Friendship and Paper Flowers

 Hello Dear Friends! 

I've been thinking of you and hope all is well and 

you are finding some lovely reasons to smile

as we journey through life together.

Friendship is such a wonderful thing in life, isn't it? 

Do you remember your first friend? 

Mine was an 'older' neighbor girl when I was four. 

Mary Ellen. She had sweet dark curls, round,

rosy cheeks and was gentle and kind. 

She was about eleven, I think - the age when some little 

girls are still playing with dolls and pretending to 

be Mothers. 

When we moved shortly after, I mourned her loss

and as you can see, I've never forgotten her. 

It's easy to make friends when you are a child, although 

I was very shy and usually had just one or two

school friends at any given time.

I had better luck with neighborhood friends, 

and remember many wonderful adventures swimming 

in the lake, ice skating in the winter, putting on 'plays', 

building forts in the woods, 

picking huckleberries, and walking to the neighborhood 

store for penny candy with money earned doing chores. 

I had two 'best friends' then - sisters, Denise and Donna. 

We would call for each other outside our windows

when we wanted to play. 

I remember the sing-song way I would call for them

and the happy time we would have deciding 

what we would do that day. 

xx

When we moved, I sadly said goodbye, but 

promptly befriended the sweet girl next door, Kathy. 

She had lovely caramel curls, hazel eyes 

and a sweet smile. 

"To wail friends lost

Is not by much so wholesome - profitable,

As to rejoice at friends but newly found."

- Shakespeare -

To me, she looked just like Heidi. 

xx

Remember the story of Heidi, the orphaned girl who went to 

live with her reclusive and hostile grandfather in the Swiss Alps? 

Her innocence and charm changed him and all who 

knew her. 

She was just like Heidi. 

xx

We were inseparable, even spending summers picking 

blueberries at the local farm for spending money,

with our colorful transistor radios hung around our necks,

listening to The Beatles, Carol King, John Sebastion

and our favorite pop band, The Monkees. 

She had a crush on Mickey Dolenz, and I loved Davy Jones. 

I can still remember the lyrics to 'The Last Train to Clarksville'

and 'Daydream Believer', that we would loudly sing along to,

completely out of tune :) 

xx 

As I grew older, I was fortunate to be given a beautiful little pony

from my uncle's farm. That introduced me to 

other children who had ponies that I would 'go riding' with. 

One of my new friends, JoAnne, had a pony nearly identical to mine. 

They were both Welsh Mountain ponies - chocolate brown 

with cream-colored dapples all over, and long, cream-colored 

manes and tails. 

We made quite an impression prancing down the trails together. 

Those were wonderful, carefree days. 

But they didn't last. 

My Mother thought I spent too much time riding my pony

and not enough time helping out around the house.

(I was the eldest daughter of five.) 

And one day I woke up to him being loaded into a trailer

to be sent back to my uncle's farm. 

To say I was heartbroken was an understatement. 

I never even got to say goodbye. 

As I grew into a teenager and entered high-school, I met 

my future husband at my first 'boy-girl' party at his home. 

Another boy invited me, but the moment I looked 

into the big blue eyes, and beautiful smile of this 

sweet, polite and friendly new boy, I was smitten.

My life-long friend. 

And the rest is history. 

xx

"If you have one true friend you have more than your share."

- Thomas Fuller -

When we were young. 

xx

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction

of being loved for yourself, or, more correctly, 

being loved in spite of yourself. 

- Victor Hugo -

" Go, dear, but remember, through all weather, 

we are friends - we were in heaven together."

- S. Williams -

" I find as I grow older that I love those most

whom I loved first."

- Thomas Jefferson -

xx

In between there were so many lovely friends from various 

times in my life. Cheerleader friends, work friends, couple friends, 

neighbors, mom friends, PTA friends...the list goes on. 

I've had pen-pals from all over the world. 

My first was my best friend in middle school, Ellen. 

Sadly, she moved to England, and I was left 

to correspond with her only via airmail. 

Eventually she stopped writing, and I made new friends,

but none as nice as she. 

I wrote to a sweet, sad boy who was deployed to Viet Nam 

during the war, through a veteran's association that came to my school. 

After a couple of letters, my Mother 

forbid me to write to him again, as he was an 'older' boy. 

I did explain it to him in my last letter, but I never found out what 

happened to him. 

Currently I have a pen-pal from Australia, and I look forward

to her letters which take upwards of a month to arrive! 

We are thousands of miles apart, but close at heart. 

xx

"Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends

at a distance; they make the latitudes and the longitudes. 

- Henry David Thoreau -

My current book
xx

I've had wonderful animal friends - the sweetest, most loyal friends of all. 

Dogs and cats, ponies and birds, 

even guinea pigs. 

Unconditional love, quirky personalities, sympathetic comfort, 

and willingness to defend you with their lives. 

Who could ask for more in a friend? 

"Little friends may prove great friends."

- Aesop -

" There are three faithful friends - an old wife,

an old dog, and ready money. "

- Benjamin Franklin -

xx

 And then there are the friends that I've lost. 

Sometimes due to moves, or misunderstandings, or simply 

because of diverging paths. 

And the saddest reason 

of all - death. 

One such loss took place at a time when I was already 

dealing with moving to a new school and trying to make 

friends to fit in. 

I was in 6th grade, and very shy, 

but this sweet boy who sat next to me

was very kind. He would pull the chair out for me, 

carry my books, help me with math, and sit with me at lunch. 

His name was Arthur. 

But after Christmas break, he didn't come back to school. 

I looked for him hopefully every day. 

And then my teacher made the announcement. 

Arthur had died from an asthma attack the day 

after Christmas. 

He was kind to me when I had no friends. 

A gentle soul that I'll always remember. 

Until we meet again...

xx

"Death is a bridge that uniteth friend with friend."

- Muhammed -

xx

Now, I am fortunate to consider my children and their 

spouses my best friends. 

And because of them, I've become close to many of their friends

and extended family, too. 

"The friends of my friends are my friends."

- Flemish Proverb -

This is a favorite photo of our four, taken as young adults.

You can see the mischief in their eyes! 

Now we have so many stories to tell our grandchildren,

although some are better left unsaid. Lol!

We can laugh about it now.

We wouldn't change a thing.

It was the privilege of our lives to be their parents.   

xx

I consider my in-laws, their spouses and children

 to be my sweet friends, also. 

My home is decorated with the thoughtful and sweet things 

they have given me over the years. 

We live on opposite sides of the country, 

but we keep in touch through Facebook, cards, letters, 

and phone calls. 

It's difficult to be separated, but it also makes the friendship 

that much more precious. 

Sadly, my own sisters and I are estranged. 

After my parents died, there was 

nothing left to tie us together. 

I was always the 'black sheep' of the family

who never felt like I fit in. 

Of course, it's much more complicated than that, 

but let's just say I had to move on for my own 

peace of mind. 

I will always love them, 

but I've learned to love and value myself, too.

Sometimes books can be considered friends. 

Some are old friends that you love to read again.

xx 

"A book is a friend; a good book is a good friend. 

It will talk to you when you want it to talk, 

and it will keep still when you want it 

to keep still - there are not many friends

who know enough to do that. 

A library is a collection of friends."

- Lyman Abbott -

" Choose thy friends like thy books, few but choice."

- James Howell -

" An elegant sufficiency, content retirement, 

rural quiet, friendship, books."

- James Thomson -

My vintage copy of 'Anne of Green Gables'

is a favorite. Don't you love the inscription?

Anne was a friend to all, and the chapter when she invites 

her dear friend, Diana over for tea is both 

hilarious and sad when Anne decides to serve 

raspberry cordial, not realizing it was alcoholic. 

The results were hilarious, but sad when Diana's 

mother refuses to let her associate with Anne after Diana came home drunk.

Have you ever had something similar happen to you? 

One day, my best friend, Kathy's prim and proper mother, 

found cigarettes and a lighter in the woods behind 

their house, against the 'big rock' we liked to hang out on. 

She blamed it on me despite my being innocent, 

and refused to let Kathy be friends with me again. 

I found out (through the neighborhood kid's grapevine)

that it was actually Kathy's brother who was the guilty party, 

but I knew I would never be believed, and I didn't want to betray

her brother, so I lost my friend.

By then we were teenagers, and we each had started drifting apart, 

and sadly, this just accelerated the end of our friendship.  

As I've grown older, gardening friends are 

something special. 

Both my daughter-in-law, Jen and my 

daughter, Heather are gardeners

and we love to go to garden centers and 

nurseries during our lunch dates. 

The girls

We drag along Erica and Jennie, who patiently indulge 

our plant fantasies. 

xx

And then there are the frenemies - the people that 

you thought were friends but secretly wished you harm. 

I've had my share of these, and it's not a pleasant experience. It 

sets you back and causes you to question yourself, 

and makes you less trusting and open.

It can cause a lot of grief and pain.

Especially if it is someone that you loved

 and thought you could trust. 

  

I believe the lesson is to learn to trust yourself,

and to be your own best friend. 

"To thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day, 

Thou canst not then be false to any man."

- Shakespeare -

" Has thy heart's friend carelessly or cruelly 

stabbed into thy heart? Oh, forgive him! 

Think how, when thou art dead, 

he will punish himself."

- Carlyle -

I hope that those of you who celebrated Mother's Day recently, 

had a lovely day. 

Sometimes these types of holidays bring up bittersweet memories, 

I know.  And I'm sorry if that is the case for you. 

Many of us have lost our mothers. 

Or have had difficult relationships. 

Or wanted to be a mother, but didn't have the chance. 

Or lost a child. 

Our oldest friends, the ones we had to dinner recently, 

lost their son back in 2018. 

He was a husband and father of two young boys, 

and our friend's only son. (They also have a daughter.)

The pain in their eyes is difficult to see. 

They love to travel now that they are retired, 

and every place they go, they spread a little of his ashes

so that he can be there with them, too. 

And they are the best grandparents to his two young boys, 

one of whom just graduated high school. 

 xx

" It is great to have friends when one is young, 

but indeed, it is still more so when you are getting old. 

When we are young, friends are, like everything else, 

a matter of course. In the old days we know

what it means to have them."

- Edvard Grieg -

"Old wood to burn, old books to read, old wine to drink,

and old friends to converse with."

- Alphonso of Castile -

I made some sweet paper flowers as gifts for the moms 

in my life. 

Here's how it's done...

They are made from paper towels! 

Cut strips of towels about 4" wide x 12" long. 

Leaving the bottom intact, cut 'petals'

along the tops of the strips. 

Using 3 compatible colors of washable markers

(usually sold for children),

outline the petals with the 3 colors. 

I used red, orange and yellow. 

Using two layers of 'petals', staggering the layers, 

roll the petals with the colored side on the outside. 

Secure the bottom with a rubber band. 

This is the magic part. 

Place the bottom of the 'flower' in water, 

which will seep up into the petals, 

creating beautiful colors. 

I used plastic water bottles that I saved from 

my recycling bin. 

After a few minutes the water rises up the petals. 

Once the flowers are fully colored, remove them 

from the water, blot the stem ends and temporarily 

place them in a bowl. 

Empty the bottles and place the flowers in the empty bottles 

to dry. This will take a few hours or overnight. 

For stems you will need wooden skewers. 

I used short ones, about 6" long that you can 

find in the kitchen utensil section of the grocery store. 

Twist the skewer into the base of the flower. 

Use glue to secure. 

Start wrapping the stem, starting with a small 

piece to cover the elastic, using glue to secure. 

I left a bit folded over to resemble a leaf. 

Wrap the stems with green crepe paper. 

I lined spray-painted tin cans with natural colored 

cone coffee filters with the bottoms cut off. 

I wrapped the cans with burlap ribbon and twine. 

Aren't they pretty? 

They are easy enough to make with children, too.  

xx

Thank you, Dear Friends for your sweet and enduring friendship. 

Some of you are wonderful, new friends, 

but most of you I consider 'dear old friends', 

as we've shared our lives over many years - sharing joys and heartbreak, family, 

home, gardens, recipes, pets, travels and so much wonderful creativity. 

Kindred spirits, all.

And I am truly grateful.  

xx

"In the hours of distress and misery, the eyes of every mortal 

man turn to friendship; in the hour of gladness and 

conviviality, what is our want? It is friendship. 

When the heart overflows with gratitude, or with

any other sweet and sacred sentiment, what is the word 

to which it would give utterance? 

A friend. 

- Walter Savage Landor -

xxxx

* Dear Friends, I have a sad footnote. Our little dog, Ricky has 

passed away. We lost him at the end of May, and I haven't 

been able to voice my grief until now. 

I had this post all set to publish, when we found out 

that he had advanced liver cancer during a 

 veterinary visit. 

He had been sleeping a lot and 

off his feed, so we brought him in for a checkup.

At first, we thought it was 'old age', (he was 10), 

but when the bloodwork came back, we were 

devastated. Within 10 days he was gone. 

We had two wonderful years with him, and he was 

truly the sweetest dog we ever shared our life with.

Our other dog, Kai, is mourning his loss, too. 

They were truly best friends.

xx

So, I dedicate this post to the sweetest friend of all.

Ricky.  

We miss our happy little guy so much. 

If you have a sweet 'best friend', 

give him an extra treat and some extra love today. 

xx