One of my favorite flowers has been the magnolia. It seems I have described this before but I can't find it in my book of my blogs I'm making, so I'll share the story again.
Growing up in Louisiana we had a big magnolia tree down the street in the neighbor's yard. These neighbors lived about 4 houses down from our home on East Herndon. This magnolia tree was several stories tall. The branches at the bottom had never been trimmed off. This meant there were enormous long branches all the way to the ground. A kid could sneek inside these branches and not be seen because the leaves were so dense. The branches were close enough to each other and large enough that a kid could very easily climb way up in this big old magnolia tree. We loved to climb it and hide in the branches. My parents did NOT want us doing this in someone else's yard. But, kids will be kids, and we spent a good deal of time in those wonderful branches.
Another magnolia tree memory has to do with Mimi and Papa. Papa worked for the telephone company at that time. The office in which he worked was a few blocks from Betty Virginia Park in Shreveport, Louisiana. This was a huge beautiful city park and it had huge magnolia trees along the back of it. Papa would take his lunch break and walk there sometimes. When the magnolias were in blossom, he would pick one for Mimi and bring it home. Mimi would put the stem of this beautiful blossom in water and set it on the mantel in the living room. The fragrance from that one blossom would fill most of the house. You had to be really careful because, like a Gardenia, if you touch the petals they turn brown.
One of my requests when we moved to Sadieville was to have a magnolia tree in my yard. Claude purchased a Bay Leaf Magnolia and planted it. It just blossomed the other day and the picture with this blog entry is of my own personal magnolia tree blossom. These are smaller blossoms that the Granda Flora variety of magnolia and I'm sure the tree will also be smaller when it is full grown but I still love having my own magnlia tree to watch and enjoy.
My very favorite flower has always been the daisy. I have no picture of a daisy. I just wanted to tell the story of this flower while I'm writing about flowers. Knowing this was my favorite flower when I gave birth to Nissa, our first child, Claude went to the florist and purchased a bud vase and bought one white daisy for this vase. He brought it to me at Barksdale Air Force Base Hospital. One white daisy for one beautiful little baby girl. Two years later I gave birth to Andie. Claude bought 2 white daisies and put them in the same bud vase he gave me when Nissa was born. He brought them to me at March Air Force Base Hospital, 2 white daisies for the 2nd beautiful baby daughter. Two years after that I gave birth to Jacob. Claude went to the florist and purchased 2 white daisies and 1 yellow daisy. He put them in the same bud vase and brought them to me at March Air Force Base Hospital. Two white daisies and 1 yellow one for a handsome baby boy. We moved during the next 4 years to Colorado and eventually purchased our first home. One day I was moving and cleaning kitchen cabinets and that bud vase was on the top shelf. I took it out to move it and dropped it and it broke in a jillion pieces. I sat down and cried. Not long after that I was a little over half way thru my 4th pregnancy and miscarried. I thought about the little bud vase and felt an interesting connection to it and the miscarriage. I'm not saying it was a forewarning or anything, just an interesting set of events a moment in time that gave me pause for reflection.
Now, while I've spoken of Betty Virginia Park, I'd like to share a few personal history moments about that park. The city offered gymnastic classes. Mimi enrolled us girls in gymnastics and we took our lessons in a little building at Betty Virginia Park. I learned to do a back bend and I was limber enough I could put my head between my legs. NOT ANY MORE!! I learned to do the splits and lots of other fun things. I enjoyed these classes very much. Also at this park, our ward would hold a big picnic. These were always lots of fun. Somehow I remember a huge kettle of soup being made. We also used the ball fields at one end for the softball games some times. Bibbitt Pierce had been a cheerleader in high school. She was at that time a young married and she took some of us girls and taught us some cheers so we could cheer our ward on. Claude and I even stole a few of our first kisses at this park. I really liked Betty Virginia Park!!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
A Few Favorite Flower Stories...
One of my favorite flowers has been the magnolia. It seems I have described this before but I can't find it in my book of my blogs I'm making, so I'll share the story again.
Growing up in Louisiana we had a big magnolia tree down the street in the neighbor's yard. These neighbors lived about 4 houses down from our home on East Herndon. This magnolia tree was several stories tall. The branches at the bottom had never been trimmed off. This meant there were enormous long branches all the way to the ground. A kid could sneek inside these branches and not be seen because the leaves were so dense. The branches were close enough to each other and large enough that a kid could very easily climb way up in this big old magnolia tree. We loved to climb it and hide in the branches. My parents did NOT want us doing this in someone else's yard. But, kids will be kids, and we spent a good deal of time in those wonderful branches.
Another magnolia tree memory has to do with Mimi and Papa. Papa worked for the telephone company at that time. The office in which he worked was a few blocks from Betty Virginia Park in Shreveport, Louisiana. This was a huge beautiful city park and it had huge magnolia trees along the back of it. Papa would take his lunch break and walk there sometimes. When the magnolias were in blossom, he would pick one for Mimi and bring it home. Mimi would put the stem of this beautiful blossom in water and set it on the mantel in the living room. The fragrance from that one blossom would fill most of the house. You had to be really careful because, like a Gardenia, if you touch the petals they turn brown.
One of my requests when we moved to Sadieville was to have a magnolia tree in my yard. Claude purchased a Bay Leaf Magnolia and planted it. It just blossomed the other day and the picture with this blog entry is of my own personal magnolia tree blossom. These are smaller blossoms that the Granda Flora variety of magnolia and I'm sure the tree will also be smaller when it is full grown but I still love having my own magnlia tree to watch and enjoy.
My very favorite flower has always been the daisy. I have no picture of a daisy. I just wanted to tell the story of this flower while I'm writing about flowers. Knowing this was my favorite flower when I gave birth to Nissa, our first child, Claude went to the florist and purchased a bud vase and bought one white daisy for this vase. He brought it to me at Barksdale Air Force Base Hospital. One white daisy for one beautiful little baby girl. Two years later I gave birth to Andie. Claude bought 2 white daisies and put them in the same bud vase he gave me when Nissa was born. He brought them to me at March Air Force Base Hospital, 2 white daisies for the 2nd beautiful baby daughter. Two years after that I gave birth to Jacob. Claude went to the florist and purchased 2 white daisies and 1 yellow daisy. He put them in the same bud vase and brought them to me at March Air Force Base Hospital. Two white daisies and 1 yellow one for a handsome baby boy. We moved during the next 4 years to Colorado and eventually purchased our first home. One day I was moving and cleaning kitchen cabinets and that bud vase was on the top shelf. I took it out to move it and dropped it and it broke in a jillion pieces. I sat down and cried. Not long after that I was a little over half way thru my 4th pregnancy and miscarried. I thought about the little bud vase and felt an interesting connection to it and the miscarriage. I'm not saying it was a forewarning or anything, just an interesting set of events a moment in time that gave me pause for reflection.
Now, while I've spoken of Betty Virginia Park, I'd like to share a few personal history moments about that park. The city offered gymnastic classes. Mimi enrolled us girls in gymnastics and we took our lessons in a little building at Betty Virginia Park. I learned to do a back bend and I was limber enough I could put my head between my legs. NOT ANY MORE!! I learned to do the splits and lots of other fun things. I enjoyed these classes very much. Also at this park, our ward would hold a big picnic. These were always lots of fun. Somehow I remember a huge kettle of soup being made. We also used the ball fields at one end for the softball games some times. Bibbitt Pierce had been a cheerleader in high school. She was at that time a young married and she took some of us girls and taught us some cheers so we could cheer our ward on. Claude and I even stole a few of our first kisses at this park. I really liked Betty Virginia Park!!
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