This may not qualify as a creative post-much like my last post- but we have had a tough few weeks for creativity. With soccer and softball starting again it seems like all we do right now is shuttle to and fro (and geocache in the downtime-we are addicted). We will get back to projects soon.
Today’s post, however, was years in the making. I wanted to discuss the soothing, springtime, Texas ritual that is The Bluebonnet Photo.
If you are not from Texas, this concept may seem foreign to you. I was told by a friend today, with a tone that suggested I was insane, that people in other states don’t pose their children in front of, say, wheat. True, but is wheat a glorious mix of blues that make your kids blue-eyes pop? No? Well, there’s the difference.
I looked back at the past years’ bluebonnet photo shoots. Not every year was a winner, but I have hauled them out to the bee and ant-infested flowers every year of their lives-if for nothing else but continuity.
First year in the blues!
2nd time around!
And baby makes two!
Still love the blues!
And baby makes three!
Herding Cats!
Wind can blow dust in the eyes!
Brrr...it can get cold in March!
Ahhhhh! Bee!
And last year...
Over the years, I have found myself saying some interesting things as I have photographed:
“It doesn’t want to sting you, it wants the flowers.”
“Don’t squash the bluebonnets.”
“Don’t pick the flowers.”
“Don’t eat the flowers.”
“I’m hot, too. Just smile and we can go.”
"Don't squeeze your sister so hard."
“I know she sat on your hand, and I am so sorry.”
I know I have said some more intelligent and pithy things to my kids on the days of The Bluebonnet Photo but I am sure I have said some worse and more exasperated things as well.
Our choice of flower patches has ranged from Houston to College Station to Fredericksburg and even a really scary spot by DFW airport under the landing path of MANY big jets. That was a short photo shoot!
Today, we brought the experience closer to home. A lovely crop of bluebonnets is growing by The Flower Mound this year. Yes, the actual mound for which the town of Flower Mound is named. The same mound I played on as a child and which I remember stretching all the way down to the intersection of 3040 and 2499. No Tom Thumb, not fence, no sign, just rolling grass and flowers.
For nostalgia’s sake, I wanted to get pictures of the girls there, at least once. I was in luck and we had a beautiful day. A light breeze and bright sunshine made it a little tough to keep the squinty eyes and wayward hair strands away, but it was gorgeous. And nobody fought! Here are the pictures from today. I will keep going every year-even when they thing it is sooooooo lame. Maybe especially then!
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