TEXAS BLUE BELLS

A favorite pasttime that I shared with my husband was making the trek through various country roads in late June every year. Our mission was two-fold: a. find some ripe field corn, b. look for blue bells. Blue bells are beautiful wildflowers that grow en masse in out of the way places. Texas Highway Department has never planted them along the highways as they have with bluebonnets, indian paintbruushes, etc. Blue bells are light blue to deep-almost purple flowers on long stems. Their leaves are a silvery green, almost of a succulent texture....and when picked, will stay fresh in water for at least 10-18 days. Blue Bell ice cream is named after these flowers as they grow extensively in Central Texas.

Late June celebratory occasions called for Blue Bells. Before retirement, Clu Flu always took blue bells to nurses who worked with him. Gathering blue bells was a ritual. Clu Flu would climb over the barbed wire fence, pull out his handy Christy knife ( a sliding blade knife that is handy for opening mail and other general purposes--not a weapon) and cut blue bells, stripping them of lower leaves as he went. He was always careful not to pick so many that the field was ravaged. There had to be enough left to re-seed for the next June. Most often, we would return to the field the next year and would be rewarded with another gorgeous field of blue, gently swaying in the hot breeze. Sometimes, an industrious individual would have mowed the field before the flowers had a chance to bloom...this was very sad, as that limited the amount of blue bells.

Two years ago, I organized a surprise birthday party for him (B/D is 06/26) and knew that blue bells would be on each table. I made up a story that we had to gather blue bells for a shower Ruth was giving for a friend.

This year, I have not made any solitary trips to look for blue bells. On his birthday however, I did find some cultivated blue bells for sale at a grocery and bought two bunches to take to his grave. I thought that finding those in the store was serendipitous.

Earlier this week, I pulled into a Walgreen parking lot off 303 to take a lengthy work call---I found a shade tree and parked there, settling in to take notes and interview this person on the cellphone. There was a 3 acre or so empty lot behind the store, and as I looked up and out over the field, I was amazed to see literally thousands of blue bells---right in Arlington city limits. I was very pleased--a good sign--true serendipity. On Friday after work (causal day---jeans) I went out to that field and picked 2 handfuls---being careful to randomly pick them from all over the field. Placed them in a water cup and headed to the cemetery where I placed half of them on his grave....Happy Anniversary, Clu Flu.............