Focus on Life :: The Beauty of Flowers

This week's Focus on Life blog prompt is The Beauty of Flowers.  I must admit, I almost skipped this one.  While I think flowers are beautiful, I've never enjoyed taking pictures of them, mostly because I can never manage to capture how purely beautiful they really are.  And then there's the sensory factor -- the scent of a flower just increases the experience.  Plus, I'm sad that while I grew up with a father who had a greenhouse full of orchids, and I have grown multiple gardens that I meticulously planned and grew from seed, we just grow weeds at this house.  Indoor flowers are a no-go, too, because one cat just happens to think they're better than kitty kibble.


But I decided to think outside the box.  I looked around the house and realized there were a lot of flowers everywhere, if one chose to look.  For instance, my office bulletin board sports a handmade flower made of book pages.  (And oh hey, I just noticed, on the push pins, too!)

flower made by Dainty Hippo

Zack made me this tissue paper flower when he was in Kindergarten, and the vase is even painted with roses.

Flowers in the bracelet I wore today.....

Beads by Manuela Wutschke, one of my past Bead Soup partners.

There are even flowers in my car!  I love that the VW Bug has a vase for flowers and when I bought it, Zack and I went to Michaels and picked out silk Gerbera daisies -- pink for me (of course) and orange for him.  I wrapped them to a pen with florist tape.

I'll leave you with a photo of a REAL flower, a picture I found while gathering the others for this post.  It was in a folder that I'd neglected and forgotten I had.  Remember when I said my dad grew orchids?  This is one of them, from a recent visit.

It's a rather special picture now, because after 30 years of tending these exotic plants, Dad has decided to give up his greenhouse for a new hobbies.  He's been interested in jewelry design for a long time, sitting with metalsmiths as they custom made rings for him.  Now that he's retiring, I'm going to teach him how to torch enamel and make lampworked glass beads.  The greenhouse is going to be converted to a studio, and I'm sure that along with learning these new skills, he's going to spend a lot of time doing what he calls "just puttering around". 

Knowing my dad, though, there's always going to be at least one orchid in the house.

I hope you enjoyed the flowers.  You can visit other "Focus on Life" participants by clicking here.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry and bead kits as well as collaborative mixed media art with her son, Zack.  Visit her shops by clicking here.  She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party®   and author of the book Bead Soup.