Southeastern Flower Show

I went to the Southeastern Flower Show recently with Rory and Shon. It was huge, colorful, tacky in some places, brilliant in others, and everything you would expect a flower show to be. Coming down the escalator this was the first sight, a giant bed suspended in mid-air over a rolling hill of grass with blankets and pillows made completely of roses-


Appropriately a red-headed girl with a kitten in her pocket was playing in the grass-



Our sneakers reflected in a macro photograph of water droplets (of course there was a photo exhibit!)-



This particular type of flower, the narcissus/buttercup/daffodil, reminds me of my childhood because they bloomed every year by our front door-



A few of my favorite exhibits-

I'll take it!


Again, childhood memories because we were only allowed to watch educational TV during our formative years.


This piece was called "Went to Play with the Dolphins"-


Mmm-hmmm.


So idyllic, a painter in his studio-



Rory and Shon as we left for lunch-


True "street photography" on the way back- just after I snapped this image of strangers approaching us,


I noticed a smoldering cigarette on the sidewalk, not stepped on or crushed but perfectly cylindrical and pushing a pale gray tendril into the sunlight. As we kept walking farther away I felt compelled to turn around and photograph it, a bit of momento mori residue left in the street, something that was there and alive in a way but never will be again. I quietly rationalized against turning back- after all it was just a recently smoked and abandoned cigarette on the street- but in a way I still wish I had that photo. Cigarettes and flowers...