Someday spring will arrive. Though the wait is long and there is still snow now, you know and I know that someday spring WILL arrive.
Someday Spring…
While I wait for spring I have been playing around photographing tulips—spring flowers that speak to me of good cheer, joy, hardiness, and resurrection. They spring up from bulbs buried deep in the soil, green spears of leaves shoot up and tulip-y blossoms open, fade, and die back before summer’s flowers have begun to grow it seems.
The bulbs lie deep underground through summer, fall, and winter, and then spring up again to brighten our world with their beauty.
“A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone. It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose. It doesn’t have to. It is different. And there’s room in the garden for every flower.” – Marianne Williamson
This week I bought a bunch of pink tulips to photograph and then the tulips in the spring garden I bought finally popped up and open as well—two purple tulips and three yellow tulips fresh and bright.
Nothing brightens my day like having a bunch of fresh flowers blooming in my dining room. As I walk by my photo setup of the flowers on the dining room buffet, every once in a while I see something different (or a new idea pops) and I stop and make a few photos. (I keep my camera on the tripod in the dining room so that it’s super simple to stop and create.) My days have been punctuated with short photo/editing sessions interspersed with all the other ordinary mundane activities that fill my days. These short bursts of creativity fill me with joy.
I have found that having my creative tools setup and visible helps to remind me to make time for creating.
Tulip trivia
In the language of flowers, tulips symbolize perfect love although different colors of tulips apparently mean different things. Tulips belong to the same plant family as onions and lilies. They originated in Persia and Turkey.
As Europeans became interested in tulips, the flower’s popularity spread quickly, particularly in the Netherlands where tulip mania set in at one point during the 17th century. Tulips became so highly-prized that prices were sent soaring. Tulips were even used as currency for a time. Can’t you just imagine it — “How much is that painting?” — “Three tulips.”
It’s hard for me to imagine that these simple unassuming flowers were once the fuel for such mania. But I can think of worse things to be mad about. What kind of a world would it be if we treasured simple beauty so much for its own sake, not for status or to invest in, but just because it is beautiful?
While I wait for spring to arrive outside, I enjoy spring inside with my tulips until someday spring finally arrives.
Are you waiting for spring? The good news here in Minneapolis is that it is raining (yes RAINING) outside right now. I know it will probably change to snow later and make a big mess, but right now it’s raining! Days are getting longer. The sun is feeling warmer. Someday spring…
May you walk in beauty.
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