Zinnias

Dear Reader,

I hope your week is starting well!  Today has been a day of catch up around our house (laundry, bills, groceries, cleaning, etc.) after spending the last week in Chicago with my family.  We enjoyed the company of many of our relatives this weekend (and my mom is an amazing hostess!)  On Saturday evening there were 17 around the table with plenty of conversation to go around.

One of my favorite places to visit in Chicagoland is the Morton Arboretum.   The maze garden there is phenomenal (a favorite for my four year old), and the children's garden is exceptional!  I spotted a lovely patch of zinnias in the children's garden and snapped a few shots.

Zinnias remind me of my grandmother.  Zinnias and snapdragons seemed to be such a staple in her garden.  I realized in thinking about these flowers how many nice memories of my grandma extend from summer months.  She tended her gardens so nicely.  She grew raspberries in backyard, and my cousins and I would pick them (and then she would serve them on ice cream for us all.)  And she absolutely loved trips to the farmer's market during the summer months.  I often wish I could have shared that experience with her as an adult who appreciates farmer's market far more now than as a young child.

And so the trip to the arboretum was full of nice memories of the past and also of enjoying the present with my dear husband and son. 

I'm linking up this post with Heather (and all of the great posts of lovely moments in life.)