Saturday, August 8, 2009

it was a gift

the hydrangea was a gift.

each year the gift unfolds and shares its stunning self in all its abundant multiplicity.

"look at me. no me. no look at me!!!"

i noticed today that some of the flowers have just started to open.

they made me think of little hearts.

then i thought of little cupped hands.

12 comments:

ellen abbott said...

They are beautiful. I love hydrangeas but have never been able to grow them though I have tried several times.

steven said...

hello ellen, they really are!!!! this one had a hard winter as winters here are long - usually october/november through to april - with lots of snow (enough to cover this metre tall bush) and freezing rain and whatever else comes our way. i love the flowes when they start to fad because they take on a ponkish hie like a blush and then fade through all the shades of brownish -gold to pale brown. i'll be watching this one closely and report whatever is lovely. have a peaceful day. steven

alaine@éclectique said...

The intricacies of nature; they do indeed look like little cupped hands. I took a similar shot yesterday; not as good as yours.

steven said...

oh alaine they are so tiny. i'm lucky this summer. i have a friend who works for a big camera company and he leant me a lens that lets me get reaaaaallllyy close to things so that they look good!! i can't afford to own a lens like this so it'll be winging its expensive way right back to him. please don't think about "good". it's so important that we share what we see and tell about that. that's all that matters. have a lovely day on the southeast coast. steven

alaine@éclectique said...

My husband takes photos of tiny, tiny bugs with his sophisticated lenses and imitates them in his tying of flies for flyfishing. They look like monsters on the screen and some of them look as though they have on suits of armour! He absolutely loves his macro-photography.

steven said...

it's an amzing piece of equipment and even though i can sort of see what i'm taking a picture of, it's huge excitement to actually pop the photo into iphoto and see what i've got. by the by, my wife was just in wollongong just a week ago - passing through at a conference at the university!!! have a lovely eveing. steven

alaine@éclectique said...

I knew she was here - what a long way to come for a conference! But if it's important, you travel, don't you. Wollongong is about 10 hours by road from us and I've never been there!

We're settling in to our evening now; it's been a pleasant day.

Cheers,
Alaine

Delwyn said...

Steven

you are so prolific I can't keep up...when I come back to write a comment a new post has appeared...

We all love hydrangeas, all around the world...

Happy days

steven said...

hello alaine, actually she was in maitland, staying with the principal of a school in cessnock and had to go to wollongong for a conference so i only told part of the story. she loved every minute of it. so i imagine a trip to australia for me is in the works at some point. have a lovely day!! steven

steven said...

hello delwyn . . . yes i've been sharing more than one post a day for the last little while because there's so much good stuff to share!!! i'll be slowing up now though i think as i have to take care of the home and school thing and i really need to be prepared for that!!! we all love hydrangeas - yes and i think there will be more making there way into my garden next spring. have a peaceful day by the river delwyn, steven

Eryl said...

What a gift, lucky you! They look like they're made of wax this close up, lovely.

steven said...

hi eryl, please don't tell anyone but in-between cooking and cleaning and writing this blog and the kazillion other things i do in my life i actually made these out of fondant - not wax!!!! ha!!! have a lovely day. steven