When You Shop “For Free”
Y’all, I have a thing for chiggers…
but not a good thing…~I DO NOT like them.
I can still hear my mother’s voice wafting across the pasture as I headed off on another adventure. One of my favorite things as a kid was walking along the road near our house and picking wildflower bouquets.
“Rachel, watch out for seed ticks and chiggers!” she’d holler.
And I’d tiptoe through the weeds,
you know…”watching out” for them…as though that would help.
The chiggers would always ALWAYS find my ankles and waistband.
The other day, I needed a bouquet for a photo shoot.
We have several places to buy fresh flowers around here,
but hey, why not just shop in your own garden…”for free” right?
I chuckled to myself as I reminisced about the flower bouquets I used to collect and arrange in a vase.
Yes, a vase…mason jars weren’t a thing then.
Weellll, they were a thing, but NOT for all things DIY and farmhouse decor. Mother used them for canning.
Flowers in a mason jar…well, that just would not have been right.
So there I was tiptoeing around the yard, “watching out” for chiggers, cheerfully snipping the blooms and arranging them in the crystal vase.
The snapping sound from the green and tender tendrils of the mock grapevine as it released from the evergreen tree, was particularly interesting. As I clutched them in my hand, the vines just kind of flailed around awkwardly in the air as if to say, “What’s next, meee lady?”
I popped the cacophony of textures into the vase and stood back and smiled to myself at how the monochromatic colors complimented each other, all unplanned.
It was just an impromptu and happy little accident.
I really don’t know what these flowers are necessarily except for the pink hydrangea. I’ve never seen a hydrangea like this and the blooms are so delicate they almost look like lilacs.
You just never know what wonderful things might be in your own backyard when you open your eyes and shop “for free”!
Have you ever had an impromptu and happy little accident?
…while shopping “for free”
…and watching for chiggers?
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Beautiful for free bouquet., however you do pay for it with the ticks and chiggers!
Have a wonderful evening.
Yes! That’s right Donnie. Fortunately I didn’t get any in our yard.
What a beautiful arrangement of flowers! Had I not read what you wrote, I would have thought you paid a good bit of money for these! Glad you didn’t have to pay in chigger bites!
Ah, thank you, Esther. How sweet of you!
Rachel, I had to really grin and grimace at the same time when you mentioned chiggers. I’ve had them over and over this year!
Your flowers are absolutely beautiful! It’s such a wonderful thing when you can shop from your own yard.
Oh Stacey!! Aren’t the chiggers just horrible?
Stacey, thank you for your kind words. The flowers in the yard have been so beautiful!
Thank you for sharing your impromptu flower “shopping” and sweet memory. Your bouquet turned out beautifully ?
Thank you so much Roxanne!! The happy accidents are so fun!
I’m always looking for things I can do ‘for free’ 🙂 What a beautiful arrangement!
Yes! Hope, me too! And I just love it when it all turns out so pretty.
Beautiful! I think there are some daisies in your bunch – not sure though. I only really grow day lilies and daffodils well in my yard. Plus hostas – but we don’t pick those for vases.
Kristin, I love daylilies and hostas too. I think the daisies might be Echinacea… not sure tho.
Yes, I hate chiggers! Beautiful flowers.
Kathryn, I agree with you totally. I hate chiggers. And I love the flowers too. Thank you for dropping by.
Are those perennials that someone planted some other year? Or are they wildflowers? I’d love to have such pretties growing about free for the picking!
I assume that they have been planted, Karla. They are in the perimeters of the flower garden.