Finding beauty...

Yesterday afternoon I was hot and tired
after mulching yet more of the garden beds.

I thought it was time to take a break.

I decided to challenge myself to seek beauty in the commonplace.

My neighbor had too many wild violets self-seeding and growing in her

 gardens, and was trying to get rid of them.

She brought me over a tubful of them, stuffed in an old litter box from her cat.

 It was my plan to transplant them into a section of  the woods on the side

of our house that we recently had cleared of the undergrowth.

Wouldn't it be better to have wild violets take over out there than weeds?

When she gave them to me I didn't have time to plant them right away.

So I placed the box on the side of the garage in the shade,

along the walkway to the back yard.

I watered them.

I watched them.

They thrived in the box, and this is how they looked yesterday.

But wait a minute! These are WEEDS!

At least according to the Google searches that I did on them.

I decided that even "weeds" deserve some care,

especially pretty ones like these.

So I took out the hose and rinsed off the ugly yellow pollen that

 has been covering everything.

And decided to see how much beauty I could find in these "weeds".

I found purple blossoms covered in droplets.

And pale lavender blossoms framed in a sea of lime green.

And even one that looked like a butterfly covered in dewdrops.

And the most delicate of tiny buds.

I put one in a pot to see how it would look with white Candytuft

and an old plate.

And then I brought the pot inside.

And took yet another picture with a beautiful piece

of vintage sheet music.

Don't you think that the Fairy Queen would love these violets?

The goings-on in Boston this week really hit home.

My husband spent most of his life living in that area,

and much of his family is still there.

His nephew ran in The Marathon that day, but was fortunately OK.

I remain resolved to the fact that we still don't have to go very far to find good.

And we don't have to go very far to find beauty.

Beauty is where we seek it.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Wishing you and yours a beautiful day!