Frowzy

This is the time of year when the Annabelle blooms 

I dried and displayed in the fall start to get all ...

frowzy. 

Covered with a thin sheen of dust and quite faded, 

there's just no way to fix these problems. 

Soon they'll be decorating the garbage can. 

New blooms are just around the corner, though ...

More on Annabelles here, here and here. 

*****

Is it strange that those hydrangea heads inspired a 
story snapshot? 

Frowzy

     Doris flipped the visor mirror of her 1995 Toyota Camry back into place. She gripped the steering wheel and pressed her forehead into her knuckles. Behind the front door of her home, shrill terrier yips beat a methodical cadence loud enough to reach inside her driveway-parked car. She had to face it: this wasn't going to get any better.

    The unfamiliar feeling of cool air against her neck surprised her again—just as  it had when she left the hair salon this afternoon. Stepping out of her car, she shook her head, scattering waves of chemical fragrance, then shut the car door and locked it. Her Saturday trip to the Anita Cut Salon on 2nd Street for a "new leaf" transformation turned out to be a lesson on the danger of spontaneity. She'd felt the warning twitch in her right eyelid but gave it no heed as Jack-Qua-Lyn rushed her toward a chartreuse plastic chair. Five hours later and fifty dollars poorer, a wiser Doris climbed the steps to her front door.

     Twinkie's nose brushed her foot when she stepped inside; her husband's dog was always glad to see her. Doris pocketed her car keys and bent to greet the suddenly silent pet. Confusion twisted Twinkie's wiry brow, and he backed away instead of jumping into her arms for kisses. With loud whimpers, he turned tail and fled to his favorite hiding place under the dining room table. 

      Doris stood under the bewildered gaze of her husband. "Well? What do you think of my hair?" 

     His eyebrows floated toward his hairline. "Ummmm ... " He blinked hard once, no, twice—there—three times. "Well ... do you like it?" He swallowed and blinked again. "I mean, is that what you ... wanted?" Twinkie slunk forward to cautiously re-investigate her shoe and identify this frowzy impostor. 

     "Yes," she squeaked in a voice that even she didn't recognize. Giving her now-damp foot a sharp flick, she choked, "It's exactly what I wanted."

* Wordless Wednesday

Summer Annabelles - Full Circle

Annabelle hydrangeas at their summer best! 
The blooms have turned from a bright white to a light apple-green in color. In habit, they lean over with the weight of the maturing blooms in the summer - rain and wind also cause them to dip lower than they do in the spring, when they are quite straight and proud.

The spring white blooms are fresh and soft to the touch, and have a slight fragrance, while these late summer ones are more stiff and papery - they have dried right on the bush. Some of the blooms are getting tired of the dry summer season and start show brown spots. You can see one very late new bloom, white in the background, for contrast.

Do you see the parallels between our lives and this, my favorite bush? 

Now, finally, all four seasons of an Annabelle Hydrangea bush have been displayed on this blog - click the "annabelles" thread to see all the other moods of this bush throughout a growing season.

The Annabelles - Late Spring

In the late spring, the annabelles have their lovely snow-white blooms. In early summer, they start to go green - a lovely, pale, apple green. The first big storm bows them a little, and they aren't so upright as this photo shows for very long. The rain gets trapped in their heads and they bend down. 

Been there? Done that?

One more photo, and I'll have shown you a full season of annabelle hydrangeas!

Spring Annabelles - Coming On!

First of all, the hydrangea vine has come back! I love this vine, since it covers the front of our house. It is vigorous, though, and has to be trimmed back from the windows and front step every spring. Unlike English ivy, it is not invasive or destructive - thank goodness, now that it is tipping the gutters! Yesterday, My Middle Son commented that he wished it would grow to cover the whole house! I understand completely. The two blooms here are pretty spectacular, if you know about hydrangea vines. They take years to bloom!  I thought mine would never bloom, since they weren't blooming, and then I had to start trimming it back from windows. That's when I found out that the blooms come from the trimming!  Ahhh-Haaa...There's a lesson there - just meditate on that... This year the vine has more blooms than ever!

Here come the Annabelles!  They leaf out from bare old-looking wood - it's amazing! Some of the leaves are rolled up and plump. They have become cocoons for some sadly unremarkable moths. I tried squashing all these at first, but have given up. You hardly notice them once the bush is in its full flower, so I can share.

Annabelles from another angle, and you can see the hydrangea vine going up the wall of the house, too.

I started this blog in November, when the garden was already "put to bed", so there hasn't been much garden posting so far. Now that it's growing season, though, that's going to change. Hope garden chat won't bore any readers, but I get excited every year about the new life out there! So cool to see how the beds change every year after a season of cold and bleak weather.

Our Trees Were Made of Glass

For a few days our trees were made of glass and dusted with powder. When the wind blew through them, they made a thick, crackly sound and seemed to spark sunshine. Since we didn't lose power, I enjoyed every minute!

All around our little acre of ground, such beautiful sights! This old mimosa seed pod hanging on from last season got to be all dressed up and shine for a few bright days. There's a lot to be said, I guess, for holding on, even if all the other pods fall away... Now, sadly, it will never be noticed at all, since the ice has melted away.

Dear old Annabelle - also dressed up for a few days! Encased in slick ice-glass, it didn't get to have the sun shining through its branches for a big show of sparkly light. It's on the darker side of the house. You have to be determined to appreciate it's quieter charm.

If this just a tiny little taste of the beauty that is possible, just think of what we will see in heaven where beauty will be on stunning display at every turn! It will make these views seem like a walk through a barren desert!

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him..." 1 Corinthians 2:9

Fall Annabelles

This is how my Annabelles look right now.

They aren't much to look at, are they? Sort of browny-greenish, and translucent with the sunshine coming through the leaves. (That's Middle Son's pumpkin sitting in a place of honor on the front porch...there's some hydrangea vine going up the brick of the house face...you can see a little of the backyard.) Anyway, not much for looks—but wait. In the spring they're one of the first to show tender green leaves. Their buds come on way before the big blue hydrangeas and long before the pink diamond hydrangeas. Every year, I consider cutting them off, they look SO dead—and it is the front of the house. I've never been able to bring myself to do it. They come back better every year, always giving me a baby or two to transplant or share.

"And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 5: 10-11.

Thanks be to Him, I want to give Him glory for fulfilling this in my earthly life. He has given me a remission from rheumatoid arthritis! The disease first came into my life (OUR lives—it affects the entire family) in 1990, in my second year of teaching inner city first grade and my second year of marriage. I enjoyed spotty relief during my childbearing years, but RA returned with a vengeance after Youngest Son's birth in 1999. I've been through all sorts of medications and complications, and finally, have been given a reprieve from the pain. I saw the hand of the Lord so many times during those dry, browny-greenish years, when the health of my body was certainly looking dead, just like the picture above. The recent good news of a new remission has me feeling like the Annabelle in the spring—bursting with health and promise.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to Sweet Annabelle. I named my blog after these wonderful bushes, my favorite of the many kinds that grow on our small Kentucky acre. If you've lived with an Annabelle hydrangea through an entire growing season, you've seen the dramatic seasons of its growth—each with a peculiar beauty. I'm going to post a photo of mine in each season, starting with their fall photo (coming soon). They aren't their most stunning in the fall, but don't we all have those ugly seasons of life? When we aren't at our best, and it looks like everything might just be dead? I've been in that season, and not so long ago, but lately the Lord has allowed a season of spring. I'd be honored to share my experiences with you. -- Susan

*Annabelle hydrangeas in the early fall, apple-green and dried.