Pressed Flowers

After some time of admiring my flowers, I had to discard them. As I removed the bouquet from the vase, the leaves felt dry and brittle.

The orange gerberas have wilted and a couple of the yellow-orange roses were loopy. I took them, cut the stems to about three inches long and got one of my hardcover books where I pressed the roses in between the pages. I put another heavier object on the book to makes sure that I had enough pressure to flatten the flowers.

A few days letter, I checked on the roses. They were expectedly pressed with a few impressions on the book pages. The petals still had a silken texture to the touch and the rose fragrance was still unmistakable. Perhaps those essential natural oils don't really leave the flowers.

I will keep the pressed roses in that book of mine which I have yet to read and maybe even use them as bookmarks. Although dry in their two-dimensionality, their yellow-orange sunset colors have not yet faded. Meanwhile, whenever I carefully take them aside, I will always remember, many years ago in my youth, how I did so when one of my aunts first showed me her pressed roses ... carefully nurtured and kept.