The flowering dogwood

One of my favorite movies about the presidency is the 1995 classic The American President. Michael Douglas played President Andrew Shepard, a widower, who decides to date while being president. Annette Benning plays Sydney Ellen Wade, an environmental lobbyist who just came to the White House to help reduce fossil fuel emissions, and somehow ends up the President's girlfriend. It's the only charming thing Aaron Sorkin has ever created. 

There's a scene where President Shepard tries to send Sydney flowers after their first date (a state dinner with the President of France, like all first dates), and has trouble ordering from a florist. Sydney is from Virginia, so he wants to send her the state flower. The florist thinks it's all a joke and hangs up on him. Also, the state flower of Virginia is the flowering dogwood, so he'd really be sending her a flowering tree or the branches of a flowering tree. Complicated. 

Anyway, he's ends up sending her a Virginia ham instead. A junior staffer delivers the gift to Sydney, and says, "Dig it, Miss Wade, you're the President's girlfriend!" This entire sequence is one of my favorite parts of the movie. I'm not convinced Aaron Sorkin wrote this part, but I can't prove it. 

I think about this part of The American President every spring as the dogwoods and cherry blossom trees begin to bloom. Dogwoods can bloom anytime from late March through May here in Virginia. There's one blooming in my neighborhood, and the cherry blossoms and redbud aren't far behind. Spring is my favorite time of the year, and it's one of the main reasons I live where I do. We have such a pretty spring. 

I was looking at pictures of dogwoods online today, and I realized that the petal shape is reminiscent of a shamrock, so I repurposed the shamrock I didn't use for St. Patrick's Day for today's dogwood. 

Details:
Stitches: back stitch, whipped back stitch, fishbone stitch, French knots
Thread palette: DMC B5200, SS 801, 302, 401, 115 (all 3 strands)

Tomorrow: One of my favorite authors passed away this week, so tomorrow's piece will be dedicated to her.