The Destruction of Flowers

This is a hollyhock doll that my auntie made for me on the 4th of July. I was at my cousin's for a good old family get-together when I noticed the large hollyhock plants. Somewhere in the archives of my brain, I remembered my auntie showing me how to make this doll. It was only a few years ago--I missed out on this lovely treat in my childhood. But I knew that Little would love them if I could figure out how to make one myself. She even has seed pods for feet (which you can't see because she's not a flasher). The flowers that make up this doll are so lovely, and it made me a little sad. I seem to be losing flowers now on a daily basis.

See this rose bush? The one I nurtured so carefully? And gave me these beautiful roses a few days ago?



Dead.

I babysat my friend's dog for a few hours and didn't pay attention. Rose bush=slaughtered. And the roofers? Well, they covered up most of the side garden, but I guess they didn't realize that flower bed out front is not actually full of weeds--just a bunch of unbloomed flowers. So they stepped all over them. And dumped shingles all over them. And pretty much destroyed them. I had a yellow celosia over there that was doing quite nicely, and I actually WATCHED a roofer's foot come down right on it. One of my friends from high school was the foreman on the job, and he went a put an upside down trash can on the dahlia after half its petals fell off.

And don't even get me STARTED on all of the summer storms that have hacked away at my plants. And bunnies. And deer. WTF?

But such is the circle of life when you live on a farm. Things get eaten. Things die. I should count my blessings that it has not been my cats. Far worse things could be happening. But the flowers are such a reflection of my own life right now. I still struggle on a daily basis to keep everything going and take care of myself. I'm reaching up toward the sky and trying so hard to dig in my roots. Sometimes I just want to f*cking bloom without someone ripping me out of my pot.