in celebration of holly



the delicate, free swaying, yet properly frilly hollyhock ... they amaze me and make me smile so!




i needed a little creative pick-me-up before diving into some serious way-too-far-behind-work ... so i began by incorporating these lovely hollies, who live next to our house, into my header ~ a happy hello for you as we marvel at the continuous blooming of the season ...




... if i was a spritely pixie, it would be oh so dreamy to live in a hollyhock!

the flowers
by robert louis stevenson

all the names i know from nurse:
gardener's garters, shepherd's purse,
bacherlor's buttons, lady's smock,
and the lady hollyhock.

fairy places, fairy things,
fairy woods where the wild bee wings, tiny trees for
tiny dames -- these must all be fairy names!

tiny woods below whose boughs
shady fairies weave a house;
tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme,
where the braver fairies climb!

fair are grown-up people's trees,
but the fairest woods are these;
where, if i were not so tall,
i should live for good and all.