The Encouragement of Light
May 5, 2016
What a Lovely Thing a Rose Is
June 9, 2014
“‘What a lovely thing a rose is!’
He walked past the couch to the open window and held up the drooping stalk of a moss-rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.
‘There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as religion,’ said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. ‘It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.'”
— Arthur Conan Doyle, The Naval Treaty
June is the month of roses, and I celebrated with a visit to Seattle’s Woodland Park Rose Garden. Even though admission is free, it is rarely crowded. The varieties of roses there is amazing.
For My Husband on Valentine’s Day
February 14, 2014
To Paint a Rose
June 21, 2013
“There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.”
— Henri Matisse
June is the month of roses, and in celebration of the first day of summer, this post takes you to the Woodland Park Rose Garden in Seattle. It is a colorful oasis in the city. Entry to the garden is free, so I’m always surprised to see so few visitors there.
Roses and the Huge Willingness to Give
July 3, 2012
“every rose
opened in perfect sweetness
and lived
in gracious repose,
in its own exotic fragrance,
in its huge willingness to give
something, from its small self,
to the entirety of the world.”
— from “The Poet Visits the Museum of Fine Arts” by Mary Oliver
You can read the entire poem at this link.
To Be Always June
June 30, 2012
“I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.”
— Lucy Maud Montgomery
What would it be like indeed — a life of strawberries and raspberries, fresh garden peas, roses, long days. I guess I’d still choose a world with four seasons. Perpetual summer would be just too much of a good thing.
How about you?
A Rose as a Half-Opened Book
June 23, 2012
“I see you, rose, half-open book filled
with so many pages of that detailed
happiness we will never read.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke
The titles in my pile of books:
- Findings: Essays on the Natural and Unnatural World by Kathleen Jamie
- When I Was a Child I Read Books by Marilyn Robinson
- Farmers of Forty Centuries: Organic Farming in China, Korea and Japan by F. H. King
- Landscape and Memory by Simon Schama
(I was inspired to check two of these books out of the library after reading Sigrun’s list of books about nature, solitude, and travel on her blog, Sub Rosa. You can link to her complete list here.)
Souls in Bloom
June 22, 2012
“Summer: to be for a few days the contemporary of roses; to breathe what’s floating around their souls in bloom.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke
How lucky we are to be alive in June, the contemporaries and companions of roses! This time I am air-drying a bowlful of soulful rose petals so that their special beauty will linger into fall and winter.
Roses: Splendid and More Splendid
June 19, 2012
Roses
by D. H. Lawrence
Nature responds so beautifully.
Roses are only once-wild roses, that were given an extra chance,
So they bloomed out and filled themselves with coloured fulness
Out of sheer desire to be splendid, and more splendid.
My friend and colleague, Carol, brought a bouquet of her home-grown roses to work for everyone to enjoy. The splendid bouquet graced the Circulation Desk at the library, and I stuck my nose into the soft petals several times a day to inhale their heady fragrance. Thank you, Carol!!