May 10, 2014

Flickr Favourites: May 10, 2014




{The world ~ sugarpie honeybunch}



{The Yellow Rose ~ AllHarts}



{Raving beauty ~ sugarpie honeybunch}



{Pink Too! ~ misseskwittys}


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{Roses! Roses! ROSES! ~ saltycotton}



{cabbage rose print dress ~ Small Earth Vintage}



{Toasting Your Roses ~ saltycotton}



{Rose cupcakes ~ Call me cupcake}



{Pink Czech Rhinestone Vintage Jewelry Embellished Perfume Bottle ~ glassbeadtreasures}


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{Cashmere Bouquet Soap, 1949 ~ classic_film}



{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on its title to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}



 

In what has become one of the most frequently quoted lines of all time from his writing, William Shakespeare once said "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet", and while that may very well ring true on the scent front, it's hard (for English speakers) to imagine a rose actually going by any other moniker. This small, charming four letter word instantly conjures up vivid memories for most people and has been the very name by which we have indeed called this flower for hundreds of years now.

Like countless others during that time, I place roses at the very top of my list of favourite flowers. Curvaceous, beguilingly scented, relatively hearty (the wee little rose bushes we have on our front patch of lawn continued to bloom until early November last year), and as gorgeous as the day is long, it's easy to see why so many go weak in the knees for this perpetually romantic flower – not to mention fashion, artwork, and other items that depict it.

Roses have an allegorical quality when it comes to life itself. They are fabulously beautiful and have many endearing qualities, but they also rest atop a stem of sharp, painful thorns. What one sees on the surface is not always the full story. I can relate to their mixtures of beauty, romance, and discomfit. It speaks to my soul and encourages me to always keep my head up like a rose in full bloom, reaching for the sun, instead of focusing on the hardships below.

There has never been a time in my life when I didn't love roses. They grew in the gardens of most of my childhood homes and are the only thing I opted to plant in the aforementioned teeny, tiny plot (it's but a few feet long and perhaps three or four feet wide) that we have to garden in on the front yard of our condo. I would almost go so far as to say that I need roses. They bring me a certain kind of joy that no other flower, even those I adore nearly as much, can and their scent is, undoubtedly, amongst my most beloved as well.

My wardrobe is splashed with roses, as is my home decor. They appear in my jewelry box, closest, throw pillows, paper crafting projects, and hair accessories, as well as playing a star or supporting role in various perfumes I've dabbed on my skin over the years. I buy rose scented candles, beauty products (if I can find ones my uber sensitive skin can tolerate), and even adore eating rose flavoured foots (good Turkish delight is, to my mind, one of the best candies on earth - Purdy's makes an especially lovely love gluten-free one here in Canada, if you're in the market for a package).

Unless the winter has been an especially harsh and long lasting one, May nearly always brings with it the first glorious, inspiring roses of the season (the largest public concentration of which, here in Penticton, can be found at our beautiful little local rose garden down by Okanagan Lake) and that fact makes my heart - and nose - sing with joy!

Whether you're as wild about roses (of which there are more than a hundred species and thousands of varieties) as I am, chances are you like these sublimely pretty garden dwellers in one form or another (real deal, art, fashion, food, etc) and share at least enthusiasm for their return each spring.

The rose is one of those extra special blooms that is adored near and far. They bring us happiness, speak volumes of romance and friendship, and are a powerful reminder of just how incredibly lovely the warmer half of the year is. I couldn't, come to think of it, picture life without roses - and that fact alone ensures they'll always be my favourite flower.

23 comments:

  1. I love the toaster ad! That's probably the most glamorous toaster I've ever see, haha! Also, the pink and green rose dress above it is just beautiful. Wonderful theme for this post!

    Cheers,
    Jenny

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  2. i agree with Jenny, what a wonderful and refreshing theme this is! i just love roses (ahem, actually, all flowers) especially yellow ones. but can i just take a moment to mention how utterly amazing that red and pink rose bathroom is?! my goodness, talk about unexpected delight!
    thank you for sharing, Jessica!
    ~Abigail

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  3. Hello Jessica,

    Wow, what a bathroom! I could live with that.

    I love, oh just love, that so, so pretty rose print dress!

    Yes, you are right, there is something about roses, bushes of them, vases, of them or dried bunches of them, roses have lasting beauty and such lovely fragrance. And although they grace many elegant homes, they are equally appropriate in the simplest cottages. Give me a rose adorned white picket fenced cottage.

    Happy Saturday!
    ♥Hope

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  4. My grandfather was a gifted gardener and could take a cutting from any rose and have it grow.He died when I was very young so my mother and her sisters took up where he left off and each have very large flower gardens filled with roses. I luckily have one of my grandfathers roses which has been transplanted a few times, but still after all these years blooms with massive amount of flowers.

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  5. Oh I love this flicker edition. I love flowers! The first image is soo beautiful. Thanks for sharing Jessica :)

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  6. I am so glad that floral prints are trending, because it gives me a chance to stock up on cloyingly sweet rose prints. I am wearing THE most ridiculous pair of rose leggings at the moment, coincidentally. My husband thinks they are hilarious... but I love them.
    -L A

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  7. It's uncanny and almost unsettling -- your visual style is precisely identical to mine. At least in my dreams. The images in your posts are so closely aligned to those held in my heart that it's unsettling. Are we related somehow? :-)

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  8. Ooh, roses, how can anyone not love the? My favourite flower is the Lilacs, which are in bloom right now in Denmark, but I adore ALL flowers and have a very large and old fashioned garden filled with many different flowers in every colour. Have a lovely Sunday, dear. :)

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  9. Roses is magical, people used to love flowers back then till then.
    I have no specify favorite flower, but i do love roses. I guess every woman does.

    g-carinoo.blogspot.com

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  10. I LOVE roses, too, and am just awaiting the days when ours start to bloom. Roses always remind me of one of my grandmas as she always had rise scented lotions and decorated her bedroom and bathroom with roses galore. Her favorite color was pink and so pink roses were everywhere, and I cannot see a picture of one without smelling her rose water and smiling. Thank you for such and fragrant and sweet memory today.
    Sarah

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  11. I love roses so much. There was an enormous rose bush that grew next to this auto repair shop in my old home town (random, I know) that had the biggest blooms I've ever seen. Dozens and dozens of tiny petals, and the strongest scent I've ever found in a rose. I think I cried when I walked by one day and found that they'd dug it up, and to this day I wonder why they did.

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  12. Ive always loved rose and pink a pink 1950s bathroom is a day dream of mine

    retro rover

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  13. Jessica Good Night!
    Beautiful pictures, I still have an account on Flickr, but I intend to create one. Jessica was very glad you won your jewelry store was one of my favorite posts. I spoke to you on the blog when I can come visit me. Tons of hugs dear friend Jessica.

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  14. I am a sucker for a rose print and would love a huge rose garden with every colour of the flower. Can you imagine that intoxicating perfume! But I am going to have to stick to roses on clothes as I kill every plant in my garden and roses are no exception. XXX

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  15. Dear Jessica, you have here a beautiful "bunch" of images! Rose is one of my favorite flowers too. I have strong and fond memories of roses from my childhood, just like you. I remember so well the wonderful smell emanating while I used to play near them. Thank you so much for this tribute to a glorious flower and to bring such memories full of joy to my heart today!

    Miss Beta xxx

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  16. Such a lovely post! I especially like the first picture and the picture of that bathroom with a dressing table! I want a dressing table.... I don't know if you remember but I went to that pin-up comp on the weekend and I uploaded a few pictures :)

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  17. So many cute photos. Cashmere Bouquet was my grandmother's favorite soap. I really want to grow some roses on my patio, but I have to find the type that can withstand the summer heat here.

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  18. Jessica I don't know what I love more the rose dress or the pink bathroom!

    It's funny you mentioned that Shakespeare quote. My daughter's acting class had an improve performance where they had to do a scene and each one had to fit in a Shakespeare quote. It was hilarious!

    Sarah

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  19. Roses are just glorious. Where I grew up my local park had a beautiful rose garden and we used to go and read the amazing names and smell them all. My parents grew roses in their garden and I gave happy memories of collecting fallen petals and making 'perfume'! That dress is beautiful.

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  20. Great Spring inspiration! I love the pink room. Also that rose dress. Not sure about the Okanogan, but Spring is taking its sweet time in these parts. All I want is blooms!

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  21. This post was a huge joy to read, and the pictures are wonderfully inspiring. I LOVE roses, they're my favourite flowers, and we have more than 100 different varieties in our garden. I am happy my husband became so fond of them as I am, so this is a gorgeous passion to share. I'm always very excited in late May and early June, when they start to bloom. It's like an explosion of colours and scents...

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  22. May is the month of roses, so, was there a best subject for a post?
    They are at the top of my favourite list of flowers too... a bunch of these beautiful flowers can full of joy the house!

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  23. I definitely love that bathroom. I'm somewhat surprised because I'm not usually drawn to so much pink, and maybe add a bit of green to tone it down, but I wouldn't mind having such a layout in my house.

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