THE FLOWER LADY



Lucky me!  I'm the happy owner of a full set of Constance Spry's books on flower decorating.  One of the founders of our Garden Club gave them to me when she was moving to the retirement home where she eventually died, after many years of hands-on gardening and teaching.  On reading her books and those of Beverley Nichols where he mentions her, I had this idea of Constance Spry as a little bundle of sweetness and a grandmotherly figure immersed in her world of beauty.  She was indeed all that.  And then much more.  Not surprising as we tend to catalogue human beings into very narrow stereotypes.  This is a very good biography with some very good old pictures.  The kind of book one hesitates to lend in case it never comes back.  So get your own copy. 

MAY DAY 2012

May Day bouquet.

An embarrassment of riches.  And it was a rainy May Day!   Washed my face with "la primera agua de mayo" [the first rain of May] and I will never be wrinkled.  I'm beyond the days of praying to dream with the boy I'd marry but I still repeat the little ditti I learned as a child.  "Primero de mayo/ postrero de abril/ hazme soñar con el hombre/ de mi porvenir".  That's something like "Last day of April/ first day of May/ help me dream of the  man/ I'll spend my life with".  The tradition is to write the names of all the boys you know on little slips of paper and put them under your pillow.  In the morning, before opening your eyes, reach for one of those slips and voilá!  That's the boy you'll marry.  Year after year I put all those pieces of paper under my pillow and year after year I forgot to retrieve one.  And year after year the maid threw them away when she made my bed.  What a waste!  I may have married a millionaire!  Or a politician.  Or a famous artist.  Not that I'm complaining...   

THE FLOWERED CROSS

Placed under the baptismal font in the Sanctuary 

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed, alleluia!

EASTER SUNDAY TRADITION

Flowering the Cross by the children of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church.  I'm betting they'll remember this for the rest of their lives.  And as usual, the boys really get into it.   

OUT OF SEQUENCE

Easter Sunday at Furball Cottage

OUT OF SEQUENCE

Palm Sunday 2012

FROM MY KITCHEN WINDOW

May brought the showers that April neglected and the garden at Furball Cottage erupted in happy greens!  How lucky for me to have such a view while having breakfast, paying bills, looking for a recipe, playing 'words with friends' or just simply looking out and praising God.