Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions…
“The only valid thing in art is the one thing that cannot be explained, to explain away the mystery of a great painting would do irreplaceable harm, for whenever you explain or define something you substitute the explanation or the definition for the” Henri Matisse
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... purple & pink azaleas
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... purple lavender
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... yellow forsythia
We go through life learning to define things by their given names. We see the world through the lens our parents show us and we learn to connect pictures with names and put things in their little boxes. As we get older, many of us rebel because we don’t want to be defined by others and what they see through their narrow lens; yet we perpetuate the behavior with our own labels. When I read the email from my sister that contained the funny definitions below, I chuckled and then thought about the larger meaning of labels, definitions, and the limitations or expectations they bring into our lives. Imagine what it would feel like to arrive at a place with completely different definitions from what is familiar to you. How would you react? What would you do?
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... first bloom from my Japanese peony shrub this year
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... more peony buds
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... white bleeding hearts
MISER: A person who lives poor so that he can die RICH!
OPTIMIST: A person who while diving from a plane without a parachute says “See, I’m not injured yet!”
CIGARETTE: A pinch of tobacco rolled in paper with fire at one end and a fool at the other!
CONFERENCE ROOM: A place where everybody talks, nobody listens and everybody disagrees later on.
To make this little exercise in escapism colorful and relaxing, I’ve added pictures from my garden. These are the flowers currently blooming in my yard. I’m glad to share my first Japanese peony bloom of the season above…. and other flowers too. What’s your take on the definitions?
“County library? Reference desk, please. Hello? Yes, I need a word definition. Well, that’s the problem. I don’t know how to spell it and I’m not allowed to say it. Could you just rattle off all the swear words you know and I’ll stop you when…Hello?” Calvin & Hobbes
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... white azaleas
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... blue purple vinca
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... lilac flowers
CLASSIC: A book which people praise, but never read.
SMILE: A curve that can set a lot of things straight!
BOSS: Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early.
POLITICIAN: One who shakes your hand before an election and your confidence after
When I read the quote above, I had a good laugh as it tied in with this notion of definitions/words that are acceptable or not; our training is fraught with forbidden words and we grow up learning to avoid using certain words or to use others only at special times… Oh, the power of language and all the rules we live by… More funny definitions above and below.
“Art is why I get up in the morning; my definition ends there. You know it doesn’t seem fair, that I’m living for something I can’t even define. And there you are right there, in the mean time.” Ani Difranco
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... pink azaleas
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... lambsear
Reflections: Garden Flowers & Humorous Definitions... lavender & white lilacs
COMPROMISE: The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.
EXPERIENCE: The name we give to our mistakes.
DOCTOR: A person who kills your ills by pills, and kills you by his bills!
I enjoyed what Difranco said above… Sometimes, what we do cannot be fully defined in words alone and so it is best to just acknowledge the process that guides us there and let the work speak for itself. Perhaps that is why I love photography; each person sees something different through their lens, and the reader/viewer adds their own interpretation to the image before them. Sure, I see flowers but each shot was a captured moment in time and the thoughts I had varied from frame to frame… What I see is one thing and perhaps what you see is another… Or as President Clinton said once,“That depends on what your definition of “is” is.” What do you think? 😉
What are your thoughts? What are some funny definitions you’ve read/found? Do you view the world through a humorous lens? Do share! Thank you. 🙂
Positive Motivation Tip: Often in life, people define us through a lens that is of their making; choose your lens and define yourself.
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos from my personal collection.
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
“the larger meaning of labels, definitions and the limitations or expectations they bring into our lives. Imagine what it would feel like to arrive at a place with completely different definitions from what is familiar to you. How would you react? What would you do?”
I am looking forward to seeing our world through my children’s eyes. I am sure there will many humorous perceptions to relate!
Such beautiful photos. I never tire of saying that with your photos!
Thank you, Eliz, for putting a smile on my face with the definition of smile: a curve that sets everything straight. 🙂
And your flowers are so lovely…thank you for sharing them with us!
Love the definitions, quotes AND flowers! Great post! Thanks for putting a smile on my face! 🙂
SMILE: The straightest curve between two persons.
A cheerful post to start my day, thank you. I loved the definitions.
Funny post! I love the one about the cigarette and the conference room 🙂
My personal favorite is “smile” and your flowers look so joyful – beautiful.
Your garden must be beautiful with the abundant blooms.
I, too, like the smile definition, but the one of the politician–how true and timeless.
What beautiful flowers! I’ll also try to take flowers in my garden photo.
Love your flowers! I miss my peony bushes, they are my favorites. The definitions are a hoot, and pretty apt.
Thanks for the post.
p.s. blogger had issues yesterday and that’s probably why you got a repost. They have a lot of ‘splainin’ to do! and lots to still fix. Scary to think you could lose your blog to a glitch! Back-up, back-up, back-up!
Love the forsythia! We don’t have that here – too warm. One of the spring plants I miss.
Those quotes made me laugh! And the photos are beautiful. You’ve got a very colorful garden!
Wow the definitions are funny. I like the last part “choose your lens and define yourself”. Everything has labels. I even have a name. Sometimes our own definitions are what we let other people think and feel we are but no one can really define us who we truly are but our own self.
I love your garden. I really love flowers, they can actually make me happy. I can sit and stare at them even under the heat of the sun.:)
Your blogs never fail to inspire me.
The vinca and bleeding hearts are beautiful.
Loved, loved, loved this post! Gorgeous photos and terrific definitions.
Thanks, E!
The photos are beautiful. This made think more about the “larger meaning of labels, definitions, and the limitations or expectations they bring into our lives”-. Beautiful inspiring post ! 🙂
What beautiful flowers. Fun post that makes one think.
Envy=they should be in my yard!
You never let us down, those photo’s are so amazing. So Inspirational too. Thanks so much.
I have not noticed seeing a peony since I was a young child growing up in the Pacific Northwest. They were all around the first house I grew up in. It reminds me of the days when I was as young as my son. “What I see is one thing and perhaps what you see is another”, you say. We both saw the flowers, but with them you transported me to a time when I was four years old, a lifetime ago. The beauty of them is timeless and they make me think of happy, youthful times spent with my mother when she was young too.
Thanks for the memories, Elizabeth. Just another reason I love to come here. You bestow gifts with your words and your photos that you don’t even know you are giving. Truly, you are your own special kind of angel on Earth! <3
Simply beautiful.
OPTIMIST: A person who while diving from a plane without a parachute says “See, I’m not injured yet!”
This is my favorite quote of all of them. It certainly got a laugh out of me.
Somehow my mind can never remember the name of things. Especially, when it comes to nature. No matter how many times my friend who has always lived amongst the elements of nature says this tree is name this or that tree is named that….I can never remember. My mind always seems to be in a place where there are very little definitions.
Those definitions brought a curve to my face! 🙂 I think I prefer them to the official definitions.
Those flowers are gorgeous, especially the lilacs!
Did you identify the first lilacs as lavender to make a point about definitions and expectations? If so, it worked — jolted me awake into wondering why.
And then the second blossoming tree is also defined lilac. (It isn’t, but I don’t know what it is.) And then the third flower labeled lilac was the real one. Like a fairy tale?????