Garden Birthday Portraits!

Now that gardens up in New Hampshire are coming into their full summer glory, garden portraits season is in full bloom! My favorite annual garden portrait event is my daughter's birthday. Every year, she gets a special birthday dress, I hand her a flower and the fun ensues.


















My daughter is quite comfortable getting her photo taken. Obviously, it helps to have a mom who is a professional photographer. Other kids are not as comfortable. You cannot expect someone to "perform" for the camera when having one's picture taken is a rare event. Instead, when you want to "create" a portrait, respect the child's feelings. Work in his comfort zone. Don't expect the child to sit still for long. Be prepared to follow him around. Bring a toy or object to capture his attention. Photograph him doing what he loves. This makes for a memorable image. Stop taking photos when the child wants to talk. Engage him in conversation. Become part of his world instead of forcing him to conform to your photography expectations.















My daughter is a ham. We have lots of photographs like this:

This is how we know her - as a fun loving kid. Perhaps she is preparing to be class clown one day? If so, than these will be the most valuable photos of the session. We'll remember that her free-spirit began when she was this young...and since I went with her flow, she even provided me with those smiling head on portraits that all parents want to see.

Birthday Rose

My roses began blooming this week. They are one of my favorite parts of summer. When my summer baby was born, a friend gave me a Longaberger basket with instructions for creating a special mother-daughter tradition. Each year I give my daughter a rose from our garden on her birthday. I hang it to dry and place the dried petals in the basket. These petals are meant to be sprinkled down the aisle on her wedding day. I love that our garden may one day play a part in one of the most important events of her life.

Horses and Flowers

Today was the running of the Belmont Stakes, the last horse race in the thoroughbred triple crown. At the conclusion of the race, the winner was given a blanket of flowers in the winner's circle. It would have gone unnoticed had my daughter not commented on the blanket made of "cottonballs"...I began thinking about the traditions behind the throw.

The first leg of the crown is known as "The Run for the Roses." This is something that is imprinted in my brain -- a phrase with which every horse racing fan is familiar. A blanket of red roses is laid on the winner of this stakes. I learned today that the "white cottonballs" of the Belmont Stakes are carnations and this race is known as "The Run for the Carnations." (Though it seems that at one time these white flowers wmay have been traditionally green.) According to one web site, "The blanket requires approximately 350 carnations, glued to green velveteen spread and weighs between 30 and 40 pounds. The flowers are shipped from California or Bogota, Columbia." The second leg of the triple crown is the Preakness whose flower is "officially" the black-eyed susan. Interestingly, the flowers used in this winning blanket are daisies with painted black centers.

In my research, I also learned that this year's Kentucky Derby / Preakness Stakes winner, Big Brown does not like flower blankets and his handlers won't let them drape him with the flower blankets. If he had won today he would have gone down in history. But, my daughter would never have commented on the "cottonballs" and I would not have posted this. (Apparently, the champion Barbaro didn't like flowers either.)

I plan to order this article to learn more about the whole blanket winning tradition. Though the Internet is great for research. I'll need to continue at the library if I am to delve deeper into this subject. Indeed, the sense of pageantry that flowers add to any event is obvious. Traditions must be rich among the diverse types of celebrations that include them. It would be interesting to research how flowers are included in weddings, are given at the end of performances, are pinned to girl's at the prom. How did these floral traditions get started and why have they become such a vital part of our celebratory consciousness?

The Corsage

As I remember it...my grandfather would visit every weekend. He walked in the door, took off his hat, and sat down for his lunch - sandwich meat on toast. My mother had hat boxes lined in the closet. I don't remember the hats, but I remember the boxes. These days my hat boxes come with pajamas in them (from pajamagram.) They have lots of pretty hats in the store this time of year, but I never see anything like them on a woman's head. When I was young, Dad would dress in a tie and suit every day. Just ten years ago my husband dressed for work too. Now if he goes to work "dressed up" people ask him who died or where he is interviewing.

We have lost many attire formalities in modern day society, along with many social graces. People no longer wear hats when they go out. Few men wear ties. Men and women often don't even "dress" to go to a fancy restaurant or to worship. We have lost traditions that I think add a little something special to our often mundane lives.

Last year I gave my daughter her first corsage and plan to give her another this year. This will be one of our "dress up" traditions. To celebrate the Easter holiday with friends (and for me the welcoming of spring,) I bought all four of the girls at the Easter party their own corsage. I called the local flower shop a couple of days early and had them make up special pink ones for the girls wrists. As all the girls were 5 and under, the florist took special care to ensure their were no pins sticking out. The flowers came, as they traditionally do, in little clear plastic boxes and smelled of refrigerated roses - fresh, clean and special to my nose. My daughter stood by the window (you can see the snow still on the ground) admiring her accoutrement. Her spring dress was not quite right for the still winter-like weather. The satiny pink brim of the hat -- yes, note that she is a hat person. We are bringing back that tradition too! -- perfectly matched the smooth, glossy petals. I'm not sure the other girls were enchanted with this unexpected surprise that brought a little nature and early summer to their ensemble. But I know that my little nature lover was enthralled.

I remember two occasions when I received corsages, my sixth grade graduation and the prom. There may have been other times, but these two are burned in my mind. I remember the pins being stuck into my dress. I remember the roses flopping against my body. I remember that fresh refrigerated rose smell....to this day the rose is still my favorite flower...