My Personal Sun

Oh, I love sunflowers!

I fell in love with them when I travelled in Spain as a student one summer.
I spent some time in a tiny village where a friend of mine spent his summers staying with his grandmother.
The house had no running water (1989) and our job every evening was to go to the communal fountain and fill canisters. The trip always took ages as we met other villagers (the core population was probably under 200 but swelled in the summer months).

The women at the lavadero thought I was a bit strange as I set off during siesta time with my sketch pad in hand to draw sunflowers...

The next village I stayed in, I worked on a farm for a few weeks and was a bit of a novelty, with my pale freckly skin and penchant for forgoing the siesta to visit the sunflower fields. One of the friends I made in that village indulged me in my love of sunflowers as she loved them too. Her words, "me encantan los girasoles" has always stayed with me.

My wedding flowers were sunflower based which was thought a bit untraditional at the time.

Nothing makes me smile more than to see a sunflower.
Usually I grow them in the garden but, for the past couple of years, the garden has been neglected. I bought one to plant this weekend and I love it already!