I’m pleased that despite a stack of marking I brought home Thursday and have to return to students on Monday, I managed to get a great run in yesterday AND today, I got out in some beautiful fall weather to put together my favourite seasonal arrangements. I’ve been doing this sporadically for over 35 years, ever since I saw the idea in one of those women’s magazines I used to pick up with the groceries when my kids were small — Woman’s Day, Canadian Living. . . .crafts and recipes and a dollop of fashion and cultural literacy. . .
Some of the gleanings came from our own yard — the blowdown greens from recent storms, some evergreen salal, seed-heads and pods and dried grasses. I wandered down the road with secateurs for the wild rose hips and the curled-up umbrels of Queen Anne’s lace.
This must be the earliest I’ve ever had these arrangements together — generally, I fret through the end of November that I’m not going to manage to get it together, finally filling the urns some cold wet day in December. . . .Not this year!
As I pause to admire my Hinting-at-Christmas Fall arrangements, I’m also pausing to survey the week’s posts, as is becoming my Sunday wont. . . .
Let’s see now:
Tuesday, I shared the pleasures of a Nana’s weekend, the delights of seeing the world through a 4-year old’s eyes. . . .
Thursday, a What I Wore that focussed on coats — ’cause ’tis the season!
and Friday, another Five Things. I must say I’m having fun putting these Friday posts together — they really encourage me to look even more deeply at the wonders of the everyday.
And that everyday will now include passing these natural beauties . . . most of them aging, decaying, and yet beautiful, I think, in their palette, textures, and sculptural shapes.
That something we usually dismiss, ignore, even discard or mow down can be assembled — For Free! — into something decorative pleases me immensely. Perhaps it might even serve as a reminder. . . .
beautiful!
Thanks!
What a lovely reminder that the end of a season has as much beauty as the height of a season! Thanks for sharing…
You're welcome, Vivian — I'm pleased you enjoyed the post.
The colours and textures of autumn are my favourite. Berries, seed pods and a few random branches can create such beauty.
They really can. I love the way the supposedly duller colours have their own beautiful, subtle range AND the way they provide such an effective background for the rich berry colours.
Lovely those airy, aging, autumnal bits and pieces you've pulled together into great arrangements. Structures of all kinds are more evident now in autumn. Thanks for sharing with us.
The structures really stand out now, don't they? And of course, that's all we'll have to sustain us through the winter. . . .so it's good that our eyes get trained, by autumn, to look closely . . .