Vegetable love

I love having cut flowers in my home.  There is a Navajo saying, "I walk in beauty", and having fresh flowers in my home reminds me that beauty truly is all around me.  Usually I buy my own flowers at the grocery store, but I am occasionally graced with a bouquet by my husband.  Last week he brought home a wonderful spray of yellow orchids which looked like Victorian dresses blowing on a clothesline.

My favorite bouquet from him, however, had no flowers.  I don't remember the occasion, but I treasure the memory of him presenting me with an artful arrangement of vegetables.  It sounds odd -- well, it was odd -- but it was lovely.  Red onions mixed with tall white leeks, and they were off set by a couple of long-stemmed, purple-edged artichokes. Instead of baby's breath I received a spray of broccoli.  It even smelled good in a hearty, savory way.  It took me several days before I took the whole thing apart and used its beauty in a whole new way -- supper.