Raindrops on Tulips and daffodils
Taken in a garden while on an Easter Egg hunt – never miss an opportunity to take a pic of something pretty.
Tag Archives: daffodils
Daffodils under tree
Could not resist taking more photos of the beautiful daffodils. These were taken in the High Street in Maresfield.
Delightful Daffodils
Since I can’t go anywhere at the moment without coming across daffodils I thought I would stay with the daffodils theme and also frankly I just can’t see enough of them. The daffodil story is also a good one so it works on a number of levels for this blog.
There seem to be variations of the Greek myth but generally the story goes that one day when Narcissus was tired and thirsty from hunting he came across a lake with water like silver. He knelt beside the lake and stooped down to drink, and saw his own image in the water. He stood gazing with admiration at his own beauty and fell in love with himself.
He was so entranced by his beautiful reflection that he returned daily and one morning, he fell into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower was born, which was called the Narcissus. Daffodils are named in honour of Narcissus. Initially I felt a bit sorry for him but since he had a reputation for shunning nymphs and maidens I felt he was rather fortunate to still get such a lovely flower named after him.
For the purposes of description, the daffodil is divided into two regions, the perianth (petals) and corona (cup). Although we usually picture the larger trumpet-flowered cultivars there are a variety of daffodil types. The petals are mostly yellow or white but there can be several variations in colour and size.
Since daffodils are popular as cut flowers and as a cultivated plant, thousands of cultivars have been bred by hybridizers and today cultivars have brightly coloured cups which may be yellow, white, pink, orange, red, green or a combination of these. I have encountered quite a bit of variation in the flowers both in their petals and cups when taking photographs.
The story of Narcissus did not end with his demise and it is said that upon his death the goddess of the forest appeared and found that the fresh water lake had been transformed into a lake of salty tears. The lake was sad because she could see in the depths of his eyes her own beauty reflected. So the moral is that we see the reflection of ourselves in the eyes of others we interact with and if we’re lucky – we will see something beautiful.
Vanessa Lee Thomas
Of Fables, Flora and Freelancing
Welcome to the Fables, Flora and Freelancing blog!
It seems appropriate to commence this blog when the signs of spring and new beginnings are all around us. The sights of budding daffodils, snowdrops and crocuses make me, Vanessa Lee Thomas, want to spend all day outside with my camera and also to write.
So what’s in the name? It centres around the things I love doing storytelling, taking photographs of flowers and my journey into the world of working as a freelancer.
Fables of course pertain to those short fictional tales often including animals that can speak or some other mythical creatures that provide a moral or life lesson. Now that I have embarked on a career of writing I plan to write some tales to distribute via this blog and take some time to reminisce about the old favourites.
My photographic skills leave a lot to be desired at this stage but I am hoping that my enthusiasm carries me through the learning process. The technical detail and techniques I encountered when I first bought a digital photography magazine were rather daunting but at the same time very exciting. The lessons I learn will be shared and you can judge the outcome based on the content of my Flickr photostream. Comments and tips would also be appreciated.
Working from home as a freelance writer fits in nicely with being the mother of two small children with busy schedules but also has its challenges so finding ways to stay motivated is key. Snippets on freelancing and writing will therefore also appear from time to time.
I hope you will enjoy this journey with me and will leave you with these famous words by William Wordsworth:
‘Daffodils’
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.