Sunflowers.
It’s funny that before I even left the house today I’d perused some pictures and decided that I wanted to write about this one. What’s to write about? I was in Portland, OR, a couple of years ago, a place where I used to have a home (or a few), and a life, and where now I wander around wondering if I’m going to run into someone I know and what that will be like. I was walking down Hawthorne, not far from the Baghdad, where I used to watch movies and eat over-topped slices of pizza, and I saw these sunflowers, and I had to stop and snap them.
So then how funny that I realized that yesterday Annje and I were “girasoles” (the word for sunflower in Spanish, which means “turns to the sun”) yesterday in her backyard as we tried to squeeze a summer day out of the middle of winter, tilting this way and that, straining up to the sun while her kids ran around, swung, jumped off things and did their homework in the backyard.
And then there was my unexpected trip to the Vega today, where I tooled around the back section where the cooperativa agrícola sign flies, and stopped to talk to one of my favorite vendors, whose overhead sign says “xuxa me pasé” which means roughly “damn, I outdid myself.” I was curious to know when okra comes into season, since it seems I always miss it. Almost no one eats it, and you have to go to the middle eastern section and ask for it, if you want it, because most people don’t even know what it is.
“Past September,” he said, and then recommended I go check with the other sometimes-bamia-bringer the next stand over. But I didn’t, because I got distracted by the topinambour, or sunchokes/jerusalem artichokes, and decided to pick up some of those. They’re related to sunflowers, and so there’s your double plus connection with the girasoles pictured above.
And the triple hit? Today on my way home from coffee with Stephanie, it was raining a frigid, insistent rain that filthied my pants and dampened my lower back, despite judicious application of raincoat. Which has nothing to do with sunflowers, but has nearly everything to do with many of my memories of Portland.
So which came first, the picture or the memories/experiences?
(also, if you came earlier and saw a very unbearshapedspherian post about alfresco dining here, that was for somewhere else, and it’s all fixed now.)
Those sunflowers…wow! Great picture for a rainy day like today. I saw the previous post and I thought maybe you had published to the wrong blog because my first thought was “This does not sound like Eileen!”
oh yes, the problem of having 3 wordpress places I have to update to, and not looking carefully at the preview. Work writing is work writing, and the blog, well, she is something totally different! Thanks for being able to tell the difference!
As the writer of Seashells and Sunflowers, I felt it my duty to read this post immediately. 🙂 The sunflowers that grow in the countryside surrounding Necochea are the type with big, fat seed heads, as their destiny is to be converted into sunflower oil. The flowers in your photo are much daintier, though no less beautiful. Isn’t it funny how something as simple as a flower can connect us to far-flung people and places?
Thanks for chiming in so early on! I want to come and see your sunflowers. I do love them, even when they’re dainty and growing in someone’s garden. When’s your best sunflower peeping? And yes, I love sunflowers. They remind me of Spain. And now, of you!
Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers. I dressed up as a sunflower for Halloween one year in college. Lots of memories of pizzerias and theaters and rain in Portland. And it was so nice to soak up sun with you the other day after noodles. (and hey, I posted about those worms 😉
Annje, you totally posted about the worms. I love how your husband denied worm-obsession even as he was forking through the worm-pile. And yes, soaking up sun is amazing, and so is your yard! And the noodles, oh, the noodles! See you soon! I’m glad you love sunflowers, too!
Beautiful photo, Eileen!
Thanks! they’re beautiful flowers!
Ha, I read the other post and wondered what had spurred your declaration of love for Patio Bellavista. Now it all makes sense.
I love coincidences like these – although I could have done without the rain and am guessing you could too.
oh yes, I am a big goober. I shouldn’t work on Sundays, then that never would have happened. Though if you have to blog about “alfresco dining” it’s not a bad place to write about. Though cuicos will prefer borde del rio, no es cierto?
And yes, the rain on the way home was frigid on my bike. double plus freezing! Hope you stayed warm!
Sunflowers. Sounds like summer-dreaming to me. Spring must be getting close–we’re all looking for sun any way we can get it. Thanks for brightening up the day!
And totally had no idea that sunchokes were related to sunflowers!
they are lovely, aren’t they. I wonder how long it woudl take to visit Katie in Argentina to see their sunflowers. I’m tempted! And yes, I’ll travel far for the pretty.
im originally from southern california, now im living in portland oregon and my husband is chilean, we have plans on going to chile in a year or so 🙂 i hope i enjoy in sedtember jejej