CFFC Blue or Purple Flowers…Lavender’s blue, Dilly Dilly

Lavender’s blue, dilly, dilly, lavender’s green
When I am king, dilly, dilly, You shall be queen
Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?
‘Twas my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so

If you’ve ever been in Provence when the lavender’s in season, or even after it’s been harvested, you’ll know how strong the aroma is. Tuck a packet of lavender in your clothes and they’ll carry a faint, delicious scent of lavender. When my s-i-l moved to another part of France, she planted these plants. The bees in NE France are thrilled.

Links to more entries can be found here.

Five Photos, Five Stories Day 5…Calgon, take me away.

My five days of story telling are at an end, at least for the purposes of this challenge.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the stories as well as the photos and, as always, thanks for taking the time to read and, often, comment.  Today I’m nominating any of you who would like to participate.  Remember the rules:  Write a story each day for five days, based on one of your photos, and nominate someone else each day.  Of course, there are no enforcers here, at least not that I’ve seen, so you may participate in whichever way you choose.  Above all, have fun and, whether or not you participate, have a marvelous weekend.

 

Calgon, take me away.

For me, it’s lavender.

The scent takes me back to the fields in which we lay
after our lunch of pate and wine,
hidden from the road,
scented with love.
My fingers run through your dark hair,
yours caress my lips.
You murmur French nothings into my ear.
I purr with pleasure.

I inhale again deeply,
take another sip of wine,
channel my inner author,
and continue writing.

Phoneography and Non-SLR Digital Devices Photo Challenge: Nature…Lavender Dreams

 One of the things I miss about my s-i-l and b-i-l no longer living in Provence is being able to buy bags of lavender at the markets.  But my s-i-l has done a wonderful job with their gardens and land, planting lavender in many places, where its perfume attracts bees, butterflies and me as well.  I share a few shots today with you for the Phoneography Challenge theme, “Nature.”  Be sure to click on the link to find other beautiful photo offerings.

The air was fragrant with a thousand trodden aromatic herbs, with fields of lavender, and with the brightest roses blushing in tufts all over the meadows…
~William Cullen Bryant

Here’s your sweet lavender
sixteen sprigs a penny
that you’ll find my ladies
will smell as sweet as any

~Lavender Sellers’s Cry, London England CA 1900

We shall find a cleanly room
lavender in the windows
and twenty ballads stuck about the wall.

Izaak Walton The Compleat Angler 1653-55

As Rosemary is to the Spirit, so Lavender is to the Soul.

For your Monday soul…

“And lavender, whose spikes of azure bloom
shall be, ere-while, in arid bundles bound
to lurk admist the labours of her loom,
and crown her kerchiefs witl mickle rare perfume.”

William Shenstone The School Mistress 1742

Friday Fictioneers–Lavender Blue

How many years does it take for children’s songs to fade from your brain?  The answer seems to be an infinite number, so choose those songs carefully!  Our girls loved Sharon, Lois, and Bram and one of the songs they sang comes from Burl Ives and before him from folk song history.  It’s called “Lavender Blue” and the lyrics and lovely melody SL&B sang have been in my head all these years.  It inspired the title of this week’s story.

If you’re new to Friday Fictioneers, each week on Wednesday, a number of addicted writers wait with great anticipation for the photo prompt selected by our hostess-with-the-most-ess, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  We then cudgel our brains a/o wait for the muse to strike us (hard), then craft our stories for the week with the best hundred words we can choose.  If you’d like read more stories, click on the little blue guy at the end of my story, sit back, and enjoy. Feel free to “like” and comment too. We writers love interaction with our readers. And if you’d like to join, the door’s always open.

 

copyright Sandra Cook

Lavender Blue

Lavender perfumes the patio where we linger over déjeuner with local wine, basking in the sun, relishing food chosen at the village market.

Once children are gone, it’s time to move on.  We took “move” literally, leaving the town where we’d lived and had a child.  Choosing Provence had been easy, finding the house more difficult. This house attracted us with its quirky sculpture. It remains a now-bearable reminder of the tricycle David was riding when the drunk driver’s car jumped the curb, hitting him as he joyously wheeled along the sidewalk.

Lavender perfumes the urn tucked in the garden.

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Lavender Blue
(Sharon, Lois and Bram)

 Lavender’s blue
Dilly dilly
Lavender’s green
If I were king
Dilly dilly
You’d be my queen

Who told you so
Dilly dilly
Who told you so
I told myself
Dilly dilly
I told me so

Lavender