Practicing

Yesterday I was blessed to receive a request for an interview at one of Newberg's flower shops. It will be tomorrow morning- I am already a little nervous- but also excited for the opportunity. So I headed to the store and purchased a couple bunches of flowers to practice, practice, practice! I made a small corsage - nothing too fancy - I wanted to practice wiring and taping flowers. I also made one larger bouquet - to be viewed from the front and a small bud vase design. The pictures aren't the best but I think the flowers turned out ok. I will have to do a design for Erma tomorrow so I needed to put in some time ..... thinking about the vase, style and shape. I would like to do one more hand tied bouquet before tomorrow! I do love playing with flowers and actually I like the bud vase design - I tied the flowers together with some bear grass, letting the ends act as a ribbon. Ok................ well we'll just wait and see!

Collections

Sometimes it is all about the container. I have always loved pitchers. I am not sure why but I love the fact that they can exude a warm country feeling or elegance to a table setting. Collecting started with a wedding gift from my college roommate - a beautiful cut crystal pitcher that was so elegant to me - something I would have liked to display in our "married student housing" bungalow but it was really much too regal and we had absolutely no place to put it. Thus, it stayed in a box with a lot of other pretties until we had a home of our own. While living in Germany, we travelled to many wonderful towns and cities and I collected a few more - a favorite blue pottery piece from Southern France and of course another crystal piece from Germany near the Polish border. Al enjoyed gathering beer steins so we have a few of those on shelves also.



Part of my fascination with pitchers is that they are not required to hold a beverage - although I use them almost daily for that but because I can envision them clustered together on a shelf or most often filled with flowers - either with a whimsical display of dancing daisies or overflowing with tulips bending in all directions. They are uniquely beautiful in their design and as with many flower arrangements - will help set the mood of an arrangement.


This weekend I chose one of my daughter's pitchers - a milky white round bellied type - and filled it with a gathered arrangement again from the yard. Who knew that I would still be able to play with flowers from outside my door in October? I have learned that the graceful blossoms outside my bedroom door are Japanese Anemone (so of course I bought a few more plants to scatter near our new retaining wall). Along with the anemone, I included a few hydrangeas, dahlias and tendrils of jasmine. It looks very similar to the flowers I did a few weeks ago - but is much more relaxed - a gathered bouquet.

I should be outside taking care of a new crop of weeds but it is fall and shouldn't they be hibernating now? Instead of being annoyed with weeds completely this time, I find myself enjoying the dried varieties and think they will look nice in a "fall" arrangement. Who would have thought with all my complaining about weeds that I would now consider them a blessing!

Remembering

Thursday, October 1, marked two years that my Sunshine left this world to join our heavenly Father. I still wake up and reach for his pillow - dreaming that somehow I could be wrong and he will come home today. But he is home. I wonder how could these days have all passed. I wonder how it is that I am still here - isn't it time for us all to go home?

Every day - several times a day - I still wish my life was different and that I was sharing and planning dreams with Al - yet with each day I am trying to cling more to God and to His promise that He has dreams for me still. I wonder if I am missing what they are because I long for the moments that Al and I would think and talk about our plans for the future. Listening for God's voice to direct me yet still wondering how this could be.

There certainly have been blessings this year - my family and of course the joy of little grandchildren, and meeting new friends with hearts full of compassion and understanding and old friends that continue to pray and check on me. I am blessed to have all of these people in my life.

Our family, missing Colleen, spent the day together - holding on to memories of things we knew Al would have enjoyed. We went to the beach together and God blessed us with a beautifully warm sun filled day - we attempted to fly a kite, played frisbee, chased Ephraim away from the water and had a great lunch at Mo's. Later at home, we took a brief ride on the river - Ryan and Emily braving the cold water to wakeboard followed by a simple meal of tacos - one of Al's favorites. I felt that Al would have been happy knowing his family was out doing things together as he would have loved to do. I felt we should be celebrating Al's life with us and holding tight to our memories of him and making some new memories, too.

Alvis left me with his incredible example to follow. He treated everyone with respect and dignity and thoughtful consideration. He had a contagious laugh and enthusiasm for learning new things. As I tread softly through my life now, I hold these attributes close to my heart remembering Al and to live as Christ would have me live.

Over again...

The calendar says it is fall and today the sun is brilliant but there is definitely a change coming - it is no longer the soft warm breezes of summer but the brisk winds of the northeast that are threatening to call an end (hopefully temporarily) to summer's warm days. The cooler evenings are bringing changes to my garden as well. The hydrangeas bright blues are now subdued greens and lavenders and many leaves are dressing themselves in golds and reds.

My last arrangement had a few hydrangea blossoms and as they dry so wonderfully on their own - I saved them to use again - adding some of my favorite roses from the yard. They are a soft delicate white with very tender pink undertones. I love how the delicateness of each flower compliments the other.

Some may call this recycling but I am choosing to call it re-using.:)

More than a blessing...

What could be better than playing trucks with your grandson? Well maybe having Elisa and Sadie here, too. Now that would be terrific.

Sunflowers and Herbs!

I have this crazy part of our gardens that is full of miniature sunflowers that dance atop 10' spires! I really did try to keep them tied up this year but they have still found a way to flop over and fill the pathway! I love them anyway. They remind of a daisy in their delicate petals (daisies are a favorite of mine) but they are so tall. I found a few black eyed susans to fill in and give some more interest.

I also have a wonderful herb garden outside of the kitchen - so I cut some of the sage, rosemary and thyme to use for greens - plus it smells heavenly - I often wonder how wonderful flowers must smell in heaven - I bet even daisies will smell sweet!

Needless to say, this arrangement is in my kitchen. I tied the stems together before placing it in the vase. I love how it looks just like a handful of gathered flowers - right from the garden!

From the Garden!

I really wanted to try and do a large arrangement with all kinds of flowers - the problem lies with having blooms that are tall enough and sturdy enough and still from my garden (the most inexpensive kind!) to create such an arrangement. I spent some time wandering through the paths of my garden and decided that a shorter but full arrangement would be a better choice. I chose pinks, purples and whites and added some great greenery and "feathery" branches - I love these tall slender branches that are adorned with a tender variegated leaf and now are bursting with delicate little flowers. I collected an assortment of blossoms and started cleaning the stems and soaking them in water.

Next - choosing a vase - why is this so difficult for me? I chose to use "oasis" this time - for the practice - and finally decided on an oblong crystal bowl. Al and I had picked it up at a "seconds" shop in Germany when we lived there.

After about an hour and a half and a few more trips to the garden - I finished it! Some of the flowers should have been picked a few days earlier so they would last longer in my bouquet but overall I think it turned out ok. Included were pink rose buds, dahlias, hydrangeas, white roses, a pink flower that I have no idea what it is, sedum and blue astilbe.