ICE

You know that winter is getting to you when you start looking for shapes in the icicles.  I'm glad I found you, little horse, you remind me of the great chalk figures that dot the hills of Britain.  Maybe one icy day a couple of millennia ago a woman was as tired of winter as I am, she looked out of her cave and there you were!  A perfect ice horse!  She kept your image in the back of her mind and started working on your portrait on a magnificent scale as soon as the thaw was over.  Then, many, many centuries later, perhaps a man named Pablo saw your very simple lines on an icy Paris day and thought of portraying your simplicity.  Nature.  Ice.  Dead of winter.   Art. 

CELEBRATION

Second Sunday of the Epiphany season.  Celebrating the Baptism of Jesus.   Of course you need white flowers.  Of course they have to look like they're praising the Lord.  Of course you have to find them in the middle of a snowstorm and take them to church while slipping and sliding.  This tropical flower was able to do all that and shovel the driveway to boot!  The mums are like starbursts or fireworks.  To counterbalance the stiffness of the stems, bells of ireland, that curve in whatever direction they want and there's no controlling them and variegated liriope (lilyturf) leaves which are very stiff until you stroke them gently for a little while, then they become supple, pliable, curvy and interesting. No snide remarks, please,  this is a Church arrangement.  An airy arrangement with lots of negative space to fill the air with song.   I do believe that it looks like a prayer, like praise, like thanks.  Amen.