No Good In A Bed, But Fine Up Against A Wall...

 A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose. 

Gertrude Stein

Feeling fully immersed in the grey, cold, dreary and boring month of February, I recently purchased a dozen roses for no other reason than their color just seemed to call to me. Later that day, I took a few pictures of them and then wondered if I might be able to challenge myself in the days ahead to photograph the roses in a completely different way each day. As I set about this project, I found myself thinking about these roses: the color they brought into my world, the fragrance they brought to my senses, the lift they brought into my days. And as I thought about them each day, I appreciated more fully the impact they had on my moments as they came into full bloom and then began to wither.

This post will not be like any I've done before. There are no words that I have to describe the lasting beauty of a rose. So I'll rely on the words of people greater than I and through some of the photos taken this week...

People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.
Iris Murdoch

God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.
James M. Barrie

Days of wine and roses laugh and run away, like a child at play.
Johnny Mercer

 
Even as they changed and withered, the roses continued to bring joy and beauty in a new way. I was forced to try to see things in a different way each day and...it was hard. I found myself settling for the "easy" and gravitating towards the cliche of what was expected. I don't know that I was ever able to see the roses beyond the traditional but I guess I was reminded that it's easy to stick with what is easy and comfortable, and doing something new or different takes time, energy, thought, and a bit of courage.

But every now and then there is reward in doing something in a new way. Maybe you've fallen into a rut at work, in your relationship, with your workout routine, your hairstyle, or the music you listen to it. Whatever it might be that is making you feel grey and dreary...maybe it's time to shake it up in a new way.

I'll warn you: It can feel awkward and not everyone around you will always like the changes...or the results. But in the end, YOU might find that YOU like the result. This was certainly my experience one day after taking many photos.  It was actually the last one that I took that day (after I thought I just couldn't see the rose in a new way...but then had one more idea), that is the photo I liked the best of the series. (I won't tell you which one was my favorite.)

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.
Dale Carnegie

Will you accept this rose?
Bachelors and Bachelorettes

 These simple golden roses brought moments of beauty into my dreary winter days and I’m thankful for that small blessing in a February world. And now I pass them on to you…hoping that these words and photos, will brighten just one moment in your day.

The world is a rose, smell it and pass it to your friends.
Persian Proverb

  And lastly, there’s this…

I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered.
But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue:
no good in a bed,
but fine up against a wall.
Eleanor Roosevelt