Sentimental Zinnias ... Flower Power ...



Hot Pink Zinnia

 Yet another bloom from the past.  It won't be long now until I post current blooms. :-)  I took this while playing with the macro setting on my camera.  Zinnias are one of my sentimental flowers.  I have quite a few sentimental flowers that I'm sure will be blogged about as time goes by.  Zinnias remind me of my Grandma Helen.  She used to plant them in mixed colors every year along the walk way going down the hill from the front of she and my grandfather's house to the back.  It's funny how certain things are etched in one's memory.  These are a few things that also come to mind when I think of Grandma Helen:

• my dear grandfather
• fun times for my dear brother John and for me
• the state of Illinois
• a charming white gingerbread style house with a beautiful yard
• african violets (she had quite a collection)
• dear dachshunds (Beethoven who was black and Pinocchio who was tan) sled-riding dogs ... such good sports
• angel food cake (made especially for me)
• devil's food cake (made especially for John)
• Coke floats topped with whipped cream, nuts and cherries
• learning to bake
• hummingbirds
• a white, very loved and spoiled poodle (Bon Bon) - he unwrapped his own caramels
• a beautiful sycamore tree in the front yard (John and I loved to climb in it)
• snowflakes
• sledding
• hot cocoa
• candied popcorn (her special recipe)
• General Hospital (her favorite soap opera)
• petunias (there were two baskets hung on the porch each spring)
• makeup and nail polish
• shopping bags hidden in the basement to be smuggled upstairs later after her "bumming" trips on Thursdays ... these trips were downtown with her friend where they would spend their "mad" money (and then some :-)
• her danish wedding cookies
• her strawberry blonde hair
• cherished memories of two wonderful grandparents, and two very loved and spoiled grandchildren named John and Bethany

:-)