We carved a pumpkin as a family, and my son also carved one at school. Enjoy!
Please visit me in my garden, among the flowers and weeds, as I carve out a little patch of heaven in this rainy Pacific Northwest. I hope to share with you some of the joys, the triumphs, the techniques I learn along the way, and maybe some favourite garden recipes and art projects, too.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Happy Hallowe'en
I hope you all had a safe and fun Hallowe'en. The kids, now 11 and 9, decided not to go out trick-or-treating this year. So they opened the door and gave out candies to the few (much less than previous years, even though it was a clear evening - perhaps since the forecast was for rain).
We carved a pumpkin as a family, and my son also carved one at school. Enjoy!
The puppet of my daughter, which we never quite finished, became our greeter on the porch this evening.
We carved a pumpkin as a family, and my son also carved one at school. Enjoy!
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Dried Flower Arrangements
A few weeks ago, I made a dried flower arrangement for our master bathroom, from lavender and dried grasses:
I think it turned out quite well. Since then, I have added some dried purple sage along the front, which filled the arrangement in nicely, and hides the green oasis. I'll try for another photo when we have a bright day, so that the colours will show better.
Anyhow, that intial success encouraged me to try again, with some Nigella from my mother-in-law, and dried Lamb's Ear, also for our bathroom (which may now be the most decorated room in the house!):
Today, I decided to make a more ambitious arrangement for the dining room, from a variety of dried flowers in the garden, picked before it rains tonight. I found a small basket in the garage which matches the colours of the dining room as well as the colours of the fall arrangement:
I'll try again for a better photo when it is bright enough not to need the flash, but this photo gives some idea of the result. My daughter thought I bought the arrangement, not made it myself, so I take that as a very nice compliment. Among the variety of dried flowers are: poppies and nigella seed pods from my mother-in-law, coneflower centers, bright red rose hips, iris seed pods (the dark ones), lavender, crocosmia, allium, and a few stars (bright green, but I suspect they will fade nicely into the arrangement) of umbrella sedge (Cyperus alternifolius). I am also drying some more stems of purple sage, and may add a few to fill in the arrangement. We'll see.
I am very pleased with the outcomes, and may make some attempt next year to dry even more flowers. For example, my globe thistle should make a wonderful cut flower if I cut and dried it before it blooms. At this point in the year, the little globes are crumbling apart.
9Oct2010: Here's perhaps a better photo of that last arrangement, with some purple sage also added in:
Anyhow, that intial success encouraged me to try again, with some Nigella from my mother-in-law, and dried Lamb's Ear, also for our bathroom (which may now be the most decorated room in the house!):
I am very pleased with the outcomes, and may make some attempt next year to dry even more flowers. For example, my globe thistle should make a wonderful cut flower if I cut and dried it before it blooms. At this point in the year, the little globes are crumbling apart.
9Oct2010: Here's perhaps a better photo of that last arrangement, with some purple sage also added in:
