{January 5, 2011}

Today I'm cheating a bit (although I've read there really aren't any rules in Project 365) as I took this photo over the summer. My computer is still down which means I'm stuck using my iPhone, but I truly love this picture and want to share it. Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers and I've longed to have huge bushes of them scattered around our landscaping. The last house we lived in--back in Portland--had beautiful, large hydrangea bushes in shades of blue, green, and pink. Every time I drove up I was greeted with big, vibrant blossoms that always brought a smile to my face. Naturally, when we bought this house one of the many things I planned to do was buy some hydrangeas and plant them so that the they were the first thing I, or anyone else, saw when pulling up to our home. While out at Lowe's one day I found some, already in bloom, brought them home, and placed them in the ground. I envisioned them growing over the months and years and wondered if the plants would give any other colors than the azure ones already on the stems. Of course I snapped some pics throughout the process, not realizing how glad I'd be that I did so at the time. Not long after I planted my beloved hydrangeas a freak cold snap came through and froze all of them...killing them in the process. I was so sad but I'm holding out hope that by some miracle they'll come back in the spring. In the meantime, I make do with this photo which also serves as the background for my iPhone so I can see it everyday.

On to the pic...{click to view full size}