Crysanthamums!

Like old timey embroidery, hand knit on a quilt.

Crysanthamums remind me of October, pumpkins, and hot chocolate. I worked for over three years every weekend and summer growing up at a huge outdoor nursery and greenhouse down the road. At only 13 years old it was my first job. By the time I turned 16 I had saved $6500 at minimum wage to buy my first car from that job.

It was hard work sometimes, other times it was beautiful. I remember one weekend a huge tractor trailer came full to the brim with gorgeous orange pumpkins for the fall season. Me and the guys formed a chain tossing pumpkins to one another unloading that trailer for over an hour. So many pumpkins! I remember the feel and heft of them still and the smell of straw and hay. It was a good day.

I remember another time organizing hundred and hundreds of crysanthamums one fall in long color assorted rows. It was like the pictures you see of the tulip fields in Holland, but full of crysanthamums like an autumn rainbow in so many shades of burnt orange, creams, and golden yellow.

All of those memories come flooding back just from the sight of these blooms. I am amazed how rich the remembrance grows!