2010:365:102 Fading beauty...

Last Friday I bought myself some flowers.  A small bunch of anemones.  The colours and the soft gentle petals combine to make one of the most beautiful flowers (in my opinion) at this time of year.  Today was bright and sunny so perfect for taking pictures.

Trouble is...the flowers are beginning to fade a bit.  Yesterday they were fresher.  

Amazing beauty and almost other-worldly.

The name is from a Greek root.  "Wind Flower" is the closest translation.  It is said, in Greek mythology, that the anemone sprang up from the slain blood of Aphrodite's lover Adonis.  The wind that blows the petal open will also eventually blow away the dead petals.

The flowers come in shades of red, blue, purple and white.  

I could look at these all day - and the bunch of photographs taken are proof of something like an obsession.  If the spare room were tidy I'd be very tempted to get out the watercolours and try somehow to capture the delicate blooms.  For now the camera will do just as well.

Lay-Zee came to play too.  There are times when taking pictures is a good way to relax.  You concentrate on something else and your soul is restored.

Maybe I should just upload a few more pictures and let you (if you exist) enjoy the beauty that has done so much for me this evening.

It has been a long and fairly stressful few days so I needed to find some way to rest, to relax and to begin to prepare for the next few days.

Aren't the shades of blue-red-purple just magnificent.  Nothing was touched in these photographs.  Just as they came from the camera - so the light worked its magic to give some delightful pictures.

It is a pity that the flowers are fading already.

Though there are a few buds still to open...

Should you want to grow anemones then there's plenty of help out there on the web!  You can see today's day (and the time) clearly on the screen.  

There are days when you just need to do something specific to cheer yourself up.  Taking these (and dozens more) photographs has done just that for me.  

Now....local clergy meeting in the morning so maybe I ought to wash a mug or two and bring some order to the room we'll meet in.....whose bright idea was it to remember that it is my turn to host?!  Can you imagine those men going home covered in dog hairs....? I'm afraid that I can...and I don't like the thought of it!!  Now, where's the prayer book for tonight's wee prayer?

Lord Almighty,

come and scatter the darkness of our hearts

by the light of your presence;

that we may know you

the Light of the world

and the one true God,

blessed this night and for evermore.  Amen. 

Book of Common Prayer.

From the Late Evening Office.