To the left, to the left

Words have been said

The Hound is refusing to fulfil his contractual obligations of dressing up once a month.

Something to do with the lack of a heater and the size of the pigs' ears.

So I have called his bluff, and used the heron.

It's a lot like McLaren and Lewis and Sergio.

also Beyonce. 

and if you didn't see the fascinating Making Faces last night, you should watch it. All singing all dancing bionic limbs always seem to make the headlines, but there is more to medical prosthetics than meets the eye.

you can take the girl out of the medical sciences......

I wonder

if you know which one of these cut roses is the David Austin "English" garden rose?

*Opens can of worms*

and if i will ever stop listening to Rodriguez?
















The answer is number 3. All the others are Dutch. This is why I don't buy them. Most of the time they come all the way from licensed growers in Kenya or Ecuador. You can knock the Dutch growers and their hothouses all you like, but at least you know what you are getting.

I wish i knew how to put text upside down like in the puzzle pages. 

Bridal flower school and jam jars

over the past few flower schools, people have come from so far away they have had to fly. It is truly amazing. They are also always the loveliest people. I am one happy florist.

I start by saying if you want to do your own wedding flowers you are a crazy person, but also that the skills you need to make bouquets or table centres or buttonholes aren't hard.

other florists don't like me for saying this.

but it's true

the hard part is knowing what to put together
and how many to buy
and when to buy them
and where to buy them from
and the mechanics
and knowing how long it takes
and knowing that flowers are water and oasis are really heavy
and that sometimes you only have 15 minutes to set up tables
and it's always a long walk from the van to the church door
and the MOG or MOB will always change their mind on the outfit/ corsage the day before

My top tip for DIY weddings is to start with beautiful things, then you really can't go wrong.

and if you are filling jam jars, please, just fill one opulently, rather than fill 5 with the odd stem......

Lately and in no particular order

 

Flowers for a new showroom 
where there was a party 
with actual decks.
in Stamford
who knew?

and the eternal cry

"why doesn't my shop look like this?"

because it's medieval, and has ceiling heights of 2 foot and because of all the ships and giraffes.

I have decided it is easier to just very quietly move into his showroom, pack up The Hound, the heron and some flowers and set up shop.

Sort of like a coups d'état.

Also a mug......

and a mild obsession with 1950's Ikebana books

and a bridal flower school yesterday.

Yours, desperately in need of a massive zinc topped table

Miss P.

xx

Kiss me hard before you go

so after yesterday's post there was a bit of backlash.

My inbox filled with up with people telling me that the because i had made flowers for a divorce party i was single handedly responsible for the degradation of society.

Which was nice.

did we find the final taboo?

If they only knew the bits i don't blog about......

You see all of human nature in this job, I have refused to send an ex-wife dead flowers, I have suggested alternative messages for cards, some things when written and not spoken are so very wrong, I have sent flowers to wives and mistresses but i did suggest that a gentleman might like to break up with his girlfriend in person rather on one of my message cards accompanying a bouquet.

I have suggested that sending 47 roses to a lady on her 47th might not be the most appropriate thing, because nobody over 21 needs to be reminded, and i knew she was at least 53.

Wedding bells just turn to rust

 

Sometimes the happy ever after doesn't transpire.

amongst a million other things, this weekend we are doing flowers for a divorce party.

It's being jointly hosted by the now divorced couple.

"Better to go out with a bang" said they "we are celebrating the fact that we don't make each other miserable any more"

This is sort of thing that my grandmother would describe as "very modern"

I think it's brilliant.

and i have lots of orchids in

which is odd and nice all at the same time.

also Beautiful South.

Pour faire le portrait d'un oiseau

 

Monday's flower school was brilliant. There were roses, and dahlias, and love-lies-bleeding and many herbages and chat of blogging and weddings and dogs.

I would have happily of sold any of their arrangements in the shop.

So proud.

Hand tied technique, wiring, oasis arrangements we did it all, and found time for lunch and wine at the Tobie.

The last full day flower school of the year is next week, a wedding one, it's sold out now, but i am putting together a schedule for next year presently.

Also I have been asked to some evening demo classes, I'm working on it, so far we have titles of

"Help! it's my turn to do the church flowers"

"My dog wants a floral collar"

"I need to make a table centre for Christmas that is better than the one my mother-in-law made last year"

All suggestions welcome

and maybe then we will think about les videos.

also today is National talk like a pirate day. So far this is the most interesting thing anybody has tweeted about today.

They have a website and everything, welcome to my world people.

and i know what you are thinking, what the hell is wrong with my hair?disaster haircut, followed by my deciding i needed a shorter fringe at 1am, and this mornings battle with a pair of straighteners.

I am looking into wigs.

and don't look too closely at the headdress I made on Monday and didn't get around to photographing until today.

also Anna is working on another project for us. I have just had a peek and burst with excitement. good things are happening.

Only surround yourself with people that make you happy

 

Someone said that to me lately, it would appear that this bride and groom already knew that. Did you ever see so much joy in one room?

you have unwittingly been following the progress of this wedding
the sending out of the proposal 
the mock up
and then the installation.

but of course it took the talented Mr Nick Tucker to shoot the good bits, the bits with actual people in them. Actual people having the time of their lives.

Yesterday was a joyous flower school where amongst many other things we discussed the pros and cons of being a fleuriste. This wedding is a big pro, waking up at 3am this morning worrying about roses not so much, but a nice man from Holland listened to my ramblings diva demands and then told me to go back to sleep.

nothing else i write will be taken any notice of, because here is da link to the rest of the wedding.