June lilies

I'm looking at flower pictures from last summer, sort of a highly refined torture on this cold morning. Did I really appreciate all this abundance at the time? Now just one stem of this golden lily would make my day. But for a few weeks back in June, I'd go out and grab armloads. And so it is-- with many of the good things in life we took for granted at the time.

Six months ago, we had the hottest day in 118 years; now we've had the coldest in 90. It makes you wonder what gives with the weather. We get our frosts and wet snows in Seattle, but it's strange for us to have a week of sub-freezing weather. My garden is a frozen wasteland, and I mean frozen. Poor dahlias, lilies and cannas shivering in permafrost. We shall see what spring brings up.

But looking at weather around the country today (unless you happen to be living on the tip of Florida) we're all sharing the weather misery. Oh well, that's why we have pictures to remind us of summer on cold winter mornings.

"Flowers seem intended for a solace of ordinary humanity."
John Ruskin