At this moment there is a series on Dutch
television about the National Ballet. Appropriately it is called " blood
sweat and blisters". After seeing several episodes of that series I hardly
dare to write this story. Mind you I have really have an infinite admiration
for ballerinas. But here is my story .....
At this moment it is time to deadhead the tulips
in my garden. As you will know deadheading means removing the faded flower
heads. In a border 5 m wide, filled with hundreds of tulips, it is not an easy
job. It is almost impossible not to tread on the existing flowering ones.
Whilst doing so I imagine myself toddling through
the border on pointe shoes, gracefully bending over whilst deadheading one tulip
after another without – because of these small pointe shoes on my feet - damaging
the ones still in bloom. Of course this is all my imagination. The reality is
that I “carefully” step into the border on a pair of clumsy boots. How is that
for carefully trying to avoid damaging existing flowering tulips?
Of course I cannot wait to try them on immediately.
Let me describe the process to you. The front of the shoe is very tough and can
hardly be bent. It feels as if your foot is pressed into a tiny flowerpot! Next
step, I try to stand on my toes like a real ballerina does. I have to support
myself by holding one hand on the kitchen counter and the other on the kitchen
table. Painfully? That is an understatement, it is just impossible to describe
how much these shoes hurt!
Conclusion: Only in my imagination I can deadhead
tulips on pointe shoes. In reality, I will have to stick to my clunky boots!
Deadheaded tulips in a basket. |
Tulip border. |
Pointe shoes. I keep dreaming.... |
. The reality. My work boots. |
Lovely tulips, and I´m sure the boots are more suitable in the garden. My tulips has not started to bloom yet, lovely pictures, have a nice weekend! Regards Marika
ReplyDeleteHe-he! Imagine you tip toe-dancing trough the tulip border... Yes, it hurts. My daughter used to dance. Beautiful tulips! They just started flowering here.
ReplyDeleteDear Hetty,
ReplyDeleteduring our many holidays in your lovely countrys I have been admiring the gardens. Now I have found your lovely blog at this link-party and am enchanted! Most beautiful and witty! I have never thought on doing the dead-heading with ballett-shoes.... Great idea!
Have a nice weekend!
Sarah
Thank you for your kind words!
DeleteHi Hetty, nice dream to deadhead elegantly in pointe shoes! In my case it would be roses rather than tulips, though ;-)! Your tulip border looks so lovely, so I guess you have been pretty succesful deadheading even in you boots. Wishing you a nice rest of the weekend!
ReplyDeleteChristina