A Temporary Flower Installation

The little girls were very offended that I mowed the lawn yesterday. We have beautiful little wild violets, you see, and beautiful dandelions and other weedy flowers. And yes, I'm very fond of them, as well, but I would like this spring to go down in the books as the first spring in which the city has not posted a warning on my door to mow my lawn or face a fine.

So I mowed, and the little girls scurried ahead of me and rescued all the beautiful little flowers in my path by pulling them up and stuffing them into a bucket. And when I was finished, they presented me with the bucket, and I thought, "What DOES one do with a gift such as this?"

One gathers one's girls, is what one does, and one throws down a large, pretty mat board into a shady spot in the backyard, and everyone works together to lay out a masterpiece:

It was as fun to photograph as it was to create:

Here are the dandelions:

And violets, and some lilac, which was not in the way of the mower:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that bulb flower would have been safe, too, kiddos:

And clearly by this point the girls have just lost their heads, because here's some phlox, as well:

I don't know what that flower with the green leaves is, but I WOULD have mown that down:

So far this spring we've eaten our weight in dandelions, painted with them, and created an art installation that speaks to the ephemerality, and also the eternality, of youth. We haven't eaten the violets yet, but we will, and we may even make dandelion and/or violet jelly, although I'm still not sold on the idea--SO sugar-heavy! But it is still spring, and there is still much foraging to come.