Debbye’s bouquet

I received this from my SIL yesterday and I’m still smiling. I love it. I had a pretty good, quite birthday yesterday. Apparently I’m a bad one to hold grudges because I still resent being described by ANYONE as “elderly,” no matter how sweetly is it said. If I am with them when they say it, I will bite them in a leg, and I have NOT had my rabies shot.

Our weather is iffy, but I’m trying to replant my elephant ear bulbs. What I’ve read,though, says to wait until all chance of frost is past, and that is April 5th here, so I guess I need to wait a bit longer.

A lot of my daffodils froze, but I have bunches blooming their heads off around the yard. Even my husband remarked about them when we left to go to town yesterday.

This is the group I call “Debbye’s Bouquet.” I had a good friend who died of breast cancer several years ago. True to her nature, at her funeral two barrels were set up at the door of the church. We were asked to grab a handful of daffodil bulbs as we left and to plant them in her memory. I thought that was a truly wonderful idea. Every spring her bouquet comes up, giving me hope.

I’m re-reading “Now and Then” # 35 of 40 in Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series. I have thoroughly enjoyed re-immersing myself in the amazing world he created. I will be a bit sad when I get to the end of the series. Several good, well meaning writers have tried to continue his legacy, but they seem just a shadow, so I don’t try to read them anymore. I’m just feeling very lucky I found the original and have a collection to treasure.

Make your Wednesday a good one.

My friend Debbye Hughes was fighting cancer when she got me into art. She was creating watercolors, actually giving me a couple, and got mad at me when I oohed and ahhed over her work, wishing I could do something like that. She glared at me, saying, “What’s keeping you from it, Linda? You have no excuse. YOU have the time. YOU can practice until you do as well as you can. Who cares if your paintings don’t go anywhere but your own refrigerator door? JUST DO IT!

When I went to her funeral several months later, there were two huge bins on either side of the chapel door. At the end of the service, we were told to take a handful of the daffodil bulbs from a bin and plant them. The idea was that we would think of Debbye (just in case we didn’t remember how special she was by herself) each spring when the daffodils bloomed. I had never heard of anyone asking this and loved the idea.

I planted mine all in a bunch in the front yard, hoping that when they came up, they would form a kind of daffodil bouquet. This picture shows you that the idea was pretty successful. Just an added reminder of the wonderful lady I had the opportunity to know, and a reminder not to give up on trying to create art.

When I was out walking Amber (she’s now clamoring for me to take her out again, putting her head under my arm and bumping my fingers off the keys over and over while ‘complaining’ in her dramatic whine) and saw the sun shining through the greenery and flowers in this group of daffodils in the back yard. I hope that Mother Nature doesn’t send crushing cold through here, freezing all the nice blooms that have come up all around the yard.

Tag Archives: Debbye’s bouquet

Hang in There!

Categories

Archives

Follow Blog via Email