Friday, April 19, 2013

Rustic Charm

The daffodils and hyacinths are in their full glory right now, filling the border around the lawn outside the kitchen door with the sight and fragrance of capital "s" Spring.

We were supposed to get some strong thunderstorms this afternoon, so I thought it would be nice to bring some of the flowers inside to enjoy before they got beaten down by this hypothetical torrential rain. I figured Cubby would be into it, so I asked him if he wanted to help me pick some flowers.

And then I got a lecture about how flowers are only for looking and smelling, NOT for picking. Thanks a lot, goody-goody episode of "The Cat in the Hat."*

After a little discussion about how these were our flowers and we had lots of them and as long as Mommy or Grandma said it was okay we could pick some to bring inside, I managed to convince him that we would not be wreaking havoc on the flower population or endangering the survival of any animals by cutting a few of the hundreds of daffodils currently blooming on our property.

And of course, once Cubby realized that "picking" flowers actually means cutting them with shears, he was all for it. I grabbed an empty canning jar to stick the flowers in and we got to cutting.


I was going to put them in a real vase when I brought them inside, but they looked so nice in the canning jar, I just left them there. We're all about the accidental rustic charm.

Meanwhile, I had abandoned Charlie to his own infant devices on the grass, but he wasn't totally unsupervised.


A boy with three dogs is never alone for long.

The heavy thunderstorms have yet to materialize, but the little spring bouquet does look awfully nice on the dining room table. Smells good, too, thanks to the hyacinths. 

With all due respect to "The Cat in the Hat," flowers around here are for looking and smelling both outside and inside. So there.

* "The Cat in the Hat" on PBS is actually a pretty good show for little kids, and one of the few I allow Cubby to watch.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the photos , looks like the kids are enjoying nature and the dogs are enjoying the kids. Blue rain/mud boots wonderful B.

tu mere said...

Everything I read about TV for kids suggests doing the educational/positive message stuff, so you're right on with the experts. Smart mommy - except may be for that old one he watches that's probably has no redeeming value other than it keeps Cubby occupied. However, there's a lot to be said for that as well!

Jen Anderson said...

Sounds like The Cat in The Cat is made by city folk like me who only see flowers growing in much smaller clusters, usually tended/owned by someone else. It's like if you live in a densely populated area, you forget that there are still places with plenty of nature.

I just hope they don't do an episode telling kids not to pick up hatchets. The poor kid's head might explode.

FinnyKnits said...

I must be rustic somewhere in my bones, then, because all of my cut flowers go into canning jars. I'm afraid to touch any of these said 'vases' in my house. I was apparently not born with any gripping ability whatsoever.