Botanical Garden, Part 1: The Flowers

I'm looking forward to Fall, but I will miss the flowers.  I am sure I will think to myself "Where have all the flowers gone?"  Here is a song that goes with the theme!

  When taken by it's literal meaning only, the song "Where Have all the Flowers Gone" is a great anthem for the sorrow of fall. Even though I love fall, there is a sadness about it. But this song isn't talking about literal flowers. The sorrow of this song is much greater. It is the sorrow of war. The song is about young men going off to war. However, if you want this song to be just about the wistful sadness that accompanies the change of summer to fall, that is okay. The author of this song, Pete Seeger says this about his songs "You know, a song can mean a thousand different things to different people, and when people ask me what the song means, I say, "Whatever it means to you, it means". But I'm not going to tell you what it means to me because that's my ... well, I might destroy your illusions." *

   I love this perspective on music and think it equally applies to all forms of art. Just because a book, poem, picture or song meant one thing to the author when they wrote it, does not mean that is the only meaning, or the most important meaning.

  These pictures are from my visit to the Bellevue Botanical Garden. Bellevue is a city very near Seattle, but for the most part I have no reason (and little interest) in going to Bellevue. But this botanical garden was great! I liked wandering around both the well manicured and more wild portions of this garden.

*Source for information about Pete Seeger and 'Where Have All the Children Gone': 
Smith, Ian K. "Top 20 Political Songs: Where Have All the Flowers Gone."Top 20 Political Songs: Where Have All the Flowers Gone | Pete Seeger | 1961. New Statesman, 25 Mar. 2010. Web. 07 Sept. 2015.