Wild and free...........!

I hope the title captured your attention!!!

My sister and I spend a lot of time (most days from 8 am to at least 8 pm ;-) at the Assisted Living facility section of the nursing home where our parents reside.  As such, we feel almost a 'proprietary sense' for the place.  We know all the other residents and nurses and other employees in that section and most days we eat both lunch and dinner with them, since we help our mom with her meals.

We participate in programs and there is always a big jigsaw puzzle being worked on at one of the tables.  Everyone stops by to find and add a piece or two.

For Father's Day, I had decided I wanted to make a big arrangement for the dining room and had my mind set as to what exact flowers I wanted to use.

For days I had been noticing the Queen Anne's Lace (one of my favorite wild flowers and one I had been missing for years, since I haven't seen any growing in Hawaii) and a lot of daylilies growing wild along the sides of the road.  One evening on the drive home I had taken a different road (just to vary the drive) and had spotted a lush and gorgeous hydrangea bush growing in the yard of an old homestead.

I could just picture the colors, shapes and textures of the flowers in the arrangement!

Sunday morning, after our mom had been settled down in her recliner for a little nap after breakfast, Sandra and I took off to "hunt" for flowers.  Sandra drove and I was the 'spotter'.

We stopped several places along the side of the road to snip some Queen Anne's Lace and got a good bunch.  We found an abandoned place almost right next to where I had last stopped for Queen Anne's Lace and found there a nice patch of daylilies in three colors; lemon yellow, orange and a rust bown/burgundy that was absolutely gorgeous!

I had saved the clincher for last.  We drove up the driveway between the old homestead where I had spotted the hydrangeas and a newer home and I went to the door of the newer home to knock and ask permission to cut the gorgeous blue flowers.....the door opens and a man asks if he can help me.

Stammering, I replied "You probably think I'm either nuts or have a lot of nerve, but I have set my heart on making a huge Father's Day arrangement for one of the dining rooms the Countryside Nursing home and I would like to use some of the blue hydrangeas next door.  Is that OK?

He was very gracious and said, "Of course.  Take all you want...."  As I was clipping away, he came over and said the abandoned house was his mom's homestead and she had planted the bush many, many years ago....he also added that he knew she would have wanted to share them with others and that I could come back as many times as I wanted for more if I needed or wanted more!

With my arms loaded with beautiful flowers, we returned to the home and I started my hunt for an appropriate vase....finding one in the activity room, I started putting together the arrangement.....

This was the result and it turned out just as I had envisioned it!  As they came in for lunch, every single resident made comments about the gorgeous flowers.