Friday has always been “Date Night” in the Garinn household, usually with grilled steaks, great wine and a late night walk hand-in-hand. Several months ago, we decided to add another dimension to our Fridays: fresh flowers. It began with Jon stopping at the grocery store on his way home from work to pick up a fresh bouquet. But a few late nights at the office, coupled with sometimes poor selection, often rude shoppers and always indifferent grocery story workers led us to start looking for fresh flowers wherever we could find them: in our own backyard, on a neighbor’s rose bush (so many roses–he won’t miss just one!) or simply growing wild.

For Fresh Flower Friday on July Fourth, we decided to skip the red, white and blue carnations that seemed ubiquitous. Instead, Cliff risked burs and bugs to snatch a wild sunflower growing just off the road near our campsite. We love that it’s imperfect (like us), yet bursting with vibrant color as it stands proud and strong against the gleaming aluminum “skin” of our Airstream. Lovely!