Oh the light!

I couldn't help myself, went snap crazy on these little guys.

Oh the pain, too much beauty... too much

Guerrilla Florista #1

Guerrilla floristry: it's just a word for something that many of us do without thinking, but I kinda like it. So here you go, a nice little example of what you can do - without buying a thing. Glorious parrot tulips are the show stopper, granted, they were a gift, a mother's day bonus; if you like :-) 

The rest? Lavender from the garden, olive branches from the footpath where someone had been pruning, privet berry and abutilon (or chinese lanterns) from a lane-way somewhere near me.

From the garden

Behind the scenes

The Autumn sun was shining, the leaves were swirling and I made flowers out amongst it all on Mum's porch. Now that's a studio!

A guest and a florist

That was me, last week. There is nothing nicer than getting to be the florist for the wedding of one of your oldest friends :-) It is twice as stressful being both guest and florist but totally worth every minute! The BF was a gem. He progressed through the floristry ranks at lightening speed; from lackey, to apprentice, to initiate, to master florist in the space of about an hour. He did pass comment in the last moments of the set up, as he swept floors, emptied buckets and lugged stuff, that perhaps he had been demoted again? Nope, that's just being a florist, my dear. Anyway, the bride looked gorgeous, naturally; and an Autumn wedding in the Macedon Ranges is always a good idea, I say. The band was great and we had a ball. Thank you to all those who boosted my confidence with their generous praise; maybe me & the side-kick will do it again sometime soon?

People got married

A wedding that I actually went to as a guest; what a lovely change!
Check out the size of that gardenia. That's a proper tropics specimen, due to the fact that we were in the Byron Bay hinterland at the time. The bride's family just picked these from their own shrubs on the morning; heaven.
It was a weekend full of much, much love, great friends and excellent food. What more could you ask for? Beaches? Sunshine? Swimming before breakfast? Oh, well we had all that too :-)

Winter whites and silverwear

Here's some pics from a Cecila Fox job we did a while back. It was a Georgeous event.This lil guy was probably my favorite of the day. Heliabores hold such hope in their nodding heads; don't you think? They're a little bit shy and sheepish but they can't help but smile because Spring is on the way. I'm smiling just thinking about them!

Theatrical settings

 

Venue of the year?
More over at Mel's.

Filling in the gaps

I get a couple of day's rest at the farm and what do I do? Spend most of it on the computer! I kind of like it though, it's catch up time. I've been filing away photos and things to tell you for weeks, mainly because I was too exhausted to actually sit down and do it. Thanks to the Never- Ending Cold. Seriously, I've had this baby for over 5 weeks now; grrr. All I can say is I'm getting pretty good at swigging these naturopathic herbs. 

In between that, things have been slowly getting busier and busier. We're gearing up for Summer over at the Cecilia Fox studio. Which means my period of being voluntarily, predominately unemployed has come to an end. Exciting! The whole idea of taking time out was to try and improve my health (ha!) and to be able to work on some of the things I value; read yoga, art, weaving, making pretty things, spending time with friends and loved ones etc. The reality is, I hardly got any more of these things done than before and though I was a lot more relaxed; I realised that I love what I do and I love doing it. 

So let's see how long I can maintain my zen while working pretty much full time ...

Gifts such as these absolutely stunning lemon ranunculi from Mel definitely enhance the Zen. I've been staring at them for about 10 days now and I never tire of their beauty.

PS: I'm at the farm today

This azaelea is out

The bright yellow tree peonies are just popping

And this is out

And this

aaaahhhh sigh.

Poppies

They are my favorite.*
And they look lovely winding their way out of this Nouveau vase; even if it did take 6 bunches to fill it!
Every time I see the sun cascading in on them it warms my lil heart.


* subject to seasonal variation

Clematis

In a glen somewhere

Putting on a show: behind the scenes

 Some pictures from behind the scenes of Faye's wedding. Look at "my" workshed, complete with two big benches, which the Christians organised for me for the week. And check out all my helpers, at the peak I think there was about 15 of us on the job! It was such great fun to have everybody getting involved; shared work = shared laughs in my book.

Solomon's Seal

"Set me as a seal upon thy heart"
(The Song of Songs which is Solomon's, 8:6)

I have always loved the graceful arc of Solomon's Seal, with it's delicate little white pendulums tinkling from the stem; it's quite special. I recently learnt from my Nana that one should never let a Soloman's Seal plant die because it's dreadfully bad luck. After her mother's passing, many years ago, Nana transplanted a plant from her mother's garden to her own in order to keep it alive and cared for. How precious is that?

More from Red Hill

Event by Georgeous at the Port Phillip Estate. Flowers by  Cecilia Fox.

Pretty pastels in Red Hill

A couple of weeks back Isadora drove me and a van-load of flowers down the Peninsula to do this Georgeous wedding for Mel; what a pleasure! I've never spent time down that part of the state and was just mesmerised by the crisp beauty of the vistas, captured so wonderfully by this venue. It was a nice note to finish on before I came away, that's for sure.

Fair Island of the Fey

Here I am, back on my beloved Island once more. It is so novel to be here at this time of year, Spring. Everything is so lush and green, but then we are quite near that slightly better known Emerald Isle! In ages past the Irish held the Isle of Man to be a place of significant mystical importance. They knew what I know, that the Little People love this place.