These are the first dahlias I cut from the garden this year and I’m not going to pretend this is a beautiful arrangement. (I lack the artistic skill as well as the filler flowers and greenery.) But the dahlias did give me abundant joy during a Sunday morning still life session. This has been a recurring ritual for me. I get up early Sunday morning, harvest a few blooms from the garden, drive back to my home in Vancouver, and then spend the morning appreciating the flowers through the camera’s lens.