About this time of year, when the exterior environment has taken on autumn hues, soon to be replaced by winter’s colors of white, black, and gray, my thoughts turn to last May and a patch of Daisies that grow near the old clothesline. Unbeckoned, they thrive there with wild abandon and reappear each year.

Today, I am thinking about the word “Daisy” as a synonym for simplicity, and as a word that has come to symbolize love itself, in its most simple form. In antique images for embroidery, we see a boy holding a flower, yes – a Daisy. “She loves me, she loves me not,” he repeats as he pulls off each petal. The unlucky lad is the one who will run out of petals with a final blow of “She loves me not!” (The petals are so easy to embroider with the “Lazy Daisy” stitch!)

We have all heard the saying, “Fresh as a Daisy.” I wonder if that is why the razor company named their product “Daisy Razors?”

There is something fundamental about a Daisy. The flower makes no pretense. It is not an orchid. Comparing the two would be like lining up an old pickup truck and a Rolls Royce side by side. The pickup just “is” and makes no charge at being more important.

Since we do not hear the woman’s name, “Daisy,” very often today, we could think of it as a revisitation of former times. How many people actually name a child after a flower any more? In “the old days,” people were named “Rose” and “Hyacinth” … and “Daisy.”

Another, off-the-top of my head reference is the euphemistic term, “pushing up the Daisies,” something we shall all do, sooner or later.

To leave you on a more upbeat note, do you recall the movie, “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies?” I suppose I am showing my age now.

I hope that you enjoy Jim’s photo of Daisies. He has a way of capturing meaningful images in the common things around, and I suppose that reflects his own values as a simple man when it comes to enjoying all that God and Nature have to offer.

A song that I sing is called “,” written in 1892.

Until later,

Patricia Cummings

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 at 7:41 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.