We're in Nova Scotia at the time of my favorite flower season here. Everywhere, the wild lupines are growing along roadsides and in fields. After a busy day, at about 5 PM, I suggested to Ken that we drive out one of the back roads to go gather some. With no traffic, we gathered all we could carry in an arm load, and yet, you couldn't see a spot where any had been removed. I put them in large vases and they fill the room with a sweet, peppery fragrance. They'll last about a week, and there'll still be time to get another bunch for the house before they begin to go to seed to get ready for next year's blooms again!
Thank you all for the birthday wishes for Ken; he enjoyed every one of them! I only had time to respond to a few while he went to the golf course with a friend in the afternoon, and we had a birthday celebration dinner with our neighbors, Billy & David, that evening. It had been a rainy cool day, and we sat by the fire in their livingroom. They made the most amazing meal...asparagus, ham & cheese on toast points for an appetizer with cocktails. Dinner was Ken's favorite chicken cutlets, sauteed spinach, and a cold potato salad...with wine. I made my cake again for dessert, and that was served with champagne & cassis. By the time we toddled home at midnight (to the sound of fog horns in the distance), 365 was going to have to wait for morning! These folks up here are the most amazingly social bunch!
We're meeting friends today for lunch and the afternoon. Dinner's with the neighbors again tonight. When I said I was going to start to be busy, this is some of what I had in mind!
(This photo was taken day-before-yesterday...we actually had a good, soaking rain most of Tuesday, but today, while gray, is clear.)
Ann Carey wrote in the comments about a children's book she read to her kids. I googled the name and loved the synopsis. I'll copy here what I found, as it's so suited to this location!
"...One of my favorite childhood stories was Miss Rumphius. Not only is this a wonderfully told story it is also beautifully illustrated. Miss Rumphius tells all the children of all the places she went. However, at the end of all her adventures she feels tired and goes to live by the sea. I love the way the story depicts the little house by the seashore and the rolling waters. Yet there was still something left for her to do; she needed to make the world a more beautiful place before she left it. So the next day she set off with her lupine’s and scattered them everyday. Soon over the hills and into the valleys there were lupines everywhere. The children from then on called her the Lupine lady. The way Miss Rumphius did something small to make the world a more beautiful place has an impresion on me, even today."
i learned the name of those flowers here on this site =) it's great that i learn something new everyday just by following the people i do.
great shot, louise. look how happy and relazed you are and i'm here on my 2nd cup of coffee getting ready for a 10-hour day with people less than 5 years old =) i love that you have no shortage of friends over there, but then i guess, if people who haven't even seen you (namely us 365ers) love you, what more if they're people who've actually met you...right? enjoy the rest of the day...and i will refrain from drinking more cofee =)
Louise by the time you make it back to California you are going to be exhausted! Sounds like you are having an AmaZing time with all your friends and living life to the fullest. I also totally agree with Rainee!
You are so cute with your lupines.
I too have learned the name of these flowers here on 365 and love that aspect of it, learning something new everyday from my fellow photogs. Thanks for that.
Oh how lovely! You really need to visit the Canterbury and Otago area of the South Island of New Zealand where Russel Lupins grow wild everywhere too. http://pixdaus.com/pics/1251946485FgJWfyH.jpg (its not my pic but it gives you an idea :)
Beautiful flowers...I have just two in my garden and hoping to have lots more in the future...sounds like you have quite a schedule...what a wonderful summer!
Love it! I posted a lupine picture yesterday. I've never picked them but I bet they will look lovely in a vase. Hopefully I will have some in my garden to pick next year. I hear my mother tell me to leave the flowers so that everyone can enjoy them when I want to pick some along the road! Good for you for grabbing some! :)
This is a wonderful photo of you in the field of Lupines! I feel a Julie Andrews coming on. I'll just change the words up a bit and sing...the fields are alive...
I would love to find another field of them so I can steal some away without feeling guilty! Unfortunately, this is the field for the on ramp of the highway. Being Vermont, it isn't too busy but it is busy enough that it is noticable (no one would notice the flowers missing since there's so many but they would wonder what I was doing!). Enjoy your flowers and I will keep looking for a source for me. :-)
LOVE this! I take it you have not received your package yet. =( I knew you said it would take a while but still... I feel like I have missed so much on 365 this week! We have been going going going all week so today is our slow down day (kinda). We are going to meet Andi and her partner for lunch on the Santa Monica pier today and enjoy some photo fun and then we visit some of my family tonight. Tomorrow we will open and close Disneyland! San Diego Zoo was a lot of fun. I successfully burned through both of my batteries so you know it was a good day. LOL! And happy birthday, Ken! *hugs*
I love the bright colours in this photo, and I love lupins too, not sure if they grow in Oz, not seen them yet, but we used to have these in our gardens in the UK.
This photo made me burst out with a great silly smile spread all over my face. It's not just that the colors and composition are amazing; it's the pure joy that you radiate. Louise, you are a treasure!
I have a package of Lupine seeds that I've been intending to plant for ages. This will give the motivation to get it done. Those are gorgeous! I can only hope...
Those are beautiful! I haven't ever seen those before. Great photo of you as well.
Thanks for all of your kind comments on my photos :) Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. Seems like I haven't had more then a second or two around here lately.
I actually made it through my daughters kindergarten graduation fairly dry eyed, but mostly because I was taking pictures for the school so I didn't have a chance to cry :) I did get a bit teary at rehersal. And the white flowers I took a picture of are actually quite small, they grown on a hedge, but I don't know what they are. They do look like tiny lilacs though :)
Put me on the list of those who never knew what a lupine was before 365, but I know now and I do like them! How nice to be able to just pick them and take them home...much more fun than shelling out $big bucks$ at the florist! More fun finding your own, too. When I was a kid we would spend half a day wandering the nearby fields gathering wild strawberries...2-3 hrs only yielded us half a canning jar full but oh, did we enjoy them...much more so than what our moms bought at the store.
What a fabulous shot! Those flowers are so unusual and beautiful, and it is amazing that they grow in such abundance. To answer your question from the other day regarding my skyline photo, that was actually taken from Montrose Harbor looking south. It is a bit off my usual running route but on a really clear day I like to take the detour so I can get some nice shots of the skyline. :)
PS. Karen reminded me that I wanted to say something about those flowers... I have never heard of those before either and when I saw the photo's title I thought that it had something to do with wolves!
Those lupines are huge compared to the ones we have - our are smaller; yellow and a deep blue. I totally understand why you want to bring them into the house - they look lovely.
Wow, Louise, how beautiful! Nova Scotia is like stepping back in time isn't it? You can just go to the field and pick flowers and no one is going to shoot you for doing it!! I wish I had some for my house!
What a lovely photo! Those flowers are just amazing, and you look like you're having a great time!
Re: your comment on my farm photo, you guessed right that all the buildings are still there, and preserved to reflect tools of the trade for the time. It's like stepping back in time a little, and I do intend to go out there and take many more photos over the course of the summer!
Beautiful, just lovely!
That is what I remember so strongly from our trip to the Maritimes...how the lupines grow wild and so prolifically along the roadsides, be it in NB, NS or PEI!
Looks like a wonderful bunch that you have there, and I'm sure your little home, filled with all the blooms, looks magnificent, too.
So glad that you're having such a wonderfully busy time!
I've just realized how fabulous lupines look in a vase, too. I haven't seen fields and fields of them since our days living in Maine years ago. This is lovely.
This is quite amazing! Here in the UK we grow these as a garden border plant. The only type growing wild are tree lupins which are a yellow flowered shrub.
Shouldn't you be in a summery dress and a sun hat with a big basket...:-)
So if you a lay Lupine down on a table face-up...is it a Supine Lupine? :-)
You look so cute among all these fleurs! What gorgeous colors!! Well, I'm glad to know that you don't drink and digitally dabble. Probably best you waited 'til morning to post any pics or make comments. Ha! Sounds like you're having a culinarily fantatastic time out there! Yum! Been eating lots of take-out myself lately. Nothing like having a sea of cardboard boxes in the kitchen to ruin your appetite for cooking.
FYI - Don't know if you're checking out photos by Christy, but just had to share this one of hers from the other day. Think you'll get a kick out of it. http://365project.org/stormyblueyz/365/2010-05-28
What a beautiful photo, I've only seen lupons in
people's gardens here and not nearly as big! Glad Ken had a good day, your meal sounds delicious. It truly does sound like your having a brilliant time, and i love hearing all about it! : )
I take it red is one of your favourite colours?? Lovely picture. Your evening meal sounded great and I am guessing with all the champagne leaving you a little delicate today?
So.. Lupins must be native to Canada... my mum use to have them in the garden when I was a kid but you don't see them much day - must have gone out of fashion I guess... Oh, re. curry comment the other day - here's a link to a fish curry - well worth trying, it's delish :-) http://www.bbc.co.uk/indianfoodmadeeasy/recipes/episode_3/fishstew.shtml
Louise, these lupines are huge! Here in Missouri you wouldn't *dream* of going out in waist-high vegetation or holding an armload of flowers next to your body because of... chiggers! So to see you like this is at first scary for me, then wonderful. Very nice picture!
Beautiful flowers, beautiful Louise, beautiful photo!!! ;-))) I can't help but smile in return to your bright smile, Louise!! ;-)) The birthday dinner for Ken sounds like a wonderful delight!! ;-) Life in Lunenberg seems to be pretty busy, but meeting friends and having fun is the good kind of busy ;-)) Enjoy every minute of it! ;-)
What a beautiful photo! Reminds me of picking wildflowers on roadsides with my mom when I was a little girl. I specifically remember picking a flower she called "purple spike" (not sure if that is the official name - we were in Illinois and the stuff was everywhere)...glad you had fun with the C's! BTW, my mermaid is part of the same statue/fountain as Neptune (I posted Neptune during statue week, and you voted for it! Thanks, by the way!)
Louise, I noticed later that Ann and I had mentioned the same book. So either I missed it then or we posted it at the same time. Great minds thinking alike! :) It is a lovely book. And thanks for the kind words on the peony. I never knew I was such a flower fan until I started doing this project and looking closely at everything around me!
great shot, louise. look how happy and relazed you are and i'm here on my 2nd cup of coffee getting ready for a 10-hour day with people less than 5 years old =) i love that you have no shortage of friends over there, but then i guess, if people who haven't even seen you (namely us 365ers) love you, what more if they're people who've actually met you...right? enjoy the rest of the day...and i will refrain from drinking more cofee =)
I too have learned the name of these flowers here on 365 and love that aspect of it, learning something new everyday from my fellow photogs. Thanks for that.
and this is a wonderful picture of you and the lupines!!!
you make me smile Louise :)
The birthday dinner sounds very yummy! I hope you have a great lunch and dinner with your friends.
Thanks for all of your kind comments on my photos :) Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. Seems like I haven't had more then a second or two around here lately.
I actually made it through my daughters kindergarten graduation fairly dry eyed, but mostly because I was taking pictures for the school so I didn't have a chance to cry :) I did get a bit teary at rehersal. And the white flowers I took a picture of are actually quite small, they grown on a hedge, but I don't know what they are. They do look like tiny lilacs though :)
Re: your comment on my farm photo, you guessed right that all the buildings are still there, and preserved to reflect tools of the trade for the time. It's like stepping back in time a little, and I do intend to go out there and take many more photos over the course of the summer!
Our wild lupines are a creamy-yellow.... very beautiful but getting quite rare.
That is what I remember so strongly from our trip to the Maritimes...how the lupines grow wild and so prolifically along the roadsides, be it in NB, NS or PEI!
Looks like a wonderful bunch that you have there, and I'm sure your little home, filled with all the blooms, looks magnificent, too.
So glad that you're having such a wonderfully busy time!
Shouldn't you be in a summery dress and a sun hat with a big basket...:-)
You look so cute among all these fleurs! What gorgeous colors!! Well, I'm glad to know that you don't drink and digitally dabble. Probably best you waited 'til morning to post any pics or make comments. Ha! Sounds like you're having a culinarily fantatastic time out there! Yum! Been eating lots of take-out myself lately. Nothing like having a sea of cardboard boxes in the kitchen to ruin your appetite for cooking.
FYI - Don't know if you're checking out photos by Christy, but just had to share this one of hers from the other day. Think you'll get a kick out of it. http://365project.org/stormyblueyz/365/2010-05-28
people's gardens here and not nearly as big! Glad Ken had a good day, your meal sounds delicious. It truly does sound like your having a brilliant time, and i love hearing all about it! : )
Thanks for sharing this with us. just love this photo!