Sharyn's Flowers

This blog will be in a different format. I took some pictures today of Sharyn's flowers. Every flower pictured here was hand chosen by Sharyn to be in our garden and lovingly cared for over the years we have been in our Oregon home. These are not all the varieties but those blooming right now. I'll also couple each flower with a quote I cherish like the flowers they fill my heart and soul with delight. Many you may have seen on the blogs of the past.

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change." ~Buddha (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." ~ Anais Nin

"No, what I should really like to do right now, in the full blaze of lights, before this illustrious assembly, is to shower every one of you with gifts, with flowers, with offerings of poetry - to be young once more, to ride on the crest of the wave." Knut Hamsun

"You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming." ~ Pablo Neruda

"Gardeners instinctively know that flowers and plants are a continuum and that the wheel of garden history will always be coming full circle." ~ Francis Cabot Lowell

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them." ~ Henri Matisse

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them." ~ A. A. Milne

"I hate flowers - I paint them because they're cheaper than models and they don't move." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

"We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams." ~ Albert Einstein

"Leave room in your garden for Angels to dance." ~ Unknown

"Earth laughs in flowers." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?" ~ Kahlil Gibran

"Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers - and never succeeding." ~ Gian Carlo Menotti

"I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers." ~ Helen Keller

"By cultivating the beautiful we scatter the seeds of heavenly flowers, as by doing good we cultivate those that belong to humanity." ~ Robert A. Heinlein

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." ~ Anais Nin

"As in the rankest soil the most beautiful flowers are grown, so in the dark soil of poverty the choicest flowers of humanity have developed and bloomed." ~ James Allen

"And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers is always the first to be touched by the thorns." ~ Thomas Moore

"No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring." ~ Samuel Johnson

"With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy." ~ Lope de Vega

"Flowers are reality in the shape of a dream" ~ Paul Viel

Easter Sunday

It's Easter Sunday and our flowers are blooming (well some of them are) and these Yellow Raninculus are just splendid.

"In fairy tales frogs are apt to change into princes and it was an Asian prince in just such a story who gave his name to this flower, which grows naturally in swampy ground. The prince was so good-looking that he was loved by everyone. He also had a beautiful voice but this was his undoing. He loved the open country and sang delightful songs in the presence of nymphs. He did not have the courage to declare his love to them and this haunted him so much that he died. After his death he was changed into the flower with delicate tissuey petals which bears his name."

Not to be out done the Tulips are also blooming like this yellow and red tulip ...


... and the white and red tulip. They were once so prized and rare in the middle ages a single bulb sold for the equivalent of £4million pounds a bulb!


We didn't just hang around home for Easter and we went into Eugene for lunch. Isaac drove while I took some shots out of the window and Sharyn relaxed in the back seat. I tried this url but it's no good. Too bad looks like a good idea. I did find a horse named Rockin Hoss with a pedigree that includes the great War Admiral and Native Dancer. Too cool what you can find on the net.


We went to brunch at a place Isaac had been and we had not. Their plantings and exterior was very nice...


... and their very old rail car was great. The Restaurant was...

... The Oregon Electric Station and we were there for their brunch.

Isaac and Sharyn had already gone inside while I was taking pictures but I caught up just as they were being seated.


We were seated in one of the rail car rooms that was very cozy and relaxing.


The ambiance was very elegant and simple.


After a great buffet brunch we walked out happy as clams in Monterey Bay.


Isaac and Sharyn noticed the emblems on the street lights. This one is of Eugene Skinner and is how the city of Eugene got it's name. The other symbol is ...


... an image of a tree at sunset with the word Eugene.


You can see the street lights in this shot looking back toward The Electric Station.


Next Isaac took us on a tour of some of his haunts around Eugene like the Green Store...


... and Paul's Bicycle Way of Life that once offered a pound of tofu with the purchase of a new Bicycle tire.


We then went through the old "hippie" part of town now being regentrified.


I'm not sure the rickshaw is part of the regentrification effort but it's rather cool.


There are some really nice places for those who like Natural food like the Red Barn.


Eugene is a very "Green" city with plenty of people who do make bicycling a way of life or at least a way of transportation.


One place I'd like to eat soon is La Perla and Italian pizzeria in Eugene.


This huge crane is one of two sticking up from the "big hole" that will one day become an U of Oregon sports palace thanks to Bill Knight (Nike).


We also decided to see what was blooming at Hendricks park.


There were several Helleborus plants going full blast.


Someone had left this bloom on a rock ...

... and I'm not sure what this is laying on another rock in the park.


I got this white Rhodie in full bloom...


... And this red Rhododendron just starting to bloom.




I really like these small star shaped blue and white flowers but I'm not sure what they are.


I do know this is a purple Rhododendron fully open...


... and this is a purple one just beginning to open...


and a white ...


... and this is a red

Another mystery flower (at least to me) lovely, delicate and blue.


Another very different star shaped flower that dips it's bloom.



I call these yellow pom poms and they are really different.


I like this shot of a flower just waiting to open.


Very tiny bells in white...


... followed by tiny curled white flowers.

We then drove to Mt Pisguah to look for Camas flowers which were not fully out but we did find some Vinca major (commonly known as Large Periwinkle, Greater Periwinkle or Blue Periwinkle), is a flowering plant native to southern Europe and one we have at home.

(photo by Isaac Viel)

Before we left Isaac got a picture of me at a gate to a very muddy road. I had parked in front of the gate not noticing a sign on that gat that reads,"Do Not Block Gate - Fire Road." Oops!!

Scrabble Score - In the last 3 nights we did play and it's 1 game for the Scrabble Queen - 2 games for the Contender.

Quote of the Day ~

"I'm a little hoarse tonight. I've been living in Chicago for the past two months, and you know how it is, yelling for help on the way home every night. Things are so tough in Chicago that at Easter time, for bunnies the little kids use porcupines." ~ Fred Allen (American Comedian, 1894-1956)