One of the hydrangeas still blooming in the garden this chilly October Sunday morning - it is beginning to lose the freshness of the summer blooms but is still beautiful.
On my kitchen window sill a few heads of the hydrangea which got broken a few weeks back - I rescued them and put them in this old sweet jar (a find when walking on the common when we lived in Guildford years ago!) What was a sweet jar doing out on the common I wonder?
The photos don't show the true colours of the now dry flowers but as I stand at the sink I am reminded of those silk and velvet flowers ladies used to use to decorate their hats - they are really lovely. A metaphor perhaps for those of us who are now past our peak and have lost not only the fresh bloom of youth but also the colour and beauty of middle age - in our youth obsessed society we too have our own beauty and worth don't you think?!!
Old age brings beauty of a different kind.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely !!!!
ReplyDeleteThe faded blooms on the hydrangea help to protect the new buds as they develope......a real function of maturity!
ReplyDeleteWe need to learn to embrace and celebrate all the stages of life. Old age might not be for sissies as someone once said but to have survived and thrived is definitely cause for celebration!
ReplyDeleteMore beautiful than ever I would say. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteThe Hydrangeas were superb this year. I have some fading blooms in a vase too. Yours are lovely.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed the tour through Paris. You certainly have plenty of energy Jane - a lot of walking involved there I think!
Jeanne
x
Women of middle age and older often have true beauty, not the fake preened and primped beauty of many a young girl not yet confident enough to be happy in her own skin. M x
ReplyDeleteYes, Jane, too much emphasis is on the youth, I think it has been that way now for several generations. Aside from that, us 'vintage' folk are so much more interesting as a whole, I think. We are now (mostly) comfortable in our own skin, know what we like and don't like and have finally found the courage and gumption not to put up with ridiculous notions. I really enjoyed your Paris photos, but never finished looking at all of them!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, we oldies but goodies have a place in this world.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to finally be, as several have here said, comfortable in our own skins! I like to think of us as dried roses who've maybe lost the colour and bloom of youth but are still beautiful in their own way,
ReplyDeleteBeauty is only skin deep!
ReplyDeleteI found myself referencing the current obsession with youth in my latest blog post. There are so many ways to be beautiful and being very young is only one of them.
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