Mutability

First of all, I apologize with all my heart. As if you hadn't already had enough books, enough flowers, enough ranunculi, enough red... (That's the plural of ranunculus, I swear to God.)

But truly, these flowers have gotten under my skin, carved out a place in my heart and captured my soul.

(How corny is that?!) I do love them, though.

And secondly, I apologize for the length of this post. Well, for the amount of photos anyway. I went a little crazy shooting these beauties. I know because I've been photographing them for the better part of two weeks.

(How's that for getting your money's worth from a supermarket bouquet?)

Try as I might, I just couldn't bring myself to throw them out as they started to fade. And I think that they are just as beautiful now, with their crushed silken petals falling, as when they first graced my vase.

I've already confessed a weakness for old books, and for poetry too. I found this book of English poetry in a thrift store a few years back. It was missing it's cover, but I loved the title page and the crumbling leather binding. And I have a soft spot for the Romantic poets, especially Keats, Byron and Shelley.

"The flower that smiles today

Tomorrow dies;

All that we wish to stay,

Tempts and then flies..."

In a strange and totally unplanned way, I guess that mutability or change is the deeper subject of these images. Despite having been an English major, I'm not good with words; certainly I cannot craft a sentence that could rival Shelley's. But I'm at a time in my life when I often feel as though everything I have known for as long as I can remember has suddenly changed.

And that can be a crazy, scary feeling.

Like everyone else from my generation, I guess I'm feeling old, like a well-worn book or a flower that's losing petals.

But these things teach us that there is a certain beauty and dignity in age. After all, with age comes wisdom. (At least one hopes it does.)

And I am truly grateful to be living a life of contentment, with the ones I love most in all the world.

Do you see the little heart in the last photo? I ♥ books and flowers, my children, my husband, and you, my dear friends.

Long may we see the beauty in everything around us.

xoxo