Sumire Means Violet in Japanese

Spring Violets, a photo by Candied Sumire on Flickr.

Perhaps some readers may wonder about my screen-name. Violets are one of my favorite flowers so I chose the name Sumire since it means violet (the flower, not the color) in Japanese. My mother wanted violets for her wedding bouquet but as she married in May they were already out of season. I would like them as well but my June wedding puts them even more out of season. I think this missed chance has always made violets a little melancholy to me but that has made them even more dear.

In order to not miss out on violets this year (I hope to press a few) I picked three on my way home. I felt quite nefarious doing it since, as I mentioned earlier, my mother always taught me not to pick flowers. To ease my conscience I picked a very few and left many behind. Once I had them home the collection of little glass bottles on my bureau called out to me, so I had to put the violets and some water in one.  In a few days I will get them in my flower press though, never fear!

Springing Forward

I apologize for disappearing for such a long stretch.  My "day job" was keeping me quite busy but when my position was eliminated Mr. Dashing offered me the opportunity to focus fully on my writing and art.  I can't imagine a happier downsized person than me.  I am still looking for work but I'm staying in my fields of art and writing rather than the clerical, secretarial and education related work that I did in the past.  I do still enjoy teaching but as teachers know, it leaves little time for anything else.  I do hope to volunteer in an educational program or two.

That is written in the future tense because just now I am being kept very busy planning a wedding, my wedding.  Mr. Dashing and I have been engaged for well over a year and at one time I believed that meant I'd get everything in order months and months ahead of time.  Alas, this was not to be.  So now I am frantically addressing envelopes and wrestling with the complexities of which flowers are in season and what they each mean... with the wedding less than two months away!