Today

Left over flowers - Yeah!

Today I played around with flowers again - using the tulips that had been in the small vases and recombining them into two other vases. Using the same design idea but different containers gives the flowers different moods...well a little anyway and where I placed them in our home.

This one is on my kitchen table. The sun was shining for awhile yesterday and I love how it danced among the flowers.

A second grouping of tulips in the dining room. It would look better with out the table cloth on the table but that would have required more effort!

And then sometimes I just want to gather some flowers and just put them in the vase and let them figure it out! The carnations were from the previous evening combined with blue bell flowers that are now blooming outside my kitchen window.

It has been a fun couple of days playing around with flowers - choosing how to use them and not stressing a little if the customer is going to like them!

Realizing that it is still snowing in Wyoming and Idaho - Spring will come - but maybe a bunch of tulips from the store will help tie you over!

Yesterday

I have had the privilege of working along side several great people in a ministry called GriefShare. Last fall I was invited to be a part of the leadership team -which was really God telling both Bonnie and Anne (leaders who have been in this ministry for 17 and 8 years respectively) and me that I should invest myself in this ministry. Last night we concluded a 13 week series and wanting to do something special - so we orchestrated a pot luck dinner, the video, sharing memories, music and a message from one of the pastors.

I was asked to help decorate the tables with flowers - simple but Spring-like.

Six tables and a buffet table....At first I was going to use the daffodils in my yard but they were starting to fade so I chose tulips.

Last summer when my nephew was getting married we used little carafes filled with daisies as centerpieces at the rehearsal dinner. They would be great for this gathering, too. Using two tulips in each of the jars was just enough for the small tables. For the buffet table, using a clear round vase, I filled it with 20 plus tulips, a little bear grass and just let them fall gracefully to the sides. A trick I learned in one of my floral books (I love perusing these at book stores and even purchasing a few) is to gather all your tulips in one hand, cutting the bottoms so they are the same length and then with your other hand, twisting the lower part of the stems while holding the top of the stems stable - giving the stems interest in the vase and also providing stability for arrangement. Set them into your vase and let them decide where they land. You don't want to have your stems too long or they won't fill out the center of the arrangement. We presented Anne with this arrangement as she is taking some time away to help at a summer camp with her grandsons.

A single carnation with a loved one's name tied with ribbon.

It was an evening filled with emotions - of love and memories and pain - yet in remembering clinging to our God of hope - that someday with Him we will be joined together filled with His love and only joy!

Mixed Blessings

Yesterday, I actually was able to work outside a little. It had stopped raining (Saturday was nice too, but I was busy at the flower shoppe) and I had made a mental list of what I needed to accomplish....
mow the lawn, check
spray for moss in the lawn, check
cut back dead branches from winter,check minus (I found several dead bushes along with bushes with last years growth that needed to be pruned but I didn't get finished)
spray dormant spray on the nectarine tree, check
spray the walkways, check - because Michelle came out and helped me! There are literally thousands of little maple trees trying to take over everywhere.

Michelle and I were feeling like we had done pretty well on our list and finished about 5:30 - she headed off to youth group and I stayed out for a little longer. My right index finger appears to be stained permanently brown - because of course as I was finished mowing the lawn I reached down to pull a few weeds and not having my gloves on I soon was a muddy mess! Combine mud with mixing Roundup or dormant spray and I am really stained! Even clorox and the "orange" scrub didn't get it all off!

To top things off - after I showered it started raining outside - so who knows if all the spraying we did will even work!

Garden Score
Weeds 1 Me 1-1/2 (maybe!)

Saturday was a busy day for the flower shoppe! Well at least for me it was. Erma said she has been typically doing about 14 arrangements in a day the last week or so - now remember she also does all the ordering and book keeping and "paper work" during the day also, so 14 is certainly not the most she has done or could do in a day. Well on Saturday I did 12!!! which also included delivering half of those arrangements! It was busy for me but I loved it.

The last arrangement was for a wife in town who's husband is serving in Iraq! He called from Iraq! Normally by the late afternoon we don't accept orders for delivery the same day but how could I refuse him? Karen was out doing our last delivery at that time so I said I would deliver it on my way home. Their home wasn't too far away, anyway.

I started with pink snapdragons and peach roses and added pink alstromeria, white daisies, pink and white calla lilies and pale blue freesia and green viburnum topping it off with a little pink wax flower. It was such a great way to finish my day.

I remember fondly when Al sent me roses for my birthday when he was in Afghanistan and again in the summer when he was in Iraq. I was and still am so touched by his thoughtfulness when he was there supporting our troops, in a hot desert and living in a sandy tent that he would think of me and how I love flowers! My heart is full with memories of Al - the best part of me.

I am so thankful that I was able to do this for this soldier - to share in his love story for his wife.

Blooming Families

Just a few photos of my grandchildren.....could they be any cuter!

Little Blessings

Life has been been pretty busy lately - with the blessings of two beautiful granddaughters and the opportunities to be there for both of their arrivals. Precious Raina Abigail arrived March 2 and sweet Selah Ruth arrived March 16! They are both healthy and doing well. Of course each mama would love for them to sleep more -especially in their own cradles - but I feel they both know a great mom when they see one and plan to take full advantage of being sweet and soft and smelling wonderfully brand new! Being Nana now to 5 little ones is simply put - amazing. Each of these munchkins can melt my heart at a moments notice. Watching my daughters and their husbands nurture and guide their little ones floods my heart with memories and thankfulness for who they have become as adults.


Selah Ruth


Raina Abigail

So, I have been wonderfully pre-occupied with grandchildren and have neglected to create anything new with flowers for a while (except at work, of course) until my sister, Cathy sent me a treasure for my birthday. A treasure she found in a thrift store, I think she said. Anyway, I promised her I would make an arrangement in my stately new pitcher! The scene on the pitcher is all flowers - what I believe to be dahlias, asters or gerbera daisies. I chose to include gerbera daisies, pink lily, alstomeria and a ti leaf and bear grass for accent. Next time I may choose to have some of the flowers and greenery fall gently over the sides - we'll see. But I do love my pitcher and thank you, Cathy for your sweet gift.

Let the Games Begin!

Well ok, not the Olympic games but the games in my gardens! We have had days and days of rain but today it actually stopped and I had the opportunity to spend a few hours outside pruning and cleaning up after winter. Three wheelbarrows later numerous thorn pricks and one blister, I only had one part of the front gardens done. Either I am really getting slower or the task is bigger than I imagine. It did feel good to be outside and doing something in the gardens - even if it was cleaning up. I love the smell of dirt!

As I traveled down the hill of our property to empty the wheelbarrows, I was again amazed at the hundreds and hundreds of daffodils already blooming. It is a river of yellow and white cascading down the hills in the front yard and the back. I know it is much earlier this year but it is glorious and I am again thankful that the previous owners worked so hard to plant all these bulbs.

Last summer Michelle and I dug up hundreds of bulbs to make room for the stairs that were to be put in (another story). Well, we obviously missed a lot as the entire spot we thought we had gleaned is covered in a sea of yellow! Things could be worse :)

Here is to Spring and the games in my gardens - today - Weeds 0, me 1 !!!!!

Roses, Roses and More Roses!

So many roses! Valentine's Day is the busiest day of the year (well it runs close with Mother's Day) in a floral shop. I have been told several times how the floral business has really suffered with the economy - arranged flowers are really a luxury for many, but I lost track of how many rose arrangements I made over a three day period. As Valentine's was on a Sunday, the holiday stretched out over several days for us at the flower shoppe. I enjoyed the different personalities of the guys that came in .... some you knew felt so out of place and thought if they just stared into our cooler of fresh flowers and arrangements, the right one or idea would come to them! One fellow called and as we visited he asked "so what do they want, anyway?" I thought, oh brother, this poor guy maybe should have discovered a little about his girlfriend before this. I suggested tulips and lilies and of course roses and he really just wanted to do what was "right," which I guess meant an arrangement of a dozen long stemmed roses! Did he realize how much that was going to be?

But then there was the elderly gentleman, who's hands trembled from Parkinson's who truly did want a bouquet of long stemmed red roses for his sweet wife of 60+ years, professing his love for his beloved with simply loving her now and always. The true sweetness and portrayal of his love was so apparent,yet even while his wife suffers from Alzheimer's and has not recognized him for quite some time, how important it was for both of them that she have flowers. His demonstration of love and faithfulness filled my heart and my eyes with tears.

There were the little ones who came in with their dads to surprise Mom. Eyes glittering with the anticipation of doing something special for mom. They would share all the secrets they had planned - it was going to be hard to wait until Sunday for these munchkins.

I have often felt that guys really got stuck doing something that Hallmark and society told them they should do but as I watched and listened to countless stories of love and hopeful love I may have changed my mind ... isn't it good for us to stop and really say I love you; for us to think ahead and plan on how to shower one with either a single flower or 60 roses; to chose to do something for someone we care about even if we think the holiday is contrived. It didn't have to be flowers or candy - but something done or said that illustrated we really do love them and are putting our loved ones before ourselves.

Recognizing we should be doing this everyday, yet still setting apart one day to show our love for each other maybe isn't such a bad thing after all. It may be just what is needed for the one giving or the one receiving.

Acknowledging God's love for me and that it freely given everyday - is a gentle reminder of how I am to love Him and others everyday, too.