Ant Flowers

Peonies remind me of 8th grade graduation at St. Catherine's. This is the school I went to through the third grade and where my mom taught for years. When I was little, I thought peonies should be called ant flowers because there are always so many ants on the buds of the bushes.

Each June, the moms' of St. Catherine's would strip their peony bushes free of all blooms in order to decorate tables at the 8th grade graduation banquet. The smell and the fresh, innocent white color of these beautiful spring flowers somehow is really taking me back there this week. This flower, maybe because I associate it with graduation, seems so hopeful, happy and confident to me. All weekend as we were working in the yard, I was hoping these would bloom because we are leaving for Vegas tomorrow. I really wanted to see and smell the finished product, so I was really excited to come home tonight to see two buds had bloomed. I even trimmed these and put them in a vase because storms are expected tonight and I didn't want the petals to get ruined. I'll still miss most of the blooms, but I'm really glad I got to see the early birds. Bitter sweet, I guess.

Speaking of bitter sweet, the last Gilmore Girls is on right now. Not to worry, my DVR is taking care of it for me. This show got even a little sappy for me at times, but I did enjoy it...Loralei and Rory deserve of a couple of peonies of their own.