Lost Among the Sunflowers

 

I was heading home from the city just east of us (that I rarely visit) when I saw them. 

They were on the other side of the highway so I hadn't noticed them at first.

 

 

I think every single one of us can say that we love sunflowers, am I right?

 

 

But when there's a whole field of them, well, that's just a glorious treat for the eyes.

 

 

Once I discovered how to access the field I went back, cameras in tow.

I stepped further and further into the maize of golden beauties until that's all I could see.

 

 

I snapped and then snapped some more...

 

 

snap.....snap.....snap-snap-snap..........snap...

 

 

 

I was all alone, lost in a world where nothing but the sky and sunflowers existed.

 

 

Oh...and bees.

We can't forget about the bees.

 

 

And it was at that moment when I felt the first drop...

...it had started to rain.....oh great!

 I knew I had to make a mad dash for it if I didn't want soggy cameras.

My car was............right o--ver...........th-th-ere....s-s-somewhere...

 

  

...where was my car, anyway??

 

 

 Of course, I had lost all sense of direction, being up to my eyeballs in sunflowers.

Standing on my tippy toes, I was finally able to see my car in the distance.

 Had I really waded out that far in this delicious sea of yellowness? (is that even a word?)

 

So as fast as my short little legs could take me,

I made it to my car, just seconds before the bottom dropped out of the sky.

 

I had gotten what I came for.

 

 

And I was happy. 

 

An Unseasonable Hodgpodge

Greetings from the tropics!

Just kidding.
But if I didn't know better and someone led me outside blindfolded,
I might very well be convinced that I was in the Bahamas.
This is what it really looks like when I walk out my door...

...plenty of falling leaves and a tad of color but it feels nothing like fall right now.
Our local weather forecasters totally missed it.
Thanks to Hurricane Nate, we are experiencing this "lovely" taste of the tropics.
Now don't get me wrong, I love a tropical paradise when the surroundings match the temps...
...but this is a bit extreme.
Oh, and remember that chili I was going to make over the weekend?
Well, the hamburger meat is now in the freezer
and the other ingredients are waiting (impatiently) on the pantry shelf.
I even bought that bag of tortilla chips for my nachos...MAN!
So.....my taste buds have been put on hold.
~
I'll stop complaining about the weather now because it's time for Joyce's Hodgepodge,
and because I can't do anything about it anyway!

You know the drill...she asks the questions and we answer them on our blogs.
Here are this week's questions:
~

1. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your sense of direction? 1=can't find my way out of a paper bag and 10=if I've been somewhere once I can find it blindfolded ten years later.

I think I have a pretty good sense of direction and would probably rate myself at about a "7". And this all depends on if I am doing the driving or the navigating. If I am just one of several passengers, you might as well forget it if we are heading somewhere unfamiliar...I am usually too busy running my mouth rather than paying attention to the route. Normally, it just takes a couple of times to feel confident about where I am going and I rely a lot on landmarks, not necessarily the road signs since I don't see them well until I am right up on them!

When was the last time you looked at/used a map you could hold in your hand? (phones don't count!)

It has probably well over a year. I have only had my iPhone that long and did not have a car with a built-in navigation system until I got my CR-V earlier this year. I didn't use an atlas but I did print directions off Google maps and go by them.

Back east, down south, out west, up north...choose one of these directional expressions and tell us why you chose it.

I've never been out west and I've always lived closer to the east or the southeast. That would leave up north. There are many places much more "northern" than Ohio but that has pretty much been where most of my northern travels have been limited to.

2. Did you do more talking or listening yesterday? Talking. Is that typical? Yes, but not the rule. Describe your yesterday in one word. Positive.

3. Time, money, water-power-resources, opportunity...which one on the list are you most guilty of wasting? What might you do to change that?

If I am being honest (and that is how we are to answer these questions, right?), I have to admit that I find myself wasting time more than anything, which can then become a wasted opportunity, am I right? I don't think that we need to be busy 100% of the time...we all need down time to just do nothing in particular or to do the things we like to do. This is how I see myself, anyway. I have never had anyone else tell me that I'm a time waster. Lord knows that there are many things on my to-do list...and the key word here is LIST. When I make a list, I get 'er done!

4. Did  your family take regular vacations when you were a kid? Tell us something you remember about a family roadtrip from your own childhood.

When I was growing up, a family road trip consisted of piling in the old Buick on a Sunday afternoon and heading about 20-30 miles out to the country to visit various aunts, uncles and cousins. We had a blast traveling down those back roads, especially when we convinced Dad to take that hill just a little faster (when there were no other cars coming, of course). Losing our stomachs when we reached the bottom of the hill was the high point of the day! I wrote more about the things that make me go aaahhhh over on my childhood memories blog. When you are a family with that many kids and Dad was the one and only breadwinner, an actual vacation was something we knew nothing about. But you know what? I never ever had one regret about the way I grew up and what we could and could not afford...you don't miss something you never had. I was actually about 13 or so before I left the state of Ohio. My youngest older brother took me and two of sisters on a road trip to South Carolina to visit our older brother and his family. I not only got to experience the Smokey Mountains along the way, and stepping into the Atlantic Ocean at Myrtle Beach for the first time was all it took for me to want to go back to those places as often as I could...or anywhere else for that matter.

5. If you could grow anything you wanted, what would you grow? Why?

Sunflowers and milkweed because they both attract butterflies...

...and because milkweed pods and those wispy seeds are among my favorite things. I'm still a little upset that the field of milkweed, the one pictured above, has gotten mowed down twice this year. 😒

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Gee, a nice warm bowl of chili sure would hit the spot. Some day.

~

So that's it for this Hodgepodge...and enjoy your break, Joyce. 

I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be some baby lovin' on your itinerary. 👶

And maybe in a couple of weeks, I'll be wearing my winter duds, who knows?

Sunflowers, Butterflies and a Hodgepodge

Is it fall yet??

Boy, it sure can't get here soon enough for me!

How about you...are you ready for it?

So while I'm waiting, I have to show these gorgeous sunflowers that my son grew in his garden.

He told me to come and get some photos because they were covered with butterflies.

If you compare the size of these standard swallowtails to the flower head,

you can see that they are absolutely HUGE and some are at least 10 feet tall or taller.

My dad used to grow these mammoth sunflowers in his garden too...

...and Aaron keeps his grandpa's memory alive by working in his garden like he did,

among many other things.

Just one more...

...and now on with Joyce's Hodgepodge,

where she asks the questions on her blog and we answer them on ours.

1. Are you watching the Olympics? Your favorite summer Olympic event? I read recently a list of the most iconic Olympic moments in history...what stands out in your mind as a great moment from some past summer Olympic games?

I pretty much describe myself as someone who is not a sports fan. However, when it comes to the Olympics, I actually do like to watch certain events...particularly, swimming, diving and men's and women's gymnastics. Winter Olympic favorites are figure skating, ice dancing and the sledding events. I will always remember the 1996 Summer Olympics when tiny powerhouse gymnast, Kerri Strug was injured on the balance beam and carried out by her coach Bela Károlyi.

2. Have you ever been to Rio? How about the place that started it all-Greece? Have you ever been to any of the Olympic Games in person? Is that something you'd like to do? Have you ever met an Olympian in person?

No to all the above :)

3. The ball's in their court (tennis), cross the finish line (track and field), on target (archery), make a splash (diving), on a roll (gymnastics), out of one's depth (swimming)...which Olympic-related idiom best applies to your life right now? Explain.

I guess my answer would be "the ball's in my court". Lately, I feel the Lord has sent so many blessings my way and I feel the need (and want) to outwardly give more back. Many times, I need to get Debby out of the way. Does that make sense? My answer could also be "archery" because I also think I miss the mark more often than not.  

4. What have you earned a 'gold medal' in recently?

Hmmm...self examination, maybe?

5. What is it (or who is it) that motivates you to eat right, exercise, and do what you can to be healthy?

Probably myself, every time I look in a full length mirror.

6. Are you young at heart or an old soul? Explain.

This one's easy to answer but complicated to explain. I am definitely young at heart...although my body is aging, I still see that child within me reappear quite frequently...in good ways and in not-so-good ways. The not-so-good is what I'm working on and I've touched on it in answers 3 and 4. Can someone be young at heart and also be an old soul? I think so...I love the simplicity of how things used to be and if I could go back to many of the old ways, that would make me happy. I'm a deep thinker and sometimes I feel the need to escape the ways of the world that we live in today.
   
7. It's National S'mores Day (August 10th)...are you a fan? Will you celebrate with a s'more today?

I do love the flavor combo but can only handle about a half of one....they are so rich, they almost make my tongue curl. I seriously doubt I will be eating a S'mores today ...or tomorrow but maybe will shoot for one this fall over a campfire (hurry, fall, hurry!)

8. Insert your own random thought here.

It's almost lunchtime and I'm hungry!

So that does it for me...

...enjoy the rest of your week, my friends! 

The Start of Something Big

You have to be as old as me or older to remember that song from the late 50's,

"This Could Be the Start of Something Big".

In fact, when I titled this post I couldn't actually place the song, itself,

but remembered it as a jingle on an old TV commercial advertising......um......

....something else I can't remember!

 

 

When I saw these sunflowers coming up in my planter box,

that crazy song came rushing into my brain for some odd reason...

...can't even tell you long it had been since I'd thought of it, let alone heard it!

 

(Click on the video for a blast from the past)

 

 

In an earlier post I shared how the sunflowers had evidently been planted by the backyard critters...

...birds or squirrels...I'm thinking squirrels.

Those ornery squirrels had dug up and devoured every single seed I had planted in my pots.

I'd say they must have been putting a few away for a rainy (or snowy) day.

~

You see, I was conducting an experiment...

...trying to grow sunflowers in pots since there was not enough sun in the yard.

So when I saw these popping up among my other flowers,

I dug them up and transplanted them in the pots the squirrels had gotten into.

 

 

These are the few that survived the attack of the squirrels.

And they grew...and they grew...

 

 

 

...and they grew some more...although they were mighty spindly!

 

And when I started seeing these appear,

surely you must know how excited that made me!
 

 

They are just so beautiful...
 

 

...and hairy :)
 



 

The buds are nearly as gorgeous as the opened flowers.


 

Well, maybe not.

 

 

I loved how this one decided to open up.

 It stayed in this winking pose for a whole day.

 

 

The tallest one is well over six feet, although the blooms are only about 4-6" in diameter.

The seed packet said these were the Mammoth variety although I doubt it. 

And I realize that growing them in pots surely will stunt their growth...

...and no doubt the Dollar Store seeds were not the best quality...

...hmmm...I wonder...

...it could also be the same reason one of the packets was completely empty!

Note to self:

BUY SEEDS ELSEWHERE

 

 They are still beautiful, regardless how big they get or where the seeds came from. 

 

 

If they grow any larger the pots will tip over anyway, right?

 



 

I could just look at them all day.

~

So I have come to the conclusion that my experiment was a just so-so success.

As you see, growing sunflowers in pots can be done, if you like skinny, spindly ones. 

Will I do it again next year?

That remains to be seen :)

 

 

"If I were a flower... I would be a sunflower.
To always follow the sun, turn my back to darkness,
Stand proud, tall and straight even with my head full of seeds."

~ Pam Stewart

~

I hope the rest of your week and weekend is awesome...

...I'm off to Nashville!

 

Sharing with:
Roses of Inspiration 

 

Sunflowers

No fences this week...only sunflowers!

I just love them, don't you?

These are some from my son's garden that I snapped last week.

I just can't look at one without feeling happy!

“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do.”
~ Helen Keller

~

I found what I thought was a poem but soon found out it's actually a children's song.

Does anyone remember this from their childhood by any chance?

I can't say that I do, but it certainly is sweet!

~

BABY SEED SONG

~ Edith Nesbit, 1858-1924

Little brown brother, oh! little brown brother,
Are you awake in the dark?
Here we lie cosily, close to each other:
Hark to the song of the lark
"Waken!" the lark says, "waken and dress you;
Put on your green coats and gay,
Blue sky will shine on you, sunshine caress you
Waken! 'tis morning 'tis May!"
Little brown brother, oh! little brown brother,
What kind of a flower will you be?
I'll be a poppy all white, like my mother;
Do be a poppy like me.
What! You're a sunflower! How I shall miss you
When you're grown golden and high!
But I shall send all the bees up to kiss you;
Little brown brother, good-bye.

The field below is just down the road from the cabin.



"Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction."

~Antoine de Saint Exupery

I used this poem in a post last year but decided to share it again with these new photos.

~

POEM TO A SUNFLOWER

~By Katherine R. Lane

I see you there in glory shining bright,
Following the sun and its path of light.
Standing tall above all others in the field,
You grow, conquer, and do not yield.

The little birds take great delight
In playing round you, from day to night.
With your petals of yellow and leaves of green
How very easily you are seen.

But there is more to you than first sight,
More than beauty and grander to delight.
Every beautiful aspect that appears,
Gives praise to the Father dear.

He made you a part of creation,
And you praise him in glorious celebration!
The beauty that within you is expressed,
Gives testimony to his greatness.

Sunflower, how I long to be like you!
Glorifying God in all I do.
Following the Son and His path of light,
To worship Him in His glory shining bright.

I can learn from you, my friend,
With every breath, praise to God, I might send.
With all of his creation telling the story,
Might I, with you, proclaim His glory.

I really do want to be like the sunflowers.

~

Happy Thursday!