Laurel stories

You could make about 10,000 Roman laurel wreaths from our monster hedge. Gerardo did a nice job trimming it this week. Compared to last year when he worked for us on the hottest day in 118 years, it was cloudy and about 40 degrees cooler.
But hot or cool, it's a big job. He does it alone with just a kid along to rake up all the clippings. It took him about a day and a half, but he also did the edging along the sidewalk which hadn't been done for years. My wallet is lighter, but I'm happy to hire such a nice guy and hard worker.
The painting above is by Waterhouse, called Daphne and Apollo. The Greek "laurel legend" goes like this:

Daphne was Apollo's first love. He was struck by Cupid's arrows and fell madly in love at first sight. Cupid forgot to strike Daphne at the same time, so she was indifferent to Apollo and tried to flee. He pursued and she was transformed into a laurel tree to escape him. From then on, the laurel tree became the symbol of Apollo, and he was depicted adorned with laurel leaves on his golden hair. And above is a 1901 painting by Alphonse Mucha called "Laurel." I love the beautiful detail in the foliage. It's very famous, and has been made into everything from night-lights to coffee mugs.