Mid March. The sun is finally out again, finally! I'll do my best not to complain about the sun this Summer but at the moment, I can't get enough of it. Over the weekend, I went to @greenandgorgeousflowers just down the road, as I was in desperate need of seeing flowers and there is never a shortage of them. I love the simpler lobularia, but I’m also drawn to the more blousy ones. I think they are quite modest flowers and I love them for that.
Supermarket (but British) daffodils. Love them or hate them. They did brighten up a few very grey February days here. Not that I generally mind grey days but the longest February ever overdid it a touch. I leave these here for anyone in need of something simple, something cheerful.
“That’s what winter is: an exercise in remembering how to still yourself then how to come pliantly back to life again.”
- Ali Smith
The first snowdrops appeared in the garden a few weeks ago. Catkins too. Cold, wet and quiet days. I will miss this January for a long time to come.
This year, for our last December here, I wanted the shed to have a proper wreath. So I asked Claire @__celandine if she could make one, it's only for a shed, I said, but I knew she would get it. It's not just a shed. No shed is just a shed. And for the final time, thanks to Claire and her most inspiring work, the shed has the most beautiful wreath. I love it so much. Frost is on the way and I cannot wait to capture that scene.
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and fund that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
Wendell Berry
One beauty for the front door, thank you so much @simplybyarrangement I absolutely loooove it! All the way from Yorkshire, it came last week, but I had to wait for the storm to pass before I could take a photo. Can I just give credit to anyone who makes many wreaths this time of the year and especially with juniper 🙈 which is also one of my favourite bits in the wreath, thank you Sarah ✨
Another grim day here while I'm looking at some photographs I took at Damson Farm in November. Not the best frost but enough to create a bit of magic. This Autumn, I introduced a new workshop at Damson Farm and I absolutely loved it. I will return again next October with the 'visual story telling' days, bookings are now open at the @damsonfarm website or dm me and I'll send you more information.
It arrived with not a single piece of grass out of place, all the way from Scotland. Thank you Scott for the surprise and thank you Julie @juliecook_flowers for making this most exquisit wreath. I absolutely love it and cannot get over all the delicate details. We have been having the grimmest, wettest days here but finally, some light appeared, only for a short while, so I took some pictures of it, just head over to my blog if you'd like to see.
PS - second image, the house did not burn down and definitely no candle will be lit near these dried goods, that was purely for this picture.
More wreaths to come as this is the month of the wreaths in this house for one reason or another (will share that too why)
A candle is lit in our house every single day, no matter the time of year. It’s always the first thing I do when I get up—well, no, first I let Finn out into the garden, then I light a candle, then comes the coffee.
I once lived in a tiny house. I had a jar outside the front door with a candle in it. My neighbour noticed and asked why I was lighting a candle there every day, he maybe thought there was a special occasion but he got used to it as he always smiled as he walked past. It was a cul-de-sac street and theirs was the last house. I was away on holiday once, coming back in the evening, a candle was flickering in the jar. I was so surprised but also deeply touched. Of course it was him — someone who had probably never lit a candle in his life, unless the power had gone out. Yet there it was, glowing quietly, waiting for me.
It was the last week of November and I went on a workshop on Christmas Flowers by the wonderful @sean_anthony_pritchard at @harpsden_court He gave a very interesting presentation on Christmas flowers and then it was time to make our own "Christmas bowl". While it was very tempting using all the green foliage and the amazing paperwhites he prepared for us, no greens ever reached my bowl. Instead, I was still holding on to that prescious time when Autumn meets Winter. I then found a quiet corner in the pantry to photograph the bowl and I thought the backdrop was just perfect for it. And a week on, it looks exactly the same. Apart from the backdrop.
