tournesols

august is the month for counting sunflowers.  my garden is up to 5 now, if you include the one i cut off and gave to a friend (not to be confused with what van gogh did with his ear).  and not just any friend, but the one i went to france with!  my great-grandmother nettie who i'm named after and who lived to be 103 grew tournesols too (literally french for "turn to the sun") and hers were over 10 feet tall.  i've been practicing growing these for years now and if i ever live to be as wise and lovely as she was (relatives say they never heard a negative word come out of her mouth) or if i can grow flowers like she did, i will mark life a success. imagine my surprise at coming upon my first full french field of them near arles.  i screamed, actually.  while driving.  and scared my lovely aforementioned traveling partner quite alot.  it's just that beauty can make me scream...and cry.  we agreed that next time i would preface such utterances with "beauty alert!" which is just what i plan to do.  here's to turning your face toward the sun...