Hollywood, I have my weird outsider, no actual knowledge of anything real in these people's lives, opinion. Its one of the things that bugs me about our society and about myself - - that I could form an opinion based on exactly nothing. I go on. Decent movie, not a top ten though.

More Clematis

I know, its blurry. But I still just love the composition of it.

The Boy

Just because.

Clematis

You'll have to bear with me. I really love clematis and this year, my clematis has outdone itself. Beautiful and abundant blooms.

This last photo, not the best. It was late and the flash was on. But, I put it here anyway so you can see how many blooms are on this one plant. And this is only a portion of them.

May is all about the flowers

There is something about flowers and trees and shrubs and all plant life that I am drawn to. The simpleness, the complexity, the amazing beauty.

PS - Last night, as I began to doze off into dream land, I started thinking in French. Bon jour! Parlez-vous Anglais? Je parle un peu de Francais. Je ne comprende pas beaucoup de Francais. J'ai faim. Un cafe et un croissant, s'il vous plait. Comment s'appelle t'il? Je m'appelle Lucy et il s'appelle Mister. Que ve dire 'restroom'? Ah, salle de bain ou toilettes. Merci! Bon soir. It was weird and fun and made me a bit giddy. La Tour Eiffel, here I come.

Thursday Revelation

*frick!*

...May Flowers

Just Watched: The Pianist

I seem to be caught in a WWII mosh, of sorts. Here is yet another movie about Germany and the Third Reich. I don't know how all these movies came up at the same time, I must have watched some movie trailers, all of which were of this genre, and put them on my Netflix queue and they are all coming up at the same time. Again, a bit of a difficult movie. Difficult becaus we (read me) like to put our heads in the sand when it comes to history. Oh, yes, it all happened and it was most horrible (not being facetious, just sounds a bit that way) but its not me doing the terrible deeds and it isn't my immediate family being tortured and forced into work camps, so its easy (for lack of a better word) to be complacent about it. The Pianist is based on a true story. These things did happen and even though we, as Americans, have a tendency toward glossy eyed stares when violence on the big screen appears, this movie, hurt. I got to a certain horrific scene and turned the movie off. I called a friend who had seen the film and she assured me I needed to turn it back on and I wouldn't regret it. She was right. Its a difficult film to watch because, its based on fact. These horrendous acts against humans are real. Ok, I could go on about the dreadful acts. The film, the acting, the directing, everything, very well done. Amazing in fact.

Just Watched: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Oy, heavy, weighty, arduous, harsh, troublesome, profound, grave, disconsolate, melancholy and Oy again. I had to go to Thesaurus.com for some of those words because I just could not come up with enough words on my own to express the direness of this movie. That's not to say its not a very good movie, it is. Its just a topic, WWII work camps, that in and of itself is heartbreaking and brings out the grizzly bear in me that I reserve for very few topics. Then, when you make the already difficult topic one in which an eight year old little boy is forced to understand the horror that his age has all but protected him from, its depressing. The two little boys in the movie are wonderful and sweet and you want to take them both home and make the chocolate chip cookies and buy them ipods (or whatever). I just can't explain the movie much further than that. If you do watch it, which I sort of recommend, if you are in a place for it emotionally, I don't want to give anything away. I hate when that happens. In fact, I'm such a dork, that I had this movie on my Netflix queue and could not remember why. I don't know if you Netflix, or the like, but I put movies on there when I hear about them or see a trailer that looks interesting because I'll never remember the names later.... blah blah blah, that's what the queue is for, you know that. Moving on. So, I get this movie and don't have a clue what it is about and I think, hmmmm, well The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, I see to remember something about it being a comedy. I'm on the phone, telling my friend that I'm going to watch this comedy......... silence ensues..... and she informs me that, well, no, its not a comedy. In fact it is a very heavy story about WWII Germany and work camps and it doesn't end with the U.S. forces breaking open the gates and freeing all the Jews. There you go, one of my more odd reviews. A wonderfully acted movie, worth watching. But only if you are in a place for "heavy".

May Day

Have a wonderful weekend.

Vanilla - Update

Don't be scared of the photos, its just a vanilla bean.

So, my vanilla experiment went pretty well, I guess. I've shaken that jar of vodka and vanilla beans for about 10 weeks and it certainly tastes like vanilla, but it also tastes a bit like vodka. I tried it in some tapioca pudding thinking that would be the perfect place to showcase the flavor. It was not the same flavor as the real bourbon vanilla I buy. To me, the pudding tasted a bit like marshmallows. Its still vanilla, but, not the same exotic (for lack of knowing the right words to use) flavor that good vanilla imparts. So, I've put my concoction back in the cupboard and I keep shaking it and I'm hoping that maybe it just needs more time to effuse, congeal, meld, ferment.... I seem to be at a loss for words this morning. You know, the vanilla needs to flavor up the booze.

So, there you go. Vanilla. Its easier to just buy it from the grocery store, but that's just me.