Some Thoughts on Simplicity

It seems this last year or so I am gradually but surely simplifying my life.  My belongings are being evaluated for functionality and usefulness and I am saying no to more things that drain precious time and energy.  I think that my knee surgery was instrumental in slowing down my life and showing me the value of living a less hectic existence and finding myself at home in stillness and quiet.

 I hope you enjoy the following photos and quotes on simplicity.

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

~ Leonardo da Vinci

"Voluntary simplicity means . . .
 going fewer places in one day rather than more, 
seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, 
acquiring less so I can have more."

~John Kabat-Zinn

  

"Nature is what we know, yet have not art to say

so impotent our wisdom is to her simplicity."

~ Emily Dickinson

"To find the universal elements enough;

to find the air and the water exhilarating;

to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter. . . 

to be thrilled by the stars at night;
to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring . . .
these are some of the rewards of the simple life."
~ John Burroughs

Linking with . . . .

Gazanias to Gaze Upon

A first this year,  for me, was planting gazanias.  I have my traditional favourites . . . petunias, geraniums, marigolds, lobelia and alyssum . . . but I like to try something new every once in a while. 

Gazanias are native to South Africa and are resistant to drought and high temperatures. I have the clumping variety that grow in mounds of attractive, deep green symmetrical leaves.  Each bloom lasts for about 5 or 6 days, but the plant itself will bloom all summer and even into the fall.  The blossoms close up each evening at sundown and open wide again in response to the sun the next day.

Hope you enjoy my beauties!

"The artist is the confidant of nature . . . 
flowers carry on dialogues with him 
through the graceful bending of their stems 
and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms.  
Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him."

~ Auguste Rodin

"The actual flower is the plant's highest fulfillment, 

and are not here exclusively for herbaria, county floras and plant geography; 

they are here first of all for our delight."

~ John Ruskin

"The 'Amen' of nature is always a flower."

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Flower Art Friday

To the Daisy,

The poet's darling 

~ William Wordsworth

There is a flower, a little flower

with silver crest and golden eye,

That welcomes every changing hour

and weathers every sky.

~ James Montgomery

Daisies infinite, uplift in praise their little growing hands

O'er every hill that under heaven expands.

~ Ebenezer Elliott

 Not worlds on worlds, in phalanx deep

Need we to prove a God is here;

The daisy, fresh from nature's sleep,

Tells of His hand in lines as clear.

~ John Mason Good

Thanks to those who voted for my entry last week that put me in the Top 3.

Such a delight to link up each week with so many talented "Floral" artists that inspire me to learn new techniques and willingly share their knowledge and links to resources.

Roses, Roses, Roses

 This Floral Art Friday post is in honour of our lovely hostess, LeAnne, who celebrates her birthday today.  

Just wish there was a way to include the fragrance. 

Happy Birthday, LeAnne!

"Won't you come into my garden . . . I want my roses to see you."

~Richard B. Sheridan

"But friendship is the breathing rose with sweets in every fold."

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

"A single rose can be my garden, a single friend my world."

~ Leo Buscaglia

"Every rose is an autograph from the hand of God on His world about us.  He has inscribed His thoughts in these marvelous hieroglyphics which sense and science have, these many thousand years, been seeking to understand."

~ Theodore Parker