In a vase on Monday: Now We Are Six

Blogging
For six years,
And rambling too
(vases came later);
From brief
And private
Beginnings
Came years
Of friendship,
Inspiration,
And so much more:
Many words,
Many gifts, and
A greater understanding
Of my garden,
Of the world
And of myself.

My grateful thanks,
To all.

 

Today’s vase, a blue pressed glass number from the 30s/40s, was bought just this week on eBay for £6.99 and contains a removable glass frog. Having had no success finding an actual ikebana vase on UK eBay, I searched instead for ‘vase with frog’ and bought this and AN Other (two others to be exact) this week, all with removable glass frogs. The glass frogs don’t work successfully with all stems but being removable can leave a central ‘hole’ which could be filled with a frog pin or floral foam or scrunched up wire even.

Chunky stems of Cornus flaviramea slotted perfectly into this frog, standing erect and holding six ‘blooms’ of my Rambling in the Garden logo, created by drawing round a pastry cutter on printouts of the original photo which was taken in 2003 with a works camera borrowed for the evening, one of my very first digital photos. A black background to the ‘Now We Are Six’ vase produces an almost three dimensional image but loses the vase itself, so was replaced with the white, shown below with a literary prop, one of A A Milne’s charming poetry books, full of old favourites like King John’s Christmas, Busy, Forgiven and Sneezles.

This is the first time since the instigation of IAVOM that my blogging anniversary has been on a Monday, so I hope you will excuse this small indulgence. I rather like the effect of the cut out flowers and I certainly like this new vase. With snow again in many parts of the UK over the weekend and inclement weather in other parts of Europe and the US, pickings may be lean amongst those who post a vase regularly on IAVOM. I have got off lightly with my blogging blooms, created as they were in the warmth of my kitchen, although a brief foray outside was required to cut the cornus. Do still join us today if you can, even if only a token vase is possible – or incorporate lateral thinking like my anniversary vase does.

Happy Blogging Everyone!