Finding Art

I used to visit this woman from church that had been a school teacher/ author. In the summer, to supplement their teaching careers, she and her husband wrote children's books. She also was something of an artist. Her father was an artist by trade. One time when I went to her home, I noticed an arrangement of all kinds of dried weeds in a vase. Some of them looked like dried Thistle heads, and some were other interesting dried plants. I commented on how interesting and beautiful the arrangement was. She told me that her father always tried to help his children find art in the common things. She said every fall he would take his children out to gather the brown, dried up plants. They would make arrangements in vases in their home. Most people might look at them as just a bunch of weeds, but they looked beautiful in her home. As I was out walking today by the reservoir I saw some dried thistle heads and remembered my friend. I might just need to gather a bouquet for the coming fall months!