Happy Mother's Day, bloggers!!

I went through so many photos, looking for the perfect one to post for Mother's Day, that my eyes started to cross and my mind boggled. This, my first mother's day, means so infinitely much, and at the same time so very much less than I imagined it would. It is, undeniably, MY FIRST MOTHER'S DAY! And motherhood has proved, as must be obvious from my bloggings, so much greater, so much deeper, so much happier than I ever imagined it could be. At the same time, mother's day as a designation pales in comparison to the exquisite joy of every single morning of my life these days. It just seems...somehow just a day. A day among the richness of so many splendid days.
So in the end, I selected a few random shots. And this first one - this one is for you, my friends. All of you who are mothers, and all of y0u who are still waiting to be mothers. My heart swells for all of you. And so I send you this mother duck who has been circling around our local lake lately, so proud with her TWELVE tiny, fuzzy, furiously brave and energetic little ducklings.
Did you know that baby ducks can walk on water??
Neither did I, until I saw this.
This is the one photo that I did not choose randomly, because I think I always use this photo on mother's day. It is easily my favorite photo of my own beloved mother and I. It just describes so perfectly, so wordlessly, the love that we have shared for a lifetime. I am so, so lucky.
I love you, mum, and I am infinitely grateful for the life you have given me, and shared with me. I am so very lucky to have you.
(photo taken in the desert outside Moab, Utah in the late '60s).
These are the beautiful flowers that my mother sent me for my own first mother's day. Purple irises (which used to grow in mad profusion in the field outside our ranch house when I was small). And pink lillies (which I have never seen before, and which are delightful!_)
I couldn't get the ideal shot of these lillies, so you'll just have to extrapolate, but...pink freckles, inside pink petals. How exquisite is that?
These iris are a work of art, aren't they?

Q and I, admiring the pink lillies.
Q playing in the garden while M reads his paper on a picnic blanket in the spring sunshine...pure bliss.
That joy that bubbles up inside her like a well-spring.

Wishing you all much love on this mother's day. OOXX