Sunflower season is well and truly upon us, and has been so for a while. Last weekend at O.K.'s, we went for a short evening stroll among the orchards, fields and vineyards behind the village, after O.K. had been working away at giving his balcony door and window frames a fresh layer of paint all day.
I took the following set of pictures within 18 minutes, starting just after 9:00 pm on Saturday. They look so similar that I can not decide which ones I like better than others, so I am simply putting them all in front of you.
This post is dedicated to Kay (Georgia Girl with an English Heart) and her wonderful Dad, missed by her and her family, and by those who have been reading her blog long enough to remember her posts about him.
I like the ones where the odd sunflower stands out in the evening light to remind us that the sun has only just gone down.
ReplyDeleteSunflowers against the backdrop of a sunset, I just couldn't resist and had to take pictures almost every few steps.
DeleteWell, I'd have had as much difficulty as you had choosing one or two. Sunflowers and sunsets like those just about epitomises a hot summer's day for me.
ReplyDeleteThat is a lovely dedication. We have been mutual blogfriends now for almost as long as I can remember.
Thank you, Graham. Yes, the combination of sunflowers and sunsets is irresistible to me.
DeleteSitting inside drinking your morning coffee while listening to the rain sounds like a lovely way to begin your day. I do like these sunflower pictures. It is not easy to choose a favorite. I've been reading Kay's blog for years and remember her beloved Dad in so many of her posts. A good dedication.
ReplyDeleteThe sound of the rain made me want to stay in bed this morning - not because I didn't want to get up at all, or didn't feel like working, but because there is nothing more cosy than that, is there, to snuggle under the duvet with the steady sound of the rain in front of the window.
DeleteThank you, Kristi. I knew you were going to remember Kay's Dad (i.e. her posts about him).
I've heard a lot of people have different struggles
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what you mean, Bibi.
DeleteThank you for sharing them all. The sunset scenes are so evocative. Can never see sunflowers without remembering the haunting theme song I first heard in 1970 during the movie "Sunflower", with Sophia Loren & Marcello Mastroianni. It is the kind of song ("Loss of love" (I Girasoli) by Henry Mancini) that stays with you. Seems fitting for your dedication.
ReplyDeleteI must look the song up, Mary, the title does not ring a bell, but of course Mancini does.
DeleteSunsets are magical, I find. That evening, we were really watching the sun moving below the horizon - there one moment, gone with the next blink of an eye. I have often thought that it is hardly surprising our ancestors worshipped the sun as a deity, with all that its rising and setting meant to them.
Are there lots of sunflower fields there? The first one I saw in England was in 2002 (have just looked up the photo to check).
ReplyDeleteYes, there are, Tasker. I believe it has something to do with an EU fonding program years ago.
DeleteAh Sun-flower! weary of time,
ReplyDeleteWho countest the steps of the Sun:
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the travellers journey is done.
William Blake, an original English genius, unknown in his own time, who wrote *Jerusalem* (YouTube) which gives me goosebumps whenever I hear it sung by a massed choir.
Your sunset photographs give me goosebumps too.
It is nice to know my photos give someone goosebumps - in a positive way, I hope! "Jerusalem" is a piece I will forever associate with the WI in England.
DeleteYour sunset snaps induce only good goosebumps. And remind me of another hymn:
DeleteThe Day Thou Gavest Lord Is Ended; sung by the Choir of Tewkesbury Abbey YouTube.
As Robert Browning writes of unbelief:
Just when we are safest, there's a sunset-touch,
A fancy from a flower-bell, someone's death.
A chorus-ending from Euripides -
C.S. Lewis would have appreciated that reference to Euripides.
The sunset hymn is on YouTube (Thenby) with lyrics:
DeleteThe day thou gavest Lord is ended
The darkness falls at Thy behest.
*And the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it*
Unbelief is not just opposed to faith, it does not even understand it. Bonhoeffer's executioners were disturbed by the way he went calmly to his death.
Bonhoeffer is of course a name familiar to probably every German of my generation as well as older and younger ones. His words "Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen erwarten wir getrost, was kommen mag" are well known, and their deeply touching trust and faith is never lost on me, no matter how often I read or hear them. Knowing the circumstances under which they were written only enhances that.
DeleteWhat a contribution he would have made to postwar Germany and Christian theology! They killed him just as Flossenburg was being liberated, with the sound of American guns close. He was engaged to be married. It was a morning in Spring.
DeleteHis last words, *This is the end; for me the beginning.*
I love them all but I will choose the third from the bottom. I enlarged it and found myself lost in it!
ReplyDeleteI like your choice. Bonnie. The third from the top is my close favourite, because it also shows a bit of the path we've been walking.
Delete