Flowers and Not So Little Girls

Do you know the story of Frederick, the mouse, who, instead of collecting nuts for winter, collects the colors and smell and taste of summer? When winter comes along and the supply of nuts that the other mice collected is dwindling Frederick starts talking about the beautiful summer days that he "collected" in his memory.

Today, it was easy collecting memories for next winter...

Can you believe those wild flowers? Seriously, there were miles and miles of meadows full of flowers like this. I was so tempted to stand on top and roll down...but alas, there were other people around. I don't think they would have understood my "collecting"...

afterwards we stopped at a farmer's roadside stand and purchased asparagus and freshly picked strawberries

and put the flowers, that daughter picked in a vase.

During summer time I get lots of flowers from her. Unfortunately, they are sometimes from other people's garden.

When I thank her and tell her to stop picking flowers out of someone else's garden, she normally replies: "I am a little girl. And little girls always pick flowers."

But looking at this picture, she isn't really that little anymore, isn't she?

Sigh. I remember reading "Frederick" to her and it doesn't really seem that long ago.