And for our second-to-last album on this extended Florida vacation, I leave you with one of my favorite things EVER:
What we refer to as Palmetto Love Roses.
Throughout areas along the Georgia coast and into the South Carolina lowcountry, from the Golden Isles, at least past Charleston and Edisto, you'll often find the locals wrapping up harvested Palmetto grass into these absolutely lovely roses. They also make baskets and other woven goods you can buy in open air markets, but I'm the kind of person that adores handing over a few bucks to the guy in the street weaving these gorgeous flowers for us, as he has for others his entire life...
It's a gift, straight from him and his people, to my children, and they are an absolutely priceless souvenir from a member of the Gullah / Geechee culture of the area.
Often you will even see children making the roses and selling them on random street corners.
If you take care of these roses, they will stand the test of time quite beautifully. We've had some for 10 years and they are still splendid reminders of not only vacations past, but of cultural pockets we are so quick to forget in the hustle of all our modern technologies and conveniences...
So, next time you are in the area, and see a young man, or even a family, weaving Palmetto Love Roses, stop and have a few made right before your very eyes for the special people in your life!
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