I was out photographing early this morning at a nearby garden.  It was still and peaceful with the sun slowing dawning an a clear day with the promise of summer.  As I wandered through the garden my eyes were stopping on different flowers and shrubs.  But when I turned around and glimpsed a rhododendron in bloom I stopped in my tracks.   In Minnesota we do not have many rhododendrons that can survive our cold winter climate.  So when I saw this beautiful white rhodie I was quickly taken back to the time I lived in the Pacific Northwest.  There, with the temperate marine air rhododendrons grow to be the size of trees, their blooms the size of large bowls.  All this was going through my mind as I photographed this lovely white rhododendron that was blooming its heart out, but was only three feet tall.  I realized how easily we associate things and how powerful our memory can be.  In our home garden we have three peony plants with buds that will be bursting into bloom in the next week.  One of these plants was purchased in Minnesota, the other two I brought from my parents’ home in Kansas.  It is a wonderful memory I have of growing up and having the peonies blooming on the side of the house.  How lucky I am to be able to surround myself with items that bring back delightful memories, or to happen upon something as simple as a small rhododendron that holds fond remembrances.